On their way back to Chicago after a series of shows in Mississippi in November 1964, the Staples Singers pulled into a Memphis gas station to fill up. Pops Staples was in the bathroom when the young attendant finished filling the tank. After Mavis Staples paid him, she asked the attendant to bring her a receipt. The attendant responded that if she wanted a receipt, she had to come inside to get it, adding an epithet that starts with an “n.” When Pops returned to the car, Mavis told him what had happened. Pops went into the station to get the receipt and told the attendant that he owed his daughter an apology. Instead of apologizing, the attendant insulted Pops as well. Pops was prematurely gray, which may have contributed to the attendant’s misjudgment of him, and of course the attendant could not have known that Pops had been a boxer as a young man. The end result was that Pops gave the attendant exactly what he had earned—a good thumping.

After the Staples drove away the attendant phoned the Memphis police, claiming he had been beaten and robbed by a carload of black people. He described the car, which the Memphis police soon found. They pulled the Staples family over, arrested them, and took them to the Memphis police station. Mavis later said she had never been as afraid in her life as she was that day as they were being taken into the station. In the car the police had found a box full of cash (the group’s earnings from their shows), which seemed to confirm the story that they were thieves. But as they were being arraigned, a janitor in the station recognized them. “These are the Staples Singers,” he told the cops. “They’re a famous gospel group.” Realizing what had happened, the cops got the group’s autographs, apologized, and let them go. Whether the attendant was charged with making a false report is unknown, but we can hope that he at least was given the humiliation he deserved.

In 1968 the Staples Singers signed with Stax Records and crossed over into R&B and pop. In 1971 their single “I’ll Take You There” went to #1. Throughout the group’s existence they sold millions of records. Mavis Staples, at age 85, is still performing.

Roebuck “Pops” Staples died in Chicago at age 85 on December 19, 2000, twenty-four years ago today.
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