The Middlebrook Legacy: We Celebrate Black History
Legacy Award honoree, civil rights activist, friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., ordained minister, community leader and loving father—all titles rightfully attributed to the Reverend Harold Middlebrook.
While Middlebrook has called Knoxville home since 1977, he was actually born in Memphis in 1942, he attended Morehouse College and Lemoyne-Owen College, and was ordained a minister in 1966.
More than 10 years after his ordination, he moved to Knoxville to pastor at Mount Calvary Baptist Church.
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BLK History Month poem by Nikki Giovanni
If Black History Month is not
 viable then wind does not
carry the seeds and drop them
on fertile ground
rain does not
dampen the land
and encourage the seeds
to root
sun does not
warm the earth
and kiss the seedlings
and tell them plain:
You’re as Good as Anybody Else
You’ve Got a Place Here, Too
From Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea, 2002
Beck Cultural Exchange Center to Hold Special Events for Eighth of August 2022
What is the Eighth of August? On August 8, 1863, Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson freed enslaved people. Those formerly enslaved celebrated freedom every year on August 8. The Eighth of August is the day we celebrate freedom.
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Remembering Knoxville's Pioneering Black Baseball Players
Rev. Renee Kesler shares information about the Negro League in baseball and Knoxville's team called the Knoxville Giants. The Giants ballplayers of the 1920s and '30s were memorable. With a new multi-use stadium coming to "The Bottom," history lovers say it's a great opportunity to share their stories and the experiences of other Knoxville African-Americans.
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Knoxville History Project Art Wraps on Magnolia Avenue Celebrate Black Artists
As of a year ago, the four shiny metal utility boxes along Magnolia Avenue could best be described as "utilitarian." They were modern infrastructure upgrades, for sure, but no one probably would judge them to be aesthetically attractive.
The large boxes were being used narrowly to house traffic-signal wiring and electronics - not as a means of merging art and interpretive local history of East Knoxville.
The Knoxville History Project saw the potential for more.
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Street Named for Elston Turner, Sr.
Friends, family and fans welcomed and celebrated Knoxville native, legendary Austin-East Roadrunner, NBA player and beloved coach Elston Turner at a joyful reception on Monday, February 21, 2022. A street in the new Austin Homes neighborhood will be named for him and officially revealed in May.
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Beck Cultural Exchange Center
Learn about the significance of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center from Rev. Renee Kesler.
History of Knoxville Urban Renewal with the Willow St. Project (The Bottom)
Video from the Beck Cultural Center describing Urban Renewal in Knoxville. The video focuses on the Willow Street Project (The Bottom) and the site of the newly proposed stadium for the Smokies baseball team.
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