NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Jefferson Street Sound Museum will hold a special art exhibit for people to see every Saturday this Black History Month.
It celebrates the musicians who stopped by to perform at the clubs and restaurants that used to fill Jefferson Street decades ago and the hundreds of businesses that used to make up the street.
The exhibit is called "Black History in Music: Work, Worship, and Celebration."
Seven local artists will be featured: Benneth Wilson, Elisheba Israel-Mrozik, James Threalkill, Karen Coffee, Michael Mucker, Morgan Hines and Michael McBride.
Visitors will see colorful paintings, photographs, preserved records, sculptures and more all highlighting the excitement that was Jefferson Street in the 1940s through the 70s.
Founder of the museum, Lorenzo Washington, said this work makes sure what Jefferson Street was like in its heyday is never forgotten.
"A lot of the artists and musicians were afraid their legacy was being lost, and we're trying to preserve the legacy of all of this great talent back in the day in the 40s, 50s, 60, and 70s," said Washington.
Karen Coffee, Vice President of the museum, said back then, you could find everything right there on the street and never had to leave if you did not want to.
You had school and church among all of the businesses that made up what she called a "Black Wall Street."
"Bakeries, florists, anything you needed. Restaurants of course and night clubs, but anything you needed was here. So when you look at Jefferson Street now and you have 90 businesses. If you think back then you had over 650 so it's such a big difference," said Coffee.
People can see the artwork from 1 to 4 every Saturday this month.
Tickets are $15 for adults and you can pay at the door if you pop in on Saturday, or you can call 615-414-6675 to schedule a tour.
For people of my generation, in our younger days we spent part of our weekends watching music shows like American Bandstand and Soul Train. That was before the age of music videos. Several years before Soul Train was syndicated out of Chicago, another syndicated R&B show was taped in Nashville at NewsChannel 5. Night Train aired in the 60s and included what may have been the first TV appearance for legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Forrest Sanders has another great look back at station history.
-Lelan Statom
