Rex and Marching 100 alum commemorates historic parade 50 years ago

By Kevin Foster
Contributing Writer

The Rex Den on South Claiborne Avenue filled with nostalgic laughter the morning of February 21 with Purple Knight alumni from St. Augustine High School’s marching band. Five decades ago, the Krewe of Rex historically allowed the class of 1967’s band to be the first African-American band to march in Rex.

The former Purple Knights took a tour of the current Rex facility and met with Rex officials, but the celebration served as a much-desired reunion for band members such as Lester Matthews.

St. Aug. Purple Knight members of the marching band class of 1967 reunite at the Rex Den on Feb. 21, 2017 after their band was the first African American band to march in a Rex parade 50 years ago. They will parade on The Calliope as part of the Krewe of Rex on Mardi Gras day 2017.

“Seeing these guys is probably the most important thing I decided to do as far as riding on floats this year,” Lester said. “Fifty years later a lot of us are no longer here, a lot of us are out of town after Katrina. One guy, it was 50 years since I seen him last,” he said.

The band members reflected on words of wisdom given to them on that historic day in 1967, which for members like Stephen Foster, calmed the sense of nervousness they felt about participating.

“It’s important. What you’re about to do is very, very important. I had brothers and sisters who said, [Stephen] you may not see the vision now but five years from now you’ll understand why this parade is so essential,” Foster said.

These words ultimately served to motivate the band through attempted sabotage of their instruments and hurled projectiles from angry parade-goers. They persevered long enough to see their community’s presence at the parade, as Arthur Mitchell recalled.

“There were people in the crowd, mainly Black people, even some ladies and gentlemen were crying because we broke that barrier so to speak,” Mitchell said.

The band of brothers was especially proud to see current St. Augustine students at the event. Tavis Smith, a current student, said it was an honor and important to be in the presence of legends. “It inspires me to do more,” Smith said. “They’re making history so we can make history also, making the school look better and making them proud,” Smith said.

On Mardi Gras day, the Purple Knight class of 1967 will ride on one of Rex’s permanent floats, The Calliope, which has been used to honor members of the armed forces in previous years. “[The Calliope] is a staple in the Rex parade, sometimes they’ll have military ride on it,” said Elizabeth Segraves, a tour guide at the Rex Den. “It’s one of the ones that you see every year so it’s iconic. It’s perfect that St. Aug. gets to go on it because just like we honor the military we also are very excited to have the first group of St. Aug. that marched with us here,” Segraves said.

Visitors at Rex can also expect to receive exclusive throws from the 1967 St. Augustine band members, thanks to the Rex Organization who designed 10,000 specially created commemorative cups which many of the band members thought were beautifully crafted and were representative of this moment. The alumni said they cherished the opportunity to reconnect and celebrate their accomplishment.

The one motto that has always stuck with the band members and that member Arthur Mitchell hopes will resonate with the younger generations of the band is a mantra one of his teachers gave right before the historic march in 1967.

“You’re a Purple Knight. If it is to be, it is up to me,” Mitchell said.

This article originally published in the February 27, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.