Stax and its legacy is one of the most important histories a young, Black person from Memphis can reclaim.

It’s not just enough to know that it existed. Do your work to know how an organization in South Memphis became one of the most influential entities in American music.

And do real work to understand how a small group of predominantly young people, in an integrated effort, worked together to help fortify a sound that is inherently Memphis, yet still emanates globally.

How, after tragically losing Otis Redding, one of the brightest stars in music history, whilst losing their distribution and their catalog of prior, the company rebuilt itself overnight and pulled themselves together on the strength of an unlikely hit maker named Isaac Hayes.

But I want you to understand this very key thing. And I want you to understand it very clearly...

Stax’s leadership, in its later years, was Black.

Capital-B Black. B-L-A-C-K ... AF.

So Black, in fact, that some of the most notable Black entertainment folks we know played some role in Stax.

Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Jesse Jackson, Clarence Avant, Rance Allen, and on and on and on...

That Black folks.... young Black folks... with pride in themselves and their culture ... with influence to make shockwaves across the industry ... essentially printing money to write their destiny.

To wake up every day and meet people who don’t know that history, I ache...

To see artists in this city take the position that you have to move outside of Memphis to make it, hurts. To say we don’t have enough right here. That’s not the full story. Because it’s been done before.

Don’t take my word for any of this. Go find all this information. Go ask your elders who were around to witness it. It’s true.

But when you’re done reading, listening, and hopefully watching (Stax staged one of the greatest manifestos to Black culture of the ‘70s with a beautiful concert film, “Wattstax”)...

I want you to answer a pivotal question.

WHY?

Why did this company die? Why was it allowed to die? Who didn’t think it was worth being in Memphis? Why was our history padlocked, bulldozed and paved over?

And WHY are we not talking about it, in detail, today and every day.

I think the answers will shock you.

Note: The Stax Museum is closed right now, due to COVID-19. But there are numerous books with great information on these matters.