June 2014 – Page 5 – Motor City Radio Flashbacks

From the MCRFB news archive: 1967

Stax/Volt Artists Promote School Education With Anti-Drop-out LP

MEMPHIS — Stax/Volt artists are featured in a special “Stay In School” campaign album, which is being mailed to 4,000 radio stations and deejays throughout the country. The LP includes talks by the artists as well as previously unreleased performances.

The album, which includes Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Sam and Dave, Booker T and the MG’s, William Bell, the Mar-Keys, and Rufus Thomas, was prepared, written and waxed as a public service by producers under Al Bell, company vice-president.

Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, who wrote (below) the liner notes for the pressings, invited Redding and Miss Thomas to participate with him in a forthcoming program of the Celebrity Showcase for Youth, which stages visits by show business personalities to urban poverty neighborhoods. END

(Information and news source: Billboard; September 9, 1967).

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The Vice President

Washington

An Open Letter To Young People From Vice President Humphrey

First, I want to commend the Stax/Volt family of recording artists for their special interest in trying to help you help yourself.

These artists know the value of a good education and what it will do for you.

By singing their songs and talking to you in this album, they are trying to give encouragement and direction to these young people who are struggling against hardship and difficulty. They are trying to make sure, fully, the difference an education will make in your life.

These artists know that the high school dropout is headed for disappointment and frustration when he looks for a job. He’ll meet disappointment when he looks for a job. He’ll meet disappointment when he tries to get a good-paying job, and then face frustration when the job he finally gets does not last too long. Machines are taking over more and more the unskilled jobs that the uneducated used to get.

Today’s good jobs are going to young people who are educated, who have “brain power” and skills. The name of the game is this: those who learn more, earn more. That high school diploma could mean the difference between a real future and a mere existence.

As you listen to what the talented Stax/Volt artists sing and say, make up your mind to complete your education. Remember, THOSE WHO LEARN MORE . . . EARN MORE! My young friends, that’s where the action is!!!

Sincerely,

Hubert Humphrey

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Addendum: The Hubert Humphrey letter as it appeared verbatim, on the back of the Stax LP, ‘Stay In School’, released in 1967.