South Pacific
In the 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical South Pacific, Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) and Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) brought the subject of racial prejudice to a mainstream audience. Though advised to drop the song that addressed the root cause of bigotry, “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” they refused. James Michener (1907–1997), author of the book on which the show was based, explained “this number represented why they had wanted to do this play.” When the show played Atlanta, two state legislators charged that it “justifies intermarriage” and was “inspired by Moscow.”
In the 1949 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical <em>South Pacific,</em> Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960) and Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) brought the subject of racial prejudice to a mainstream audience. Though advised to drop the song that addressed the root cause of bigotry, “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught,” they refused. James Michener (1907–1997), author of the book on which the show was based, explained “this number represented why they had wanted to do this play.” When the show played Atlanta, two state legislators charged that it “justifies intermarriage” and was “inspired by Moscow.”