Sam Irwin, the author of The Hidden History of Louisiana’s Jazz Age, will examine the controversy over Louis Armstrong’s Fourth of July birthday in a talk at the Opelousas Museum on Friday, July 1. New Orleans-born jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong, one of the world’s biggest and most recognizable celebrities of the 20th century always celebrated his birthday on July 4, America’s Independence Day. But music historians doubted Armstrong’s claims of being born on the Fourth of July.
Popular talk show host Dick Cavett tried to trip him up on his national television show in 1970, but Armstrong wasn’t having it. I’m a “firecracker baby, born on the Fourth of July,” he insisted. Why did Cavett and other music historians doubt Armstrong? Armstrong died in 1971 still claiming his birthday was July 4, 1901. But skeptical researchers stayed on the case, determined to discover the truth of when the prominent trumpeter came into this world.
In 1988, 17 years after Armstrong died, his baptismal record was discovered in a Canal Street church by New Orleans historian Tad Jones, blocks from Armstrong’s Jane Alley birthplace. It indicated Pops was born on August 4, 1901. The August date is now accepted by researchers as Armstrong’s real birthday.
Irwin has explored the birthday controversy in detail in a chapter of his book, The Hidden History of Louisiana’s Jazz Age. He believes historians erred in not examining the cultural reasons Armstrong might have chosen to celebrate his birthday on Independence Day. He contends historians did Armstrong a disservice by suggesting Armstrong was so poor and ignorant that he didn’t even know his own birthday.
“They failed to consider Armstrong’s heritage,” Irwin said. “They didn’t consider the self-evident ideals of the Declaration of Independence and what the truths of that sacred document meant to the former slaves of Armstrong’s time.”
In his discussion of Louis Armstrong’s birthday, Irwin will explore the customs of a different era, one in which Independence Day was celebrated in Louisiana as a Black holiday, and Jack Johnson’s heavyweight championship win, civil rights and other momentous occasions that shaped the man Armstrong would become.
Louis Armstrong, a brilliant and talented man, transcended poverty, prejudice and Jim Crow to forge a successful career as a musician, actor, and entertainer to become a world famous, much-beloved figure. He died a wealthy pop star who defied classification. But he never forgot that in the eyes of white America he would always be “Louis Armstrong – colored.”
This event will be held Friday, July 1 at 5:30 p.m. at the Opelousas Museum, 315 N Main St, Opelousas, LA.
In addition to The Hidden History of Louisiana’s Jazz Age, Irwin is the author of Louisiana Crawfish: A Succulent History of the Cajun Crustacean and It Happens in Louisiana: Peculiar Tales, Traditions & Recipes From the Bayou. A Breaux Bridge native, Irwin is retired from a 23-year career serving as the press secretary of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry and public relations director of the American Sugar Cane League. He is now happily performing as the trumpet/bandleader of the Baton Rouge-based Florida Street Blowhards Traditional Jazz Band. His website is www.SamIrwin.net and www.FloridaStreetBlowhards.com.
For more information, visit the museum website here.
