This week, a Japanese Shinto garden took root in southwestern Virginia because of family connections spanning geography and generations. Also, in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a new mosaic uses recovered objects to honor the town’s people after the flood of 2022. And, the young adult novel Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire mixes historical fact with spooky Appalachian folklore.
Despite Jim Crow Laws and Segregation, Charleston W.Va.'s Nightclubs Were a Melting Pot
Listen
Share this Article
The 1930s, 40s, and 50s in Charleston- before the decline in mining jobs caused many African Americans to leave Kanawha County- those years were electric with music that could be found throughout the city on almost any night of the week. That’s what Hubert “Rabbit” Jones remembers.
Jones made his living as an accountant, but his love was playing improv jazz or the blues with so many of musicians who passed through the capital city. Back then, segregation was still officially law, but in Charleston’s night clubs, blacks and whites would often mingle. Jones played upright bass at many of the nightclubs in town, including many of the white bars, where officially, white people were not supposed to dance to music that was being performed by black musicians. “And of course sometimes the policemen would stop them and sometimes they wouldn’t. And then following the dances some of the whites wanted to come over to the triangle district for the rest of the night, listening to and dancing to black music.”
Credit Courtesy of the W.Va. State Archives, Bernidean Brown Collection
/
Workers outside the Ferguson Theater, 1939.
By “the triangle district”, Jones is referring to The Block, a neighborhood in downtown Charleston that once flourished with many black owned businesses. Today, most of what can be found in The Block is a post office, and an interstate exit. both of which were built right on top of this once vibrant and ethnically diverse community.
Credit Credit courtesy of C.H. James III
/
The first C.H. James Produce Company was located in downtown Charleston on Summers Street
Thursday evening, Jones will discuss his role in some of that community’s history. His lecture will take place at 6:00 P M in at the Culture Center Archives and History Museum on the Capitol Complex in Charleston.
Music in this story was by King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band, playing “Just Gone”, courtesy of WFMU.
Add WVPB as a preferred source on Google to see more from our team
This week, a Japanese Shinto garden took root in southwestern Virginia because of family connections spanning geography and generations. Also, in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a new mosaic uses recovered objects to honor the town’s people after the flood of 2022. And, the young adult novel Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire mixes historical fact with spooky Appalachian folklore.
Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Sanders' iconic items earned big bucks at auction. For the Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, reporter Andrew Henderson went to the auction and hung around for the fried chicken.
This week, having a very specific talent can lead to a dream job. It’s how cartoonist John Rose got his foot in the door to draw the comic strip Snuffy Smith. Also, there are dos and don’ts for treating poison ivy. And, a young, old-time musician wants to save her family’s lost ballads.
For nearly 100 years, Snuffy Smith has been a staple of newspaper comic pages, though these days, it’s easier to find him online. Snuffy Smith was brought to life by Artist Fred Lasswell in the 1930s, but now the strip is written and drawn by John Rose, who lives in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. We hear from Rose about drawing the famous hillbilly.
