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"Black Expo" (1971)

Date confirmed in “Chicago Times” (“Oct. 1, 1971”); the “Black Expo” occurred from “Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 [1971]”) (“Jet” magazine’s September 23, 1971 issue) (archived)

“Chicago Sun-Times” (June 28, 2009) (Retrospective of original 1971 “Chicago Sun-Times” article)

Oct. 1, 1971

Extra police had to be dispatched to the International Ampitheatre when a Black Expo concert featuring Michael and the rest of the Jackson 5 was oversold.

“Jet” magazine (October 21, 1971) (archived)

Each night, the International Amphitheatre rocked with the kings and queens of Black music… There were The Jackson Five and The Temptations, teaming on an arrangement of “Get Ready”.

Hermene Hartman, “Black Expo” coordinator, “Huffington Post” (August 1, 2009) (archived)

I came in contact with the Jackson 5 on October 1, 1971, while working with Richard Thomas and the late Pete Long (of the Apollo) on the Black Expo at the International Amphitheater with Rev. Jesse Jackson. It was the third expo, and it was the best one. At the time, black artists were limited to only a few record labels. The label was Motown. For the evening shows, we had the entire Motown family — to include, Marvin Gaye, Gladys’s Knight, The Miracles and all of the top black talent of the day. The other label was Stax Records. Berry Gordy insisted that we take this new group, the kids out of Gary. Rev. Jackson did not want the “kids” interfering with the main shows, and we went back and forth in negotiating the talent package. Saturday was reserved for the kids. We had the then-popular Sesame Street onstage Saturday morning. It was suggested that we take the kids, the Jackson 5, for Saturday afternoon. It was the perfect compromise.

Done deal. Everybody won. The truth of the matter was, we didn’t know who the Jackson 5 were.

The Amphitheater had huge steel doors constructed for cattle. While the Jackson 5 was not a household name, black girls from 8 to 12 years old knew who they were. We had more concert attendees than we knew what to do with. There were about 100,000 kids, mostly screaming black young girls. The steel cattle doors were going down. We had a crowd control problem and had to call the police. We could not get the young men from Gary into the theater. We had to think quickly and had them brought backstage by an ambulance. No one knew. I will never forget the magic of the moment when they took the stage and Michael, the little boy, went to work. The crowd exploded. It was total bedlam, chaos. He worked it like a pro: high energy, the beat, and the screams. He controlled the room, and we watched in amazement. This was my introduction to Michael Jackson. Spellbinding. He was magic with his bubblegum love songs and dance steps that were his own with a spin or two from Jackie Wilson and the stage presence of James Brown. He commanded your attention even then.