00:00by now we're all familiar with these images the resistance strong powerful some might even say
00:11angry but what about this image is this a smile of resistance or one of assimilation for over 30
00:20years Louis Armstrong the founding father of jazz called this neighborhood of Corona Queens his home
00:25and it's here in this house where he lived with his beloved wife Lucille a place that served as a
00:32sanctuary in a world that often celebrated him for his art but criticized him as a black man
00:37I'm standing in the middle of Louis Armstrong's living room it's a massive living room it's
00:57beautiful the wallpaper the portraits of Louis and Lucille it's like stepping back in time what
01:02it mean for a black man in Louis Armstrong stay to own a home like this well when Louis first moved
01:08here in 1943 it was a predominantly white neighborhood working-class neighborhood as
01:12it's remained but Louis was one of two African Americans who owned homes in this neighborhood
01:17so this was really important simply because during the time it wasn't exactly welcome for
01:24African Americans to move into neighborhoods no matter how much money they had that weren't
01:29predominantly African American now this is a phenomenal room we have Louis Armstrong's den
01:36these are actual notes that he wrote this is recording equipment this is the room that Lucille gifted him I
01:43think the most remarkable part about this room are these notes these are handwritten notes from Louis
01:49Armstrong and I was taking a look at them and some of them are insane there's a note here about
01:54uh Martin Luther King Jr's funeral there's another one that's a track list of records and it has Barbara
02:00Streisand as one of the features about how many hours of tapes are there I would say about 700 if not
02:07more we have hundreds of hours of Louis just doing everything that I had mentioned on his recordings and
02:14it's pretty amazing and it's part of the magic about this place you know we're not always hearing him
02:19play his trumpet which he was known for but we're just hearing that grainy voice talk overhead and it
02:24makes you feel like you are part of the Armstrong family in one of the world that brings me back to my
02:31neighborhood where I live in Corona and it's just like one big family I saw three generations come up
02:38in that block that's why I can say I hear babies cry I watch them grow they'll learn much more than I'll
02:48never know and I can look at all them kids face it is a wonderful world that was part of the original
02:55mission of opening the museum we wanted people to feel like they were yes taking a historic house tour
03:02but that they were also feeling Louis while they were here with that success a lot of people
03:07think that you're selling out you're not being true to yourself but he knew that he was more
03:12effective as Louis Armstrong playing his trumpet and as the master musician and artist that he was
03:17than him being a civil rights activist he knew that he wouldn't ultimately affect change if he
03:23didn't do what he was going to do and show his talent and show the world why we're all humans and
03:28why we should all love each other and we should all be one so how can today's generation get involved in
03:33this phenomenal museum you can visit our website lewisarmstronghouse.org where you can also make
03:39donations and check out the neat programming that we have you can also stop by the house in Corona and
03:46pay a visit where you can also make a donation and take a historic house tour here in Louis Armstrong's home
03:51so as you can see from Louis Armstrong's life being black is complicated even when you're successful he
03:58toured all over this world transform jazz music to what we know it is today but still face racism and
04:04obstacles at home in many ways his life is emblematic of the same struggles we as black people face today
04:11so thank you Louis for breaking down those barriers in music and beyond I'm Christina Coleman we'll see you next time
04:28you
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