THE PLATT FAMILY
Allen Platt was like many bigoted Southern white men in 1954. He would say 'My dad always said Blacks had their place,'' This belief was challenged in October 1954. The Lake County Florida Sheriff Willis McCall paid Platt a visit in his Mount Dora home. There had been complaints about his children. There were many people who believed the family was Black because of their dark skin color and curly hair. McCall was pretty sure that they had ''nigra'' blood, as he called it. The sheriff told him "You don't belong here. You are trying to mix with white people." Platt told him 'I'm as White as you are and come from better stock." Under the law at that time you were accepted into White society if you only had one-sixteenth black blood. If you had one-eighth you were considered Black. Platt was told to keep his kids out of school until the race issue was settled. He was a fruit picker in Florida and the father of nine children. ...
Great rendition of this classic ballad! Written by Arlo Guthrie while he was actually riding on "The City of New Orleans" train. It is a pensive and beautiful tribute to passenger rail. Arlo was actually witnessing the passing scenes as he transformed them into lyrics. As the son of a railroad conductor in Illinois, we took the train out of Chicago many times as a child. I remember "pulling out of Kankakee", and "passing graveyards of the rusted automobile. I still feel "the rhythm of the rails" every time I hear a distant train. This song goes deep into my soul. Thanks for keeping it alive!
ReplyDeleteYour welcome. I love singing this song.
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