Barber, business owner and community leader who helped protect James Stephenson and defend East Eighth Street
Saul Blair was the son of prominent Columbia businessman Julius Blair and the owner of a barbershop in the city’s Black business district. Like other members of the Blair and Morton families, he was known as a trusted leader whose business provided both a livelihood and a gathering place within the community.
After James and Gladys Stephenson were arrested, Blair joined other Black leaders in raising their bond and helping move James away from the threatened lynching. As tensions grew, Blair and others urged law enforcement to keep the white crowd away from East Eighth Street while they worked to calm and protect the people gathered there. The declaration that there would be “no more social lynchings in Maury County” is most often attributed to Julius Blair, although some accounts attribute it to Saul.
Blair was arrested and prosecuted with other Black community leaders but was acquitted. When he returned from jail, he found his barbershop heavily damaged: its windows and mirrors were broken, its chairs cut and shot, its cash register destroyed and tools and personal property missing. Years later, he said the events of 1946 had changed everyday treatment of Black residents in Columbia, even though segregation and inequality remained.
Saul Blair
