Painting a brighter future for historic Newtown home

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- by  YourObserver.com
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New College of Florida students (along with Professor Uzi Baram) and Newtown residents came together on April 14 to beautify the Wright Bush home.
The Wright Bush house at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Maple Avenue was once a popular gathering place for Newtown residents and visitors. During World War II, African-American soldiers stationed at the U.S. Army base near the present-day Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport were not allowed to socialize with their white counterparts due to Jim Crow laws. Instead, they mingled at the Bush home, where some of them met their future spouses. Black community leaders used the home to host meetings, and blues musician B.B. King spent a night at the house.
During a tour of Newtown’s historic landmarks, New College of Florida students met the home’s current owner, Margaret Beverly Mitchell Moreland, who said the home was in desperate need of renovations.