Charlie’s Place How the Ku Klux Klan Tried to Stop the Rise of Rhythm & Blues by Frank Beacham ISBN: 978-1-4524-6399-5 Second Edition Copyright © 2002, 2007, 2011 Frank Beacham All rights reserved. Smashwords Edition • Published by Frank Beacham This ebook is available as part of “Whitewash: A Journey Through Music, Mayhem and Murder” from Booklocker.com. To see photos associated with this story, visit: http://www.beachamjournal.com/photos/charlies_place/ 116 West 72nd Street, #15B New York, NY 10023 Web: www.beachamjournal.com Email:
[email protected] Smashwords Edition, License Notes This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. Chapter 1 — Shaggin' the Night Away Her stare was as cold as the draught beer she held in her hand. "Why," she angrily demanded, "do you have to bring the blacks into this?" A few feet away, on the dance floor at Fat Harold's Beach Club, middle-aged white couples danced the "shag" to vintage rhythm and blues records. My interrogator at the bar was also white, in her late forties and a diehard shagger—part of the biannual migration to Ocean Drive to celebrate South Carolina's official state dance.