In 1956 the civil rights of blacks in the United States of America still sounded like a delicate issue pending a humane outcome – only a year ago Rosa Parks had refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white passenger.
But Elvis always showed compassion for people, regardless of ethnicity.
His career is permeated with affection for his equals. Equals because he didn’t differentiate them for being black or white. He didn’t show any segregation gesture. On the contrary. Elvis would even publicly come to the rescue when necessary, as in the episode involving the girls from The Sweet Inspirations, in Astrodome, Texas.
Some artists such as Ike Turner and Ray Charles complained about Elvis, accusing him of appropriating the musical style of blacks, but other equally black singers were adamant in their defense of the King of Rock, as were B.B. King, James Brown, and Sammy Davis Jr.
The photo below reveals this purely human side of Elvis when he was photographed spontaneously asking a lady for information without discriminating against her because of the color of her skin, something that certainly at that difficult time some would even consider doing.
Elvis has his left hand over his head in a gesture indicating that he doesn’t know the way to his home on Audubon Drive and the lady gently points the direction the lost young man must take to find his destination
