Until the 1960s, all film theaters in Lenoir, as in the rest of the South, were segregated: either African-Americans were not allowed as customers or they were limited to a separate section, normally the balcony. Theaters solely for black audiences are associated primarily with the big cities and begin as early as 1906 in Wilmington--at the time one of the largest cities in North Carolina (see: African American Experience of Moviegoing at the Bijou: 1906-07). Certainly larger cities within driving distance of Lenoir had theaters for the black community: Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, among them. Smaller towns had black theaters as well: Salisbury's Dixie Theatre opened in January 1917 (Carolina Watchman 1/3/1917, p. 1) and Lenoir's West End Theatre was already open in 1913.

Relatively little is known about any of the film venues in early twentieth-century Lenoir, but the African-American theaters are the most challenging to research by far. The contemporary press was slanted towards a white audience with rarely a notice about the segregated community and almost nothing at all on their theaters. The trade periodicals have occasional notices of openings and closings, but offer few details. Thus we are aware of the existence of black theaters at certain places and points in time, but very little can be said about the daily life of these venues. They must have served a crucial role in entertaining the segregated side of Caldwell County, yet their shows, their audiences, and the films they exhibited have been largely lost to time. What follows is thus a collection of scraps of information to begin this study . . .

The West End

Lenoir had two main African-American sections in the early twentieth century: Freedman and West End. Freedman appears to be the older of the two, being mentioned in the newspapers as early as 1878. The other community in Lenoir was originally called Scratch Ankle, a pejorative name removed from the maps in 1899:

LOCAL MATTERS . . . The colored people living in what is now known as "Scratch Ankle" have petitioned the town authorities to have the name of their community changed to either West End, Westover or West Side. (Lenoir Topic 6/28/1899, p. 3)

West End was the name eventually settled on, as located on this map, which also shows the rough boundaries of Freedman and downtown Lenoir. The stars indicate the future theaters to be discussed on this and the next web page:

The North Carolina Year Book for 1902 lists a total population of Caldwell County as 15,694. Of these 1,931 are listed as black, or around 12%. Census figures for the period show that this percentage declined steadily over the next several decades: 9.1% in 1920, 8.6% in 1930, and 7.5% in 1949. Employment opportunities and escape from the segregated South no doubt led many African Americans out of the region to the North and Midwest. Throughout the period, Caldwell County's black population remained well below county averages in North Carolina (generally in the 27-29% range). But Caldwell County's minority population was still well above nearby mountain counties. For example, the same 1902 yearbook that listed Caldwell at 12% gives a number of only 391 or not quite 2% African-American in Watauga County.

Pink Anderson

Pinkney K. Anderson (1866/7-1927) was a leading African-American citizen and businessman in Lenoir's West End neighborhood. He was known primarily as a barber, but also ran a dry cleaners' shop as early as 1900:

Have your old clothes Cleaned and Pressed. I make them look like New ones for a small price. Call and see me at the Barber Shop. Resp'y / Pink Anderson. (Lenoir Weekly News 10/12/1900, p. 4)

At this time, his barbershop was located in the Commercial Hotel in downtown Lenoir. Barbering and laundry were relatively promising careers for young black men in the segregated turn-of-the-century South, but commercial existence was always threatened by the whims of the white majority. For example, in 1901, a J.R. Wilson came to Lenoir and openly advertised as the "Only White Barber in Town" (Lenoir Topic 10/30/1901, p. 2). How much business this might have taken away from Anderson is unknown; he did well enough, in any case, to take what was termed as "an extended trip to northern cities" in 1903 (Lenoir Topic 7/22/1903, p. 3). By 1906, he had expanded his commercial enterprise to include a small grocery store near his home in the West End, catering to the black community (Lenoir Weekly News 1/26/1906, p. 3). It was on the second floor of this building that, around 1913, he began showing silent films.

The Sanborn map from December 1913 lists Anderson's store in the West End as having a restaurant, barbershop (in addition to his shop for whites near the Courthouse downtown), and on the upper floor a "MOTION PICTURE THEATRE." The map is re-drawn with additional information here to give the location of Anderson's business:

No doubt, Anderson's sojourn in the North would have exposed him to a variety of forms of modern entertainment. Perhaps this is where the idea of running a motion picture show occurred to him. Whether or not the theater was referred to as "West End" or if that is just the generic place name (i.e., "the theater in the West End"), is not known. No advertising for the theater is known to exist. In fact, aside from the Sanborn map and a late notice on the closing of the theater after Anderson's death, no further information has come to light. Anderson appears to have sold his barbershop in town in 1916 (Lenoir News 1/18/1916, p. 2) and focused on his laundry and dry cleaning business in the West End--what was termed in that day as a "pressing club." Some typical ads give us a flavor for the business and the era:

EVER HAVE YOUR CLOTHES SCORCHED? NOT HERE!

