NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When we say NewsChannel 5 is committed to positive storytelling, this is a prime example of just that.
“I was doing an interview with this dude named Ben Wilkinson," Sanders said. "Ben is kind of a pop culture historian? I think he’d like that description.”
Forrest has been telling stories in the Nashville market for more than a dozen years.
“He said, 'Have you ever heard of this guy before?' It was this beautiful old piece of promotional artwork, and I had not heard of the name that was on that artwork," Sanders recalled about his conversation with Wilkinson.
“The name was Fetaque Sanders," Forrest said.
When I started as a reporter in 2015, I watched Forrest's stories hoping to learn just from watching and admiring his craft. Now, I have the opportunity to sit next to the best solo journalist in the country. It was a treat to listen to him talk about how this story started, the process, and how it played on air.
“Fetaque was somebody who was hard to find very much on," Forrest said. "Partly because the people that I really needed to talk to about Fetaque weren’t here.”
So Forrest hit the road. He drove 11 hours each way to Florida to gather the elements about Fetaque, who was a prominent magician in Nashville.
Fetaque, a young man from Nashville, was traveling and living life on the road in the early 1930's.
“I hope that you got to learn about somebody that perhaps you didn’t know that much about before," Forrest said.
“He (Fetaque) was magical," said NewsChannel 5's Carrie Sharp. "He brought people happiness. He brought people amusement. And wonder. We can all use that.”
You can watch Forrest's full story by clicking here.
This story by Aaron Cantrell reminds me of my first school in Dyersburg, TN. I was a student at Bruce School from Kindergarten to second grade until the school system was integrated. My parents graduated from this K-12 school in 1960 in one of the city's African American communities. After sitting empty for several years, part of the school was demolished while the rest was renovated and now serves as a community center for the Bruce community in Dyersburg. A local pastor is now trying to do something similar in the Cemetery community in Rutherford Co.
-Lelan Statom
