Part 1 of Essay
Inside, the front office near the receptionist’s desk there are vintage copies of Jet and Ebony, magazines geared towards the black population. The switchboard looks like something out of the original “Dragnet,” with quarter-inch plugs and manual phone patching to route calls. Upstairs, Gordy’s apartment has a crib for ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... and most of its facilities look exactly like they did during the label’s heyday. The building was a combination office, residence for Gordy’s family, distribution center, A&R nexus, recording studio, mastering suite, electronics workshop and nursery. Berry Gordy was a featherweight boxer the 1950’s. Who would imagine that there could be such a transition from boxer to record company owner. He wrote that it was in the boxing gym that he saw a poster advertising the-battle-of-the-bands: Duke Ellington vs. St ....