Flintridge Prep 7th Graders Talk with Musician Chris Pierce

Flintridge Preparatory School 7th graders in Mr. Bellaimey’s history class who run the Los Angeles Museum of Geography hosted musician Chris Pierce for a special talk and performance recently. Mr. Pierce shared his own musical journey and career with the 7th graders before talking through a history of gospel, blues, and soul music and a discussion about the 1972 Wattstax Concert and his connection to it. Interspersing performances of his own music with blues and soul classics, Mr. Pierce also shared pivotal moments from Wattstax, the benefit concert that was organized by Stax Records to commemorate the 1965 Watts Rebellion.

With over 100,000 people in attendance at the LA Coliseum, Wattstax was a major moment in Los Angeles history and a celebration of Blackness, Black people, and Black music. It was also documented in a 1973 movie and commemorated at the 2015 Wattstax ‘Revisited’ concert, where Mr. Pierce performed. The concert is also the starting point in LAMoG’s spring exhibit, which will explore Black history in Los Angeles and the role of music within social and political movements within the U.S.

Flintridge Preparatory School thanks Mr. Chris Pierce for coming to talk with the students and teachers!

Flintridge Preparatory School, 4543 Crown Ave., La Cañada Flintridge, (818) 790-1178 or visit www.flintridgeprep.org.