From the African American History Is AMERICAN History FB page: Charlies Place, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (1950) In 1950, The Ku Klux Klan conducted a raid on Charlies Place, a popular Myrtle Beach, South Carolina nightclub, in a violent attempt to stop the emergence of the colored music known as Rhythm & Blues. Owner, Charlie Fitzgerald, opened the club in 1937. During the Jim Crow years, Black entertainers could perform in White venues like the Ocean Forest Hotel, but they could not use the hotel facilities. Therefore, many performers on the Chicken Circuit would opt to stay On the Hill and Charlies Place was the most happening place around. Customers were mixed race and on many nights Whites outnumbered Blacks. One could walk in and find Lena Horne, Cab Callaway or Duke Ellington on stage. Whites and Blacks danced together and helped create the dance known as the shag. In an attempt to stop this race-mixing, Klan members from the towns of Conway and Leesville were recruited to raid Charlies Place and shut it down. At 9 p.m. on August 26, 1950, Twenty-six cars of armed Klansmen came to Myrtle Beach and rode around the nightclub shooting hundreds of rounds. Everyone except Charlie escaped out back. He was attacked and beaten. The only death was a Klansman, shot in the back by another Klansman. When disrobed, the dead Klansman was still wearing his Conway City Police uniform. Turned out he had announced that he intended to challenge a local judge in a coming election. Many locals contend that it was more of a political assassination, rather than a racial incident. (info: South Carolina History Trail, Amazon & Frank Beacham)
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 20:05:29 +0000
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