Black Business District
During segregation, particularly from 1920 through 1949, this area of Columbia featured so many African American-owned businesses that it became known as “Black Downtown.” Found within the district were professionals of all kinds, including leading attorneys, doctors, and shop proprietors.
On Washington Street, the district’s main corridor, shoppers could visit the photography studio of Richard Samuel Roberts; the law offices of Nathaniel J. Frederick, Matthew J. Perry, Jr., and Harold R. Boulware; the Victory Savings Bank, the Capitol Theatre, Owen & Paul, Tailors, and the Simkins building, which once housed the Lighthouse & Informer. Only a handful of structures, including the North Carolina Mutual Building, the Pearson-Champion Funeral Home, and the residence of Nathaniel J. Frederick, survive.
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![Capitol Theater, 1920s.]()
Capitol Theater, 1920s. Image courtesy Richard Samuel Roberts Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
