Resources in African American History and Civil Rights

at the Tennessee State Library & Archives

Where does the story

of Civil Rights begin?

1624: Africans were imported as slaves to New Yorks Hudson River Valley.

1645: The TRIANGULAR SLAVE TRADE began: African SLAVES were brought to the West Indies to be traded for SUGAR, RUM & TOBACCO, which were sold in New England for LUMBER & MANUFACTURED GOODS, in order to finance the purchase of new cargoes of SLAVES.

Slave auctions

1688: Pennsylvania Quakers organized the

first American protest against slavery.

The Civil War brought many changes,

but exploitation of black workers continued . . .

Fort Negley
Fort Negley was the largest inland stone fort constructed during the Civil War. It was never directly attacked during the Battle of Nashville, and the forts cannons were fired only a few times.
Fort Negley, which covers four acres, was built in 1862, largely by impressed labor. More than 2,700 African Americans built Fort Negley, with only about 300 of them being paid for their labor. Many of the workers died from the lack of appropriate clothing, warm blankets, and adequate food and shelter.

I lost 48 hours trying to get Negroes, teams, tools, cooking utensils, and provisions. Only 150 Negroes so far, no tools, teams, etc. I wanted to employ 825 Negroes by the 11th. (telegram, Gen. Morton to Gen. Buell, August 1862) Fort Negley, Nashville

At African church a negro man shot down by the guards engaged in pressing*. It is the custom of the Military authorities to go to the colored peoples churches on Sunday when they wish to make a big haul of pressed* men. The man died afterwards Briggs attended him. (Diary of Dr. John Berrien Lindsley, September 20, 1863)
* Impressing/impressed: forcing people into military service without notice.

During Reconstruction education began to change Southern attitudes.

Fisk University 1868

The Fisk Jubilee Singers helped make the nation aware of African American achievement.

From the Merl Eppse Papers

The transformation of America after the end of slavery generated many political cartoons.

Cartoons and photographs are often the beginning of sympathy & understanding and, eventually, of change.

Images from TSLA Photo Database

See John F. Bakers book The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation

Household Slaves at Wessyngton Plantation, Robertson County

But Slavery by Another Name* still existed in Tennessee and other Southern states.
State Legislatures came up with an untapped source of free labor: prisoners!
Under the Convict Leasing program, prisoners were rented out to coal companies and other employers during the day & returned to their cells at night. The state made a great deal of money . . . and the prisoners had become slaves again.
*See Douglas A. Blackmons eloquent book by that title (Anchor, 2009).

A man could be thrown into jail for years for such minor offenses as stealing a fence rail to heat his house, or a loaf of bread to feed his family.

Photo of Brushy Mountain Prison from Samuel Robert Simpson Papers

By 1889 TCI was contracting out 60% of Tennessees prisoners for over $100,000 a year. One worker in ten died every year.

One result of Convict Leasing was that white miners were shut out of earning their traditional livelihood. It was only after miners revolted that Convict Leasing ended and prison reform could occur.

How can TSLA help you discover & untangle Tennessees past?

Here are a few of the many ways:

1. The TSLA photo database, accessible from the main page of our web site and easily searchable by subject, contains thousands of photographs, sketches, and other images.
http://tn.gov/tsla/

Images from TSLA Photo Database

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954)

Ray Perkins Calvert photo, 1899 Sumner County child, 1950

from Photo Database

http://tn.gov/tsla/

2. Our Cartes de Visite collection is full of such treasures as this lovely portrait.

This Carte de Visite shows a child with her slave nurse.

3. This Honorable Body in our online Exhibits area showcases the stories of the 14 African American legislators who served in the TN General Assembly in the 19th century.
http://tn.gov/tsla/

19th Century Tennessee legislators:

Tennessees 19th century African American legislators worked hard to make the law more fair for everyone, but after the last of them left office (1888), the Jim Crow laws disenfranchised African Americans for many generations.

TeVA:
4. The Tennessee Virtual Archive (TeVA) contains a wealth of historic images from the treasures in our collection.
It is accessible from our main web page.
http://tn.gov/tsla/

The Harry Mustard Collection chronicles Rutherford County in the mid-1920s.

The Mustard Collection focuses on health issues, as in this image of children lined up for vaccinations,

and this delightful photo of a child visiting a health clinic.

Mustards images spurred changes in Tennessee health standards.

Other relevant TeVA images may be found in Early 20th Century Schoolhouses

The Rosenwald schools, a vital part of early black education in Tennessee, were funded by a private foundation, along with some contributions from individual donors and state funds.

Bells School, Crockett County

Other TN Rosenwald schools

Lauderdale County

Crockett County

White County Gibson County

5. TSLA holdings include a number of drawings and political cartoons,

1866 Memphis riots

Fire in Freedmens Schoolhouse, Memphis, 1866

From Harpers Magazine, May 5, 1866:

Colored Orphan Asylum, Memphis.
TSLA Photo Database

This Harpers Weekly cartoon features Hiram Revels (seated right), the first black Senator,* who was elected to Jefferson Daviss former seat.
*Mississippi, 1870-1871

6. One of the most interesting photo collections at TSLA can be found in the Merl Eppse Papers, featuring images of cultural, educational, and recreational life in Tennessee. cd

Businesses of the 1940s and 1950s

A Pearl High School basketball team

Business class at Tennessee A&I

Young stenographers (undated photo)

Educational celebrations

and social gatherings

The Eppse collection also includes photos of several famous African Americans, including Hattie McDaniel, Louis Armstrong, Marian Anderson, and Jackie Robinson.

