Category: Business
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Freeman Family
The Freeman family played an important role in Blacksburg’s African American community during the early twentieth century. Bessie Briggs Freeman and her husband, Alonzo Freeman, Sr., built their lives and raised their daughters in the Jackson Street neighborhood during the era of segregation. Bessie’s name appeared on the 1919 deed for their home, and she…
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Visiting Famous Performers – Blacksburg Connection
Montgomery County had only one Green Book–listed lodging option: Christiansburg’s Eureka Hotel, run by the Morgan family from the 1930s through the 1970s. This raises an intriguing question: when stars like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington performed at Virginia Tech Ring Dances in the 1960s, where were they able to stay? Our research into this…
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A Safe Haven on the Road: The Eureka Hotel and Montgomery County’s Green Book Legacy
Green Book listings in Montgomery County were few, and Christiansburg’s Eureka Hotel—run by the Morgan family from 1930 into the 1970s—was the only advertised local lodging.
