Business owner and community leader who helped protect the Stephensons and urged Columbia’s Black community to stand against another threatened lynching
Julius Blair was a prominent Black businessman in Columbia and the father of Sol Blair. He owned a drugstore and pool hall in the East Eighth Street business district, placing him among the community leaders people turned to when James and Gladys Stephenson were arrested. Blair joined Sol Blair, James Morton and others in raising their bond and helping move them away from the threat gathering on the square.
As Black residents gathered to protect East Eighth Street, Blair worked to keep the confrontation from moving toward the square. He told Sheriff J.J. Underwood that the men were not coming uptown and urged law enforcement to keep the armed white crowd from entering the district. 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 Sol.
Blair was arrested and prosecuted with other Black community leaders but was acquitted by the Lawrenceburg jury. During the raid, both his drugstore and pool hall were heavily damaged. He later testified that display cases and shelves were broken, equipment destroyed, money stolen and rat poison poured into ice cream that had not been eaten.
Julius Blair