We never burn, scorch nor gloss anyones clothes. We press with hot dry steam that sterilizes your clothes and makes them look as good as new. Tell us and we will hurry for your next suit. ANDERSON'S STEAM PRESSING CLUB AND LAUNDRY (Lenoir News 1/18/1916, p. 4)

Let Us Shape Them Up

I am ready to clean that Palm Beach Suit, Panama and Straw Hat and do all kinds of work in the pressing line / LADIES' WORK A SPECIALTY / Anderson Pressing Club / Phone 79 (Lenoir News 5/15/1917, p. 2)

Outside of advertising and the occasional church notice, little good news was reported from black communities in the white press in this era. When the West End did make the newspaper, the stories almost always involved violence and/or alcohol. During Prohibition (which began statewide in 1909), it was not unusual for whites to find their way into the black community, usually late at night, in search of alcohol and other illegal pleasures. And this was, of course, a sort of golden age for moonshine throughout Northwestern North Carolina. The black communities appeared to be focal points both for the distribution of illegal alcohol and the authorities in search of it.

An all-too-common incident from the era involving Pink Anderson's barbershop in the West End will illustrate the dangers of living in the segregated South of the early 1920s. After patronizing the shop, a customer named Rob Bryant apparently found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time:

SHOOTING AFFAIR SATURDAY EVENING / Took Place in West End--Rob Bryant Is Shot in the Right Thigh

There was a shooting in West End Saturday night around 10 o'clock, and Rob Bryant was the victim of one bullet, and it has been a difficult matter to determine just who was the one that fired the bullet. Bryant had been in Pink Anderson's barber shop and gotten a haircut and shave. He came out of the side door and remarked to some one that he believed he would go home. . . . Rob Bryant had left the store and was nearly on the top of the hill when he heard voices calling on him to halt. He heard footsteps behind him, but before they passed some one began shooting. Bryant was shot midway in the back part of the right thigh. He crossed a barbed wire fence, ran around a house and sat down on a porch. When he found he was bleeding very freely he went in front of the house and saw the lights down the street. He heard some one coming up talking and called to them. They wanted to know who it was. He told them it was "Rob Bryant" and said, "You have shot me." The person who approached him had a searchlight in one hand a gun in the other. It was Prohibition Agent R.A. Kent, who asked him "what the h---- he was was doing there." Bryant replied that he had crossed over the fence "to keep you all from shooting me any more." . . . Bryant was told that he would have to be arrested. He consented to a search of his person then, but nothing was found on his person but about $8 and a few cents. Bryant was brought down town to one of the drug stores and the wound dressed by Dr. Goodman. . . . A.L. Bryant, a brother, and C.H. Holloway carried Rob Bryant to a hospital in Hickory Monday, where an X-ray was taken of the wound. The ball was located half an inch from the bone. It had not been extracted at this writing. Bryant complains of his side hurting him very much. (Lenoir News Topic 10/5/1922, p. 1)

It appears that Bryant was guilty only of walking on the streets towards his house and had the misfortune of interrupting a liquor raid. The fact that he was arrested and then, inexplicably, taken to a local drugstore for a gunshot wound, give some indication of the lack of concern by white authorities. It was left to his family, no doubt at their expense, to seek aid from a hospital two days later. No further news about the case has been found.

So the 1920s passed with Pink Anderson running a dry cleaning business for whites in the West End, as well as side businesses of a barbershop, grocery, and a small cafe. The motion picture show is mentioned again in the 1921 Sanborn map. The only other notice for the theater comes in 1927 when it is listed as permanently closed (The Film Daily 7/26/1927, p. 8). In July of that year we learn the reason:

PINK ANDERSON, COL., DIED THIS MORNING

Pink A. [sic] Anderson, one of the respected negroes of Lenoir, died at his home early Monday morning after a lingering illness of nearly a year. He will be buried tomorrow at the cemetery, and the funeral services will be held at A.M.E. Church at 2 o'clock, Rev. Abernethy conducting same. He was 61 years old.

Pink Anderson was born in Caldwell county, and for a number of years had conducted a store in West End, where he did a go[o]d business among his own people.

Deceased is survived by his wife and two sisters. (Lenoir News Topic 7/18/1927, p. 5)

Pink's wife Cordelia acted as executrix for the sale of the land and businesses, as well as settling all outstanding claims against her husband (Lenoir News Topic 7/18/1927, p. 7 and 7/25/1927, p. 6). By the time the Sanborn insurance map was updated in December 1927, the building is now listed as stores with no mention of a theater. The lot is now vacant and the building itself appears to have been razed by the 1950s.

Summary

The existence of a theater in Lenoir's West End can be summarized in three very brief sources of information: the 1913 Sanborn map, the 1921 Sanborn map, and the notice of its closing in The Film Daily in 1927. We are not even entirely sure if the theater went solely by its location name, "West End Theatre," or had a separate name or names it went by within the community if not the press. Perhaps oral history could fill in some of the gaps here, although we are beyond the living memory of anyone who would have been an adult in Lenoir before 1927.

A bit more is known about the Dunbar Theatre in the neighboring African-American community of Freedman . . .

Dr. Gary R. Boye

Music Librarian and Professor

Appalachian State University

boyegr@appstate.edu