Browse Items (24 total)

Folklorist Alan Lomax recorded this selection in 1935 in Eatonville, Florida. The selection is broken into two parts demonstrating Florida A&M College graduate Gabriel Brown’s exceptional guitar talent. Brown alludes to working-class hero John Henry…

Library of Congress folklorist Alan Lomax discovered Booker T. Sapps in Belle Glade, Florida. Sapps and other musicians worked the citrus fields in Belle Glade and entertained other farmworkers during their off hours. Working-class audiences across…

Agriculture and other industries brought thousands of laborers to South Florida every year. Alan Lomax recorded Booker T. Sapps in Belle Glade in 1935. Sapps and other local musicians worked in the citrus fields. They entertained other farmworkers…

Miami’s business and political elite developed “slum clearance” plans during the 1930s designed to remove the city’s African American population beyond the city limits. While New Deal housing projects created new segregated areas in Dade County in…

Internationally renowned performers toured the Circuit from the 1930s until the 1970s. Clubs in the Jim Crow South often catered to diverse audiences at the peak of jazz’s popularity in the 1940s. This image of Cab Calloway was taken in the Clover…

The widespread popularity of big band jazz allowed Americans in some cities in the 1920s and 1930s to cross racial boundaries and enjoy the music together. Southern cities were not as permissive as northern cities, but the large military presence in…

African American businesses and homes in Jacksonville were restricted to segregated districts within the city. The Knights of Pythias Hall, depicted in this 1943 photograph, formed the center of Jacksonville’s LaVilla neighborhood. Known as the…

The African American neighborhood centered on West 45th St. and Moncrief Road in Jacksonville was an enclave of segregation on the outskirts of the city established in the late nineteenth century. The Two Spot, pictured here in the 1940s, hosted…

The Two Spot nightclub in Jacksonville’s 45th & Moncrief neighborhood was home to a large dance hall, tables for small and large groups on two levels, and a luxurious soda fountain. Visitors to the club could also rent a cabin on the grounds or watch…

This well-appointed bar in the Two Spot nightclub served dancers, musicians, and partygoers at social events in Jacksonville’s 45th & Moncrief neighborhood. The exceptionally large Two Spot Club was an ideal performance and gathering space for this…