Just in time to kick off Black History Month, the Gainesville Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center hosted its grand opening gala. -- News from North Central Florida's public media stations on http://WUFT.org , 89.1 FM & Florida's 5. Follow WUFT News for more updates: http://www.wuft.org/news/ https://twitter.com/WUFTNews https://www.facebook.com/wuftnews/ https://instagram.com/wuftnews/

The Cotton Club Museum and Cultural Center (CCMCC) is a community collaboration passionately dedicated to preserving, promoting, and protecting the African American history and culture of North Central Florida through education and the arts - with an emphasis on music.

Hundreds of people attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a historic building in Gainesville. The Cotton Club building will now be a museum and cultural center to preserve African-American history focusing on North Central Florida and the Springhill neighborhood in East Gainesville. The building hosted performers in the 1950s such as James Brown, B.B. King, and Bo Diddley. Daughters of B.B. King and Bo Diddley, Patty King and Evelyn “Tan” Cooper, were in attendance as well as county and city commissioners. The board of directors for the Cotton Club has been working on restoring the building since 2003. The name of the building was derived from the Cotton Club in Harlem after musician Sarah McKnight purchased the building. They are planning to host a grand opening of the museum and cultural center in January or February 2019.

Oral History project by Jennifer Lindquist. Short version of interview with Vivian Filer. Gainesville, Florida.

Singing this song has me all in my feelings! You mean so much to me! We are strong, resilient and powerful 💜💜💜👑👑👑 Big love to Chris Robinson who directed this magic!! ✨✨✨ Follow Alicia Keys Online: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aliciakeys/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aliciakeys/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/aliciakeys Website:https://aliciakeys.com/