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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Florence Arabella Blaisdell Diary #5530-z, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received July 2014 (Acc. 102074).

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Encoded by: Laura Smith

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

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• Blaisdell, Florence Arabella, 1870-1961.
• Southern States--Race relations.

Florence Arabella (Crook) Blaisdell (1870-1961) was born in Howard County, Md. She later was a resident of Brooklyn, N.Y., and the mother of child actor William Wesley "Billy" Blaisdell (b. 1908). She died in West Friendship, Md.

The Florence Arabella Blaisdell Diary, 1918-1919, was written while on a cross country tour with a traveling theater company that included her son, child actor Billy Blaisdell. Her entries record locations and her impressions of hotels, food, surroundings, and the company's performances of "Pollyanna." Of note are entries for southern towns in which prevailing attitudes about race are recorded. The entry for 15 December 1918 describes an incident in Anniston, Ala., where an African American soldier shot and killed a white streetcar conductor for refusing him a seat in the front.