Tag Archives: theater

-South Carolina, National Register of Historic Places

Once the Home of the Redneck Shop and KKK Museum, the Echo Theater Has a New Future

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The Echo Theater was built in 1910. Like many theaters in the Jim Crow South, it was segregated. In 1996, it became the site of the Redneck Shop and the world’s only KKK Museum. Protests ensued, but the shop and museum were allowed to stay open.

Local minister and activist Rev. David Kennedy befriended one of the theater’s owners, Michael Burden, who lost his apartment inside the theater. Burden eventually denounced his beliefs and sold the theater to Kennedy for $1,000. Unfortunately, the other owner would not leave the premises until years later after the court ordered him to do so.

The site is now known as the Echo Project, where it will eventually evolve into a museum and diversity center. It has been designated an International Site of Conscience, a place that promotes the history of a site and “justice and a culture of human rights.”

At the moment, there is no projected date of opening.

-Georgia

Reviving Gene Theater McRae: A Telfair County Landmark

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Designed by Georgia architect Bernard Webb, the Art Deco building was built in the 1950s and named after the former governor, Eugene Talmadge, who hailed from Telfair County. At one point, the building featured a black and white background that mimicked the MacRae clan plaid from Scotland to honor the many Scottish citizens who had settled in Telfair County.

In 2015, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation put it on its Places in Peril List as it had not been in use since 2005 and had begun to show signs of wear and tear. Fortunately, an upholsterer is currently using the building. She was cleaning up the space to get ready to open it when my friends and I stopped to photograph it.

-Georgia, Black History, Cemeteries, Famous People, National Register of Historic Places

Ma Rainey-Columbus, Georgia

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Muscogee County

Gertrude “Ma” Rainey Pridgett (1886-1939) is considered the “Mother of Blues.” Columbus, Georgia was her home which is where she was born.

She started performing by the age of 14 and began touring as part of vaudeville and minstrel shows. Known for her dynamic performances, Ma Rainey made a name for herself as she toured the country.

The Ma Rainey house, now a museum, was the home that Ma purchased for her mother and where she moved into upon her return to Columbus. Initially, the home was the typical shotgun that can still be seen in the neighborhood, but Rainey had a new two-story home built. She lived there until her death in 1939. The house was saved from demolition by neglect by committed Columbus preservationists. It was put on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1992.

Ma Rainey rests in Porterdale Cemetery, which was once known as the Colored Cemetery. It was put on the NRHP in 1980.

Opened in 1924, the Liberty Theatre was a segregated theatre that hosted Ma Rainey and other Black artists. Rainey eventually purchased the theater. It was put on the NRHP in 1984.