In the segregated society of the 1940s, Granz insisted on equal pay and
accommodation for white and black musicians. He refused to take his
hugely popular concerts to places which were segregated, even if he had
to cancel concerts, thereby sacrificing considerable sums of money.
Granz opposed
racism and fought many battles for his artists, many of whom were black. In 1955, in
Houston,
Texas, he removed signs that designated "White" and "Negro"
seating areas in the auditorium where two concerts were to be performed
by Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie. Between the two shows Fitzgerald and Gillespie were playing cards in the dressing room when they were arrested by
local police. After some negotiations, the artists were allowed to
perform the second show and later were formally released. Granz
nevertheless insisted on fighting the charges, which cost him a $2,000
fine.
Oscar Peterson
recounted how Granz once insisted that white cabdrivers take his black
artists as customers while a policeman pointed a loaded pistol at his
stomach. 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,
such as dressing rooms.
Granz also spearheaded the fight to desegregate the hotels and casinos in
Las Vegas,
arguing that it was unfair that black artists could perform on the
stages, but could not stay or gamble at the hotels, or even enter
through the front doors.