The Middlesex County Museum (MCM) and Historical Society presented a program on “Enterprising Spirits: African-American Entrepreneurs in Middlesex County” on Sunday, Feb. 23, at the Middlesex County Historic Courthouse and had a grand opening of a new exhibit inside the museum in Saluda.
Museum board of directors member Bessida Cauthorne White said the museum and an ad hoc museum committee have been working to document Black businesses in Middlesex County for about five years and it is ongoing.
“You are encouraged to share photographs and documents with the museum,” said White. “These will be digitized and returned to you and also forms have been created to report information about Black businesses.”
Exhibit
The exhibit covers the era of segregation when Black entrepreneurs started businesses to provide services to Blacks who were not being served or served in an inequitable manner by white businesses.
During segregation, Cooks Corner became a business hub for African-Americans as there were several stores, “beer gardens,” a drive-in movie theater, baseball field, and home to the Middlesex Review, a Black-owned county newspaper owned by Gerald Butler Harris. The newspaper’s slogan was “Horizon of Thought — Work, Courage, Intellect, Vision, Wise Planning Are Implements to Growth.”
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Black business committee
The Middlesex Museum’s ad hoc Black business committee has been working on the museum displays for about five years, said White.
The exhibition at the museum can be viewed during regular museum hours on Wednesdays and Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m. and on Sundays from 1 to 3 p.m.
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