by The People?

Stax’s proximity to the Civil Rights Movement and struggle for black American liberation was well established prior to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., mere city blocks away from the label’s headquarters. It deepened thereafter, as Stax label head Al Bell forged an ongoing partnership with King confidante Rev. Jesse Jackson. Around the same time that Jackson spun off his own Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) from the Southern Christian Leadership Council’s Operation Breadbasket, he’d also ascended as a household name, thanks to the success of a recording of his signature litany, “I Am Somebody.” A recording of the speech, made famous by Jackson at rallies and meetings in Chicago, had gained notoriety nationwide with the help of its own Stax Records LP.