From Porch Swings to Patios: Oral History Project

Interview of William C. Jackson on December 18, 1980 (with input from Theresa Price; his brother is Edward Jackson, see interview here).

William C. Jackson was born in Charlottesville and has lived there the bulk of his life, with stints elsewhere for schooling and work. His grandmother once owned property where city hall now stands, 609 East Main Street, and that is where the Jackson family business was started. Jackson's family owned several "substandard homes" on Commerce Street on Vinegar Hill. He details other black-owned businesses in the area and their relocations over the years, remarking that many were in decline before the Vinegar Hill urban renewal project finally put them out of business. Jackson and Price talk about pool halls, including the one owned by Jackson's father, as sites for leisure for certain members of the community. Jackson distinguishes the pool hall from the "good businesses" such as insurance companies and barbershops, but adds that the pool hall served as a space for some blacks to eat the food they obtained from segregated restaurants where they could not sit.


Listen to the Interview (60 minutes long):     28.8K     56.6K     Other


From Porch Swings to Patios: An Oral History of Charlottesville's Neighborhoods Prepared by the Department of Community Planning Advisory Board and students of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 1982 - 1984.

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