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The area around this historic marker was once the economic and social hub of Anniston’s African-American business community. The district arose in response to social and economic pressures, including segregation, that affected the African American community of Anniston. Due to lack of transportation to the downtown area, blacks began opening small businesses that would satisfy all their needs. This eliminated the need to travel to the downtown area. This “city within a city” catered to the African American community exclusively.
In its day, there were four churches, six practicing doctors, five barber shops and four beauty shops, three shoe shops, two grocery stores, three service stations, two tailors, a music studio and a photography studio, a real-estate agent, three barbecue restaurants, two hotels, four funeral homes, a fire department, a dry cleaners, and for entertainment, the Gem Theater, the Blue Light Savoy and the Sugar Bowl. The Gem showed movies and hosted celebrity entertainers such as Cab Calloway and Lewis Jordan. (1) At the Blair Hotel, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. held strategy sessions with Rev. Nimrod Q. Reynolds and Dr. Gordon Rodgers.
The District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. You may view its historic district boundaries by clicking here.
There is no wisdom as resolute as the wisdom handed down by those who went before us. The opportunity to capture these stories narrows with each passing day. These are the reasons why Anniston City Manager, Steven Folks, had a historical video produced in 2021 as so to encapsulate these historic stories for all of time.
In attendance for the video’s production were many who have helped define our city, as well as what it means to be from Anniston’s historic West 15th. Steven Folks was joined by Mattie Miller, Nathaniel Davis, Georgia Calhoun, Debra Foster, General Jackson, Anna Washington, and Rev. Jimmy Jackson. Each of these individuals has played a part in West Anniston’s history.
The group represents a wide swath of cultural knowledge. Calhoun, Miller and Washington were all career educators, before and after integration. General Jackson is a business owner, Jimmy Jackson a pastor. Davis was one of the first black postmen working in the city, Folks said. Foster was a city councilwoman representing west Anniston in the 1990s. (2)
These stories were collected in a Sacred Place, a green space sitting at the gateway to West 15th Street in Anniston, an area referred to as a “City within a City.”
“Nobody can tell your history like you can tell your own, I want to make sure we tell the story of what this was all about. This is not just Black history but American history.” – Steven Folks | Anniston City Manager
“I am proud of my home, my school and my community. I am somebody,” – Mattie Miller
In a word, the purpose of this video is to encapsulate the history and wisdom of those who have led the way for so long. By doing so, the next generation will be able to learn and connect to these lessons; thereby, strengthening themselves as well as those who will come after them.
This district was once the economic and social hub of Anniston’s African American community. In its heyday (1940-1950), the District was a “city within a city,” with businesses that catered to the black community. Grocery stores, restaurants, doctors’ offices, barber and beauty shops, a hotel, and other businesses thrived. The Gem Theater showed movies and hosted celebrity entertainers such as Cab Calloway and Lewis Jordan. At the Blair Hotel, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. held strategy sessions with Rev. Nimrod Q. Reynolds and Dr. Gordon Rodgers. The District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
415 West 15th Street, Anniston, Alabama 36201
(1) National Register of Historic Places, Downtown Anniston Historic District (Update and Boundary Increase), 2010. Print.
(2) Nunnally, B. & The Anniston Star. (2021, April 17). Anniston interviews iconic members of Black community for short film. The Anniston Star. Retrieved February 6, 2023
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