CLARKSDALE, Mississippi — Nicole Cooke-Johnson loaded her car full of children’s books and traveled to her grandfather’s hometown, Clarksdale, Mississippi, for the first time in her life.
It was a journey as old and as common as the Great Migration. But her grandfather, Sam Cooke, was no ordinary man.
Cooke, an iconic, groundbreaking recording artist of the 1950s and ’60s, is considered a pioneer of soul music. He is the writer of “A Change Is Gonna Come,” a song that became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. He also used his platform to speak up about the racial inequality and segregation that took place in the 1960s.
Cooke-Johnson never got to meet her grandfather. At 33, he was shot and killed at a Los Angeles motel in 1964 under a cloud of circumstances that have haunted his fans for more than 50 years.
But the Cooke family is alive and well, thriving partly because Cooke had the foresight to launch his own record label and own his own music, producing generational wealth for the family.
Cooke-Johnson and her family made the six-hour trek from Atlanta to Clarksdale, the birthplace of the blues, and the town of 13,000 where he was born, to celebrate his life and introduce his work to a younger generation. The picture books they carried —named and inspired after “A Change Is Gonna Come” — were donated to local elementary students. It’s one small act the family is undertaking to keep Cooke’s memory alive at a moment where federal agencies and other forces are actively erasing Black history.
Cooke-Johnson’s grandmother Barbara, who passed away in 2021 at age 85, told her all about him. He was more than a musician, said Cooke-Johnson, who describes him as a “quiet” activist. He didn’t march or protest like many of his peers; instead, he used his music to speak out about racism and discrimination.Outside of her home, she’d hear many more stories from those he inspired.
“Seeing other people’s admiration and how it impacted their life, it impacted mine,” Cooke-Johnson said. “There were so many diverse experiences that gave me such a wide range of appreciation for not only my grandfather, but that music is art in itself.”
The family was so careful about vetting the film project One Night in Miami — to ensure it aligned with the mission of the estate — that it took them 10 years. The film, directed by Regina King, portrays Cooke, Malcolm X, Jim Brown, and Muhammand Ali and and explores their roles during the Civil Rights Movement. With the new book project and community events, Cooke-Johnson hopes to push his legacy forward through intergenerational dialogue around hope and change.
He “used his business decisions, he used his choices, and he used his art to challenge inequality,” Cooke-Johnson said. “I ask that we use that as an example for ourselves, that those small choices and decisions that we make can be our form of activism in our own very quiet but impactful way.”
In November, Cooke-Johnson spent the day in Clarksdale celebrating in partnership with Higher Purpose Hub, a regional nonprofit advancing intergenerational economic opportunity across the Mississippi Delta.
She started her day at Booker T. Washington Elementary International Studies Magnet School.
“How many of you know who Sam Cooke is?” she asked the students.
Five of them raised their hands.
“My mom listens to Sam Cooke everyday,” one student told her. “I know his songs. I know who that is.”
The children’s book that she gifted students is based on the lyrics to Cooke’s song. It’s the first published book under the Sam Cook Estate. The students talked about the change they wanted to see — like cleaning the stage at their school.
“I saw in that room the next Sam Cookes. I saw the next dreamers. The next change makers, and that was the whole point,” she said. “That’s the quiet activism we talk about — getting to see a little push here and there.”
Tim Lampkin, founder of Higher Purpose, said the event highlights the importance of reshaping the narrative of the Delta’s history and culture while combatting the negative framing of the region, which has a stronger reputation for poverty than as the birthplace of the blues.
“Many people right now feel hopeless and defeated, and yet organizations like ours, we’re saying, ‘Still find joy, still fight for the thing that you believe in,’” he said.
Carrying his legacy forward
Cooke was born in 1931. His father, Charles Cook, moved the family to Chicago when Cooke was 2 years old, where his career started.
He sang in groups like The Soul Stirrers as a young adultand toured as a gospel act, bringing the Mississippi style of gospel music to the world. In 1957, he did the unthinkable: He crossed over from gospel to pop as a solo artist. He also added the ‘e’ to his last name.
In 1959, he started Kags Music, his publishing company and he launched his own label, SAR Records. In 1960, he made history as the first major Black artist to sign to RCA Records, today home to musical acts such as Chris Brown, Kirk Franklin, and Jazmine Sullivan.
It was rare for any artist, but especially a Black artist, to own a record company, said blues historian Scott Barretta.
“The idea that African American artists were getting ripped off is common, and it’s a true story, but most artists or young people who were making music didn’t know anything about publishing,” Baretta said. “He was a pretty savvy business person.”
However, Cooke didn’t live long enough to see the power of his work in arts and culture.
Cooke died after he was shot three times by Bertha Franklin, manager of the Hacienda Motel, in Los Angeles on Dec. 11, 1964. Franklin alleged Cooke threatened her when he approached her office, looking for a woman who alleged to the police that Cooke sexually assaulted her, People reported. The Los Angeles Police Department ruled it a justifiable homicide, a conclusion his loved ones contested.
Cyril H. Wecht, a forensic pathologist who spoke in the documentary Lady You Shot Me, argued that Cooke’s death was not justifiable homicide because Cooke had no weapon. There had also been conflicting witness statements, missing evidence and crime scene photos that showed abrasions on Cooke, according to People.
More than 20,000 people showed up at his funeral.
His anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come,” was released in December 1964, days after his death. The song has been covered by Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and Jamal Roberts, who won the last season of American Idol. Cooke was also inducted as an inaugural honoree of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and the R&B Music Hall of Fame in 2013.
“My grandmother said when he wrote the song, he had hesitation about if he wanted to put the song out. [They] sat there and said that it had a very eerie feeling … and it’s what let them know it was going to be a very important song,” Cooke-Johnson said.
Cooke’s work continues to resonate and influence new audiences today, from artists in London and Louisiana to city officials Durham, North Carolina.
Emerging Mississippi Blues artists see themselves in Cooke.
Adrian “Rev. Slim” Forrest, a Grenada, Mississippi, native, was raised in the church and his father is a pastor. Cooke’s vocal style inspired Forrest to be more confident in his vocal ability, he said.
“He helped to put that sound on the map, and it really gave space for us,” Forrest said. “I would tell people I was too R&B for church, but I was too churchy for R&B. To me, Sam Cooke really gave us that middle ground.”
While people have recognized Cooke’s achievements as an “R&B crooner” with soft vocals, Edna Luckett, known as Edna Nicole, questions whether Clarksdale and the world has done enough to recognize him as a trailblazer. The irony is that despite his prominence and reputation as one of Clarkdale’s famous sons, Cooke no longer has a historical marker on Issaquena Avenue in Clarksdale.
“We should recognize him as way more than a singer, you know, not only in Clarksdale but in Chicago and all over the world,” Luckett said.
During her visit, Cooke-Johnson visited her grandfather’s childhood home, spent time at the Delta Blues Museum that honors his work, and danced at the Matchbox, a Black-owned restaurant, to live music performed by young musicians.
She plans to visit many more communities across the country to spread awareness of the book, honor her grandfather’s legacy, and encourage others to become stewards of change.
“The biggest lesson that 95 years of Sam Cooke [teaches] is a song that he pinned in 1964 is still true today. We have to continue to push through despite the obstacles,” she said. “We’ll overcome them and more will come. It’s just the idea that no matter what, we will persevere.”