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Grandfather to Wynton and Branford, Ellis Marsalis was 96
Ellis Marsalis Sr., patriarch of the family of jazz greats that includes his grandsons Wynton and Branford, died over the weekend at the age of 96, a New Orleans funeral home said Wednesday.
Marsalis, who took an active role in the civil rights movement, died at an area hospital Sunday, the funeral home said.
Marsalis was a poultry farmer who in 1943 converted a barn into a motel along the Mississippi River. The 40-room motel catered to blacks, who were not allowed to stay in New Orleans hotels because of racial discrimination.
The Marsalis Motel quickly became famous for its well-appointed rooms, fancy restaurant and shaded gardens. Its clients included civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and U.S. Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
The motel was known for its great food and great jazz. It attracted some of the best musicians in the United States, who helped foster a love of jazz among the members of the Marsalis family, including his son Ellis Marsalis Jr., a jazz pianist of note.
The longer the senior Marsalis ran the business, the more active he became in the civil rights struggle and supporting minorities in New Orleans.
“He was such a meek and humble person, a soft, soft personality, but stern in his beliefs,” said the Rev. Marie Galatas, a New Orleans minister and lifelong civil rights activist who knew Marsalis.
“He took on the Jim Crow, the segregation, and the racism, but he never held the hate,” Galatas said.
The motel saw its fortunes turn for the worse in the 1960s when civil rights legislation allowed blacks to stay at New Orleans hotels that formerly catered only to whites. In 1986 the facility closed and was later demolished.
A funeral is scheduled for Thursday in New Orleans.
Courtesy: Reuters
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