When we think of the "Great Gatsby" flashy life of the 1920s and early 30s, we don't usually think of Pittsboro, NC. But Bill Hamlet uses family photos to tell the story of a small group of young people in Pittsboro--associates of his mother, Virginia (Ginny) Bean--who lived a pretty glamorous version.

In Bill's original article, he noted that he could not explain the presence of the person in blackface in this photo, but commenters on that early version helped discover that Booth Tarkington's "Seventeen" was the Pittsboro High School play in 1929, and that accounts for the costumes in the photo. (Blackface was not uncommon well into the 1970s and there are definitely other Chatham County examples. It is not being glorified or excused here, but it is being acknowledged). We appreciate the comments that helped fill out the context of the story, and Bill has revised his article to include the new information about the play.

You can read Bill's article, which includes more photos, on our website:

https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/Great%20Gatsby%20Life%20in%20Pittsboro%20Bill%20Hamlet.pdf

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