Historic Home Town Theatre - The Lincoln (1948)

In the 1940s, the owner of the nearby Frolic Theatre purchased a 5,000 square-foot building in Bessemer in order to make a new theatre. By 1948, the Lincoln Theatre was open to the public, showing first-run movies to the African-American audiences barred from other theaters due to segregation. However, dwindling audiences—the same problem plaguing the Alabama and Lyric Theatre’s at the time—forced the Lincoln Theatre to close in the 1970s. In 2017, the Lincoln Theatre building was purchased by actor and Bessemer native André Holland. Holland, who has played major roles in 42, Selma, Moonlight and more, purchased the Theatre in order to restore it as a community asset. Join us as Glenny Brock, project consultant, gives an inside look at the ongoing renovation project.