General Larry Platt - Pants on the Ground singer

General Larry Platt made his American Idol debut on the January 13th, 2010 episode of American Idol on Fox. Platt was part of the American Idol season premiere on the Atlanta auditions episode. Wearing #103519, a pair of dark shades and black/red hat, Platt wowed the judges and America with his smash hit song "Pants on the Ground". Unfortunately, Platt's age of 62 disqualified him from moving farther on the American Idol show.

Larry Platt actually has quite the legacy going prior to his appearance on American Idol. He's been a longtime civil rights activist. When younger he was was shot in the eye as a child, attacked by K-9 dogs and suffered multiple beatings, Platt has called himself a "general of the civil rights movement." and continues to work as an activist in Atlanta and elsewhere.

Back in 1963, Larry Platt began working with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a committee organized to fight segregation. Among their tasks were fighting segregation in public places including restaurants and to organize student sit-ins. Platt was also a student of the late Dr. Martin Luther King and worked with the United Youth Adult Conference to help get volunteers to search for missing and murdered children in Atlanta's Metropolitan areas.

Reportedly, Platt was beaten during the Bloody Sunday march while attempting to cross the bridge from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, but that never stopped his efforts.

Platt received the nickname, "General," from the Reverend Hosea Williams due to Platt's heroic efforts on behalf of the civil-rights movement.

Platt published this letter online in 2005:

"The home-page photograph for this website shows six singers. I am the young man (16 years old) on the left looking at the camera.

We had come by bus in 1963 to a church in Savannah, Georgia to plan a march to desegregate the city. Reverend Hosea Williams and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were our leaders. That particular planned march was canceled and we were singing to raise our spirits before returning home.

This photograph was published in the following book: The Civil Rights Movement: A Photographic History, 1954-1968 by Steven Kasher (New York: Abbeville Press, 1996), p. [100], with the caption "Singing at a Rally, Savannah, Georgia, 1963, Kenneth Thompson [photographer]". The picture is part of the fourth chapter which summarizes events in 1963, particularly in Birmingham, Alabama.

Although not yet a published author, I have been active in the civil rights movement all these years and have many stories to share. "

View the photograph here

In honor of Platt, September 4, 2001 was proclaimed the first official "Larry Platt Day" in Atlanta, Georgia by the Georgia General Assembly.

In the image above are five other generals who are somewhat famous, like General Larry Platt. Can you name each?

1 - General Robert E. Lee
2 - General Grievous (Star Wars Ep III)
3 - G.A. General Austin (Another Bad Creation member)
4 - General Norman Schwarzkoff
5 - General Tso (maker of General Tso's Chicken)