Blog no. 48

Charles Claudius Buford was born on June 14, 1938, in Williamson County, TN, to Ananias Buford and Vernie Grigsby. He has 8 siblings, and their names are Vivian Louise (Buford) Ridley, Ananias Buford Jr., Barbara Buford, Ray Norman Buford, Naomi (Buford) Bailey, Joseph Buford, Ruth Buford, and Hildred Buford. Charles grew up off of Duplex Road, on a road which was named for his family, Buford Lane, and attended the Lee Buckner School that was just down the road from where they lived. He would often help his father with his work as a sharecropper. 

On January 31, 1959, in Williamson County, TN, Charles married Sandra Etta Jenkins. They had two children. Their names are Kawanda Louise (Buford) Braxton and Keith Latroy Buford. The family resided at 2517 Duplex Road until they moved in 2015.

Sometime around 1976, Charles became an alderman of Spring Hill, TN. He was an alderman for the main part of his time in the city’s government, but for a short period of time, around the same time he became an alderman, Charles became the first African American vice mayor of Spring Hill, TN. Along with being an alderman and vice mayor, in 1980, Charles was on the board of the Spring Hill Public Library.

Charles grew up in the time of segregation, but Spring Hill, TN was not like others. Even though both Churches and Schools were segregated, everybody got along well with each other, no matter what their skin color was. African Americans are a huge part of Spring Hill, TN’s history for their hard work and dedication to the city. A few of the many high achieving African American’s from Spring Hill, TN’s past are of course Charles, Bill Hall, Richard Jenkins, Bernard Stevenson, and Saint Clair “Peepsy” Lochridge. In 2011, Charles and the entire Buford family were recognized by the African American Heritage Society of Williamson County, TN as one of the African American pioneer families.

Charles and his wife, Sandra, now reside at their home on Depot Street in Spring Hill, TN, and he is very proud to have served in his home city’s government on the levels that he did.