Black History Resources & Events

Resources & Events

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POLITICS IN THE MID-1800s

Knoxville City Councilman Daniel Brown has always embraced service - as a U.S. Army soldier in Vietnam in 1970, as a 22-year public servant with the U.S. Postal Service, and as an East Knoxville community leader.

But on Jan. 10, 2011, he made Knoxville history.

This was the day that Daniel Brown became Knoxville’s first African-American mayor.

The sitting mayor, Bill Haslam, had been elected as Tennessee’s governor two months earlier. At the time, Brown was serving on Council as the representative for the 6th District. Brown was elected by his fellow City Council members to serve out Haslam's unexpired term; he served for 342 days. On Nov. 8, 2011, Madeline Rogero was elected, and on Dec. 17, she was sworn in as the City's first woman mayor.

Councilman Brown says he “always had an interest in politics.” He'd majored in history and political science at Tennessee State University.

As mayor and councilman, Brown has focused on Knoxville's redevelopment. It's how the City and its residents prosper, and how neighborhoods get stronger. Jobs are created, and everyone's quality of life improves. One of Brown's particular interests is spurring reinvestment in the Burlington neighborhood.

 

But while Brown was Knoxville's first African-American mayor, the City's black citizens have long been politically engaged. The first African-American aldermen were elected shortly after the Civil War, and in the early 20th century, Knoxville had a "Bronze Mayor," who was selected by votes cast through an African-American newspaper.

Consider this context: In 1860, about one in four Tennesseans were living in slavery. Less than 3 percent of the 276,000 blacks in Tennessee were free. So how did African-Americans gain a foothold in politics in that era?

It started with a few successful City legislative races. Then a gubernatorial run. And 70-something years before Daniel Brown became Knoxville's first black mayor, there was Dr. James Henry Presnell and his honorific mayorship.

Several black candidates ran for political office in Knoxