Anti-racism
Norman Granz is generally remembered also for his notable anti-racist position and for the battles he consequently fought for his artists (many, perhaps the majority, of whom were black), in times and places where skin color was the cause of open discrimination. In 1955, in Houston, Texas, he personally removed the labels "White" and "Negro" that would have separated the audience in the auditorium where two concerts were to be performed by (among others) Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie; between the two shows they were found playing cards in the dressing room and arrested by local police, but after some nervous negotiations allowed to perform the second show, and only formally released after that. Granz nevertheless insisted on fighting the charges, which cost him the immense sum of $2,000. Oscar Peterson recounted how Granz once continued to insist that white cabdrivers take his black artists as customers even while a policeman was pointing a loaded pistol at his stomach from close range (Granz won). Granz also was among the first to pay white and black artists the same salary and to give them equal treatment even in minor details, like dressing rooms.
Beloved by his artists, not only because he paid more than average, he had three main goals, as he repeatedly and frankly declared: to fight against racism, to give listeners a good product, and to earn money from good music.
A detailed look at Norman, his career and his legacy can be found in Tad Hershorn's 2011 book "Norman Granz-The Man Who Used Jazz for Justice".
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