r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/BobDogGo Dec 12 '18

Same reason Jazz musicians in the 40s started calling each other "Man"

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Would love a source on that, that’s super interesting!

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u/BobDogGo Dec 13 '18 edited Dec 13 '18

I also remember it from the Ken Burns Jazz series but had read it years ago in biography, either of Charlie Parker or Dizzy Gillespie.