Chattanooga Pulse

Written by Janis Hashe
Wednesday, 20 August 2008 22:02
First Bessie Smith Heritage Festival headlines Ruben Studdard

There was a time, before it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, that the street heading from downtown through Highland Park was known as the “Big 9.”

“It was the social hub of the area,” says Stacy Goodwin Lightfoot, a board member of the Chattanooga African American Museum. “And we’d like to see it become that again.”

As part on the ongoing revitalization, the Museum and its performance space, Bessie Smith Hall, are staging the first annual Bessie Smith Heritage Festival on the museum grounds and along MLK on August 23.