7. The Earl S. Miers River Photographs are part of the rich TeVA Collection.

http://tn.gov/tsla/

These workers are called roustabouts.

http://tn.gov/tsla/

This is a favorite from the Miers Collection.

http://tn.gov/tsla/

8. The Fisk University scrapbook of W.H. Fort Jr. contains many historically valuable images. These photos show Langston Hughes on campus and a Nashville flood in 1926.

9. TSLA has a number of important photos and documents from the Civil Rights era.

Images from TSLA Photo Database

Martin Luther King and other Civil Rights leaders used the Tennessee lunch counter sit-ins as a model for effective protest.
Image from TSLA Photo Database

10. Jack Knoxs Cartoons presented a conservative assessment of the times.

Sometimes progress comes slowly.

Monroe W. Gooden, Styles L. Hutchins, & Samuel A. McElwee, members of the 45th General Assembly (1887-1888), were the last African Americans to serve in the Tennessee State Legislature in the 19th century.

In what year was the next black legislator elected?

In
(77 years later)

A.W. Willis Jr., a Memphis businessman & attorney who had worked with the NAACP to desegregate the Memphis city schools, took his seat in the Tennessee General Assembly.

In fact, Tennessee has an interesting history regarding voting issues:

Tennessee has had 3 constitutions,

each new one re-defining who is entitled to vote:
1st Tennessee Constitution (1796): Free male citizens who own property. 2nd Tennessee Constitution (1835): Free white male citizens who own property.

3rd Tennessee Constitution (1870): All male citizens, regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

It took another 50 years before all adult citizens were able to vote.

The Tennessee vote was crucial to ratification of the 19th Amendment, which required approval by the legislatures of 36 states. By early August of 1920 there were still only 35 favorable votes.

But . . . did you know that Tennessee was the last state to ratify the 15th Amendment?

. . . in 1997!
Did you also know that Tennessee granted African Americans the vote before the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870?
On February 25, 1867, the Tennessee General Assembly gave African Americans the right to vote and to hold political office. Governor Brownlow signed the bill into law the following day.

Tennessee has not always been a place where tolerance prevails,

and we have seen violence...

but we also have much to celebrate!

CEREMONY TO OPEN THE CIVIL RIGHTS ROOM L-R: Rev. C.T. Vivian, John Seigenthaler, Rev. James Lawson, Diane Nash, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Dr. James Bevel, Dr. Bernard Lafayette. Nashville Public Library, February 15, 2004. Photo by Gary Layda.

In 2010 a bust of Sampson W. Keeble, Tennessees first African American legislator, was installed in the State Capitol.
Sculptor Roy Butler prepares the Keeble bust for firing.

Visit us soon we are Tennessees treasurehouse!

__________________

Tennessee State Library & Archives 403 7th Avenue North, Nashville 37243

Look under these catalog headings for interesting primary-source items:

CIVIL RIGHTS TENNESSEE

(Newsletters and reports from 1965-1967)

CIVIL RIGHTS PERIODICALS TENNESSEE HIGHLANDER FOLK SCHOOL AUDIO COLLECTION COMMITTEE REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF THE 81ST SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE RACE DISCRIMINATION UNITED STATES
(particularly the two books by Pauli Murray, concerning States Laws on Race and Color.)

A Special TSLA Treasure

Zilphia Horton Folk Music Collection: IV-D-2, Ac. No. 1064 Mrs. Horton collected these folksongs, songbooks, and song sheets between 1935 and 1956 when she was music director at the Highlander Folk School in Grundy County. The Highlander Folk School was the leading training center for southern labor and civil rights leaders for nearly three decades (1932-1961). Most of the tunes collected by Mrs. Horton were songs of social protest. And we have many other Highlander School materials.

Recommended Reading:
David Halberstam. The Children.

John Lewis and Michael DOrso. Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement.
Howard Zinn. SNCC: the New Abolitionists. Tennessee Historical Quarterly: David E. Summer. "The Publisher and the Preacher: Racial Conflict at Vanderbilt University. (Spring 1997) Linda T. Wynn."The Dawning of a New Day: The Nashville Sit-Ins, February 13, 1960-May 10, 1960." (Spring 1991)

Our filmed interview with two Tennessee women who took part in the 1960 sit-ins was webcast from the MTSU Satellite & Webcasting Center in November 2009. Go here to watch the interview:
http://cem.mtsu.edu/video/k-12/discovering-living-primary-sources-what-we-can-learninterviewing-participants-civil

You may be asked to create an account or to fill out a temporary webcast viewing form. This process is free, takes only a few minutes, and does not obligate you to anything.

The civil rights struggle is not over.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward

justice.
Martin Luther King Jr.