More Than History

Away from the hustle and bustle of downtown’s Elm Street strip, the corner of Gorrell and Plott streets is usually quiet. But on Wednesday nights, tunes drift out of a bright green house unlike any other on the block.

Couples and groups sip drinks at tables in a large living room flushed with shades of green from mint to lime, olive to pine. The smell of food wafts in as waitstaff rush in and out of the kitchen.

On a recent evening, the players were mere feet from the front row tables, the click of trumpet keys audible as the small combo played “Summertime.”

Were it not for the modern synth beat beneath the classic jazz tune, it could have been decades ago, when the Magnolia House wasn’t just a good night out, but an essential resource for Black people in Greensboro and travelers far beyond.

The Magnolia House opened in 1949 and was one of the few places Black travelers could rest under Jim Crow-era segregation. It was listed in the Green Book, a national guide for Black travelers, from 1955-61 as one of the five hotels in Greensboro that were consistently safe places to stay. Traveling Black musicians, including legends like Louis Armstrong, James Brown, and Ray Charles, stayed there when in town.

Once the Civil Rights Act was passed and Black travelers had more freedom, the Magnolia House lost many of its visitors. It finally closed in 1979.

But the house is resilient—as are those who love it.

In 1996, Sam Pass and his wife, Kimberly, bought the house and began nursing it back to health, starting renovations in 2007 and reopening to the public as a historic site in 2012.

“You don’t realize how much of a voice buildings have until you spend time with them,” Natalie Pass-Miller, Pass’s daughter, told The Assembly. Pass-Miller reopened Magnolia House as a fully operational bed and breakfast in 2022.

“As you get to know them and their history, it’s thinking through, well, how do you share their story, through design, art, education, creating this living museum so that the community and the world can experience it?” she said. “The entire story, and what it represented.”

There were once 327 Green Book sites in North Carolina. Magnolia House is one of the few still in operation.

“It definitely is a legacy project, taking the torch and completing the work and expanding it into a broader mission,” she said.

For the Green Book’s 90th anniversary next year, Pass-Miller wants to find ways to honor North Carolina’s sites.

“Jazz is the soul of the house,” Pass-Miller said. “Because the whole purpose of Magnolia House, being a Green Book site, was to create this place of safety and refuge for those artists and musicians to be able to just be themselves, build their talent, hone in on their craft. Really escaping all the pressures and demands and everything that came with the era of segregation.”

Lacy Haith, the trumpet player and leader of the band at the Magnolia House’s Juke Joint events, is an old family friend of Pass-Miller.

He attended Dudley High School, where he crossed paths with Brian Millsap, who became the assistant director of bands at N.C. A&T State University from 2005-13.

“[Millsap] really pushed us to spread our wings as musicians, to show us that you don’t have to work at McDonald’s to make money when you have a gift and talent,” he told The Assembly.

Haith’s tunes and drive landed him a full ride to Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. He’s been playing music full-time since 2012, sharing stages with artists like Erykah Badu.

Haith’s talent could have taken him anywhere, but he decided to return to his hometown of Greensboro.

“This is home,” he said. “I really felt like other states are not as warm as the South.”

He’s not just talking about the temperature.

“The atmosphere is not as inviting [up North],” he said. “Growing up down South, coming up to talk to someone is not the same up there.

“Snow and the people really brought me back to North Carolina,” Haith said. From his base in Greensboro, he tours other Southern cities, like Wilmington and Charlotte.

Often, when local musicians would come to Greensboro and stay at Magnolia House, Pass-Miller said, they’d play at one of the several local juke joints. 

Haith is keeping that spirit alive with Magnolia House’s Juke Joint music education program, which gives the next generation of musicians an avenue to learn and hone their talent before live audiences.

“What I didn’t learn in college is how to network, to get with a booking agency and agent to work full time as a musician,” Haith said.

That’s what he’s teaching players too young to play clubs—like his young student on the electric guitar in Haith’s band.

“It’s the perfect place for kids to come and learn history,” Haith said, pointing to a wall full of photos of famous Black artists. “There’s some stuff you learn here that you don’t even learn in school because they don’t teach it anymore.”

As the Magnolia House approaches its centennial, Pass-Miller says all her work to preserve its history will ensure its future.

“Magnolia House will be the heritage and cultural hub for all things related to the Negro traveler and the Green Book for North Carolina,” she said. “It will be amplifying and giving voice to all the sites and their stories and what they represented. What that looks like, I’m very excited about, and I hope that the community will also be excited and will join the journey with us.”

Check out Magnolia House for more events and educational opportunities. Lacy Haith and his Lite Ice Jazz Band strike up tunes at Magnolia House every Wednesday. Jam sessions begin at 6 and 7:30 p.m.