“Myrtle Beach was a good place, if you stay in your place, I’ll put it like that.” At the height of segregation, when everywhere else was divided. Black and white people danced together to the biggest R&B acts of the time at Charlie’s Place. How was this possible? And who was the mythic proprietor of this mythic space? Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season early & ad-free in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Introducing Charlie’s Place
Beloved. Notorious. Defiant. Folk hero. These are just a few ways to describe Charlie Fitzgerald, the entrepreneur who owned an integrated nightclub during Jim Crow in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. What happened in Myrtle Beach at Charlie’s Place would come to define a community and generations to come. This is the almost forgotten history of Charlie’s Place. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Charlie's Place
Coming soon to Pushkin Industries!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How did a Black man in 1940s Jim Crow South open a club where Black and white people danced together?
Charlie’s Place was revolutionary, and that meant it was dangerous.
In this 5-part series, host Rhym Guissé explores the unbelievable true story of Charlie Fitzgerald, a mysterious Black businessman whose nightclub became an unlikely site of integration in 1940s Myrtle Beach.
Charlie broke down racial barriers through the power of music and dance, hosting some of the greatest musicians of our time: Little Richard, Count Basie, Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and many more.
But who was Charlie? How did he rise to power? And what price did he pay for achieving the impossible—an integrated club in the Jim Crow South? This is a story of joy and passion that erupted into violence and changed a community forever.
Subscribe to Pushkin+ to binge the entire season early & ad-free in Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin.fm/plus.
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