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Black Tie Affair THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE SOCIETY PRESERVING OUR COMMUNITY’S BLACK HISTORY WITH COMMEMORATIVE AWARDS AND EVENTS IN FEBRUARY
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The African American Heritage Society’s 12th Annual Black Tie Affair will be held on Friday, February 1st, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. at the Embassy Suites in Cool Springs. The organization is pleased to announce American Idol Finalist Melinda Doolittle is serving as its honorary chairperson for this exciting event. Melinda is a proud resident of Williamson County and will be leading the black national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and the audience will have the opportunity to sing along with Melinda. This annual event supports the McLemore House Museum; home of former slave Harvey McLemore, who built the home as a free man and which is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. The event also supports the Society, whose mission is to chronicle the lives and contributions African Americans have made in our community. The theme for this event is the “History of African American Churches in Williamson County.” Awards and certificates will be given out to 31 churches that are still active and that were established by African Americans. The oldest church is First Franklin Primitive Baptist Church in the Historic Hard Bargain neighborhood, which was established in 1865 and the oldest church Association is Lynn Creek, located on Fairground Street and was organized in 1872. The pioneer family being honored this year are the descendants of the Perkins Jordan family who was born in 1848 and died in 1814. He was an ex slave who became a successful free man and Williamson County Courthouse records show that at the time of his death, he owned two hundred thirty acres of land. He provided well for his family and a portion of his farm on Owl Hollow Road still remains in the ownership of his descendants. Also celebrated during Black History month, the immense untapped
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musical talent scattered among local African-American young school children of many years ago, would perhaps never have surfaced had it not been for concerned individuals like Professor T. J. Myers. He would eventually become famous locally launching a successful annual talent show at the Franklin Training School. The school where he taught was located on Natchez Street. His shows were known by many local people as “Procks” Amateur Shows. His shows consisted of such acts as: womanless weddings, singers, dancers, pantomimes, “lip syncs” and dramatic readings. His selection of acts during the earlier years of the 1930’s and 1940’s was sometimes quite humorous. The Proc Amateur Show resurfaced this year as the pre-Black Tie Event sponsored by the African American Heritage Society held on January 19th. There were various acts and performances throughout the evening just as was the case with Professor Myers’s show. One former student of Professor Myers who remembered his earlier extracurricular talent shows was Mrs. Louise Beal Patton, a 1934 graduate of Franklin Training School. She recalled: “Mr. Myers was an interesting person. He would have talent shows every year and people would come from Columbia and Nashville. They just liked the variety, the way he would conduct it, almost like Ed Sullivan, only he talked more and he would say if he didn’t have enough people on the program, he’d say, Boy, come on up here and sing.” And then you would say, “Mr. Myers, I can’t sing.” And he would say, “Yes….you can sing. You can do that. And then you would.” T. J. Myers talent show was a prime example of good, clean fun. In an era of segregation and radio broadcasts, it was these types of events that sustained the community and the social life of Franklin’s African American community children. For more information on the McLemore House, African American Heritage Society or the Black Tie Affair, please contact Table Host Chair, Paulette Johnson at 615-243-7751.