Note on Black Theaters

Note on Black Theaters

Columbia experienced two separate histories of movie exhibition. This excerpt from the 1920 City Directory shows an example of how theaters were listed. Colored businesses including theaters were indicated with an asterisk. Other editions of the directory used a “c.” The miniscule “c” or asterisk indicates a much larger story, namely, the true nature of segregation (both imposed and de facto) in Columbia, South Carolina, and the South at large. This larger story of segregation, indicated by the City Directory, is much less visible in The State newspaper, which does not mention Black theaters at all. In this research exercise the goal is to add more pieces to the puzzle that is the African-American theater system as well as the general African-American movie going experience in Columbia, through the use of various documentation from the period including maps and directories. Further investigation of the Sanborn maps might be particularly interesting because they provide a big picture of thre relative size of the theaters and where they were located.

Shauntel Foreman

Dominique Thompson

2015-11-3