Lecture: Legend Fannie Mae Duncan – Feb. 16

What: Everybody Welcome: A Portrait of Local Legend Fannie Mae Duncan

When: Saturday, February 16, 2008 ~ 2 p.m.

Where: The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, located downtown at 215 South Tejon Street.

Lecture Overview: The inspirational story of African American businesswoman Fannie Mae Duncan is the subject of this free lecture by Kay Esmiol author, educator, and intimate friend of Ms. Duncan. In the late 1950s Colorado Springs could boast that it offered one of the hottest jazz clubs in the West. A successful nightclub and cultural landmark, the Cotton Club featured world renowned jazz performers including Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and Little Richard. The nightclub was owned and operated by Fannie Mae Duncan a young, hard-working, African American woman who became a local legend. With her husband Ed, Ms. Duncan operated the well known Cotton Club from 1948 through the early 1970s. The nightspot was celebrated locally for its appeal to a wide range of community members. Great jazz and a welcoming atmosphere attracted soldiers from Fort Carson and students from Colorado College as well as longtime residents. During a period when racial segregation was common in America, Duncan posted a sign in the front window that read, “Everybody Welcome”. The phrase came to represent not only the welcoming atmosphere of this club but of Fannie Mae Duncan’s significance to the community.

In 1993 Ms. Esmiol, an award winning teacher, was searching for a play with good roles for her African American students. Good material was hard to find so she decided to write her own and based it on Fannie Mae Duncan’s story. During the research for this project Esmiol and Duncan became friends. Before Ms. Duncan’s death in 2005, she asked Ms. Esmiol to become her biographer. The result is a brilliantly researched history into the life of local legend Fannie Mae Duncan.

This program is free and open to the public but reservations are encouraged.

Call 385-5990 to reserve a seat.

Photo by: Lew Tilley Courtesy the PPLD Digitization Project

Click here to see more photos

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