1. What blues singer chased off a gang of Klansmen at a 1927 appearance in Concord?
2. Forty-two years after North Carolina replaced a Gov. Hodges with a Gov. Sanford, what other state did the same?
3. What aviation breakthrough was achieved in 1915 by the USS North Carolina?
4. Several hundred residents of what town welcome the New Year by firing black-powder muskets?
5. A 47-minute visit by what president inspired the creation of the forerunner of the Charlotte Chamber?
Answers….
1. Bessie Smith. When half a dozen hooded men attempted to collapse the tent where she and the Harlem Frolics were performing, Smith yelled, “What the — you think you’re doing? I’ll get the whole damn tent out here if I have to. You just pick up them sheets and run.” They did.
2. South Carolina, where Mark Sanford succeeded Jim Hodges in 2003. Terry Sanford had succeeded Luther Hodges in North Carolina.
3. The USS North Carolina (the second of four ships bearing that name) became the first ship ever to launch an aircraft by catapult while under way. This experiment led to the catapults used on battleships and cruisers in World War II and beyond.
4. Cherryville. It’s a good luck tradition begun by German settlers more than 200 years ago.
5. Teddy Roosevelt. In 1904 Roosevelt, traveling by train across the South, spoke long enough to tell an overflow crowd at Vance Park, “This is the age of organization.” The next day saw the organization of the Greater Charlotte Club. Motto: “Watch Charlotte grow.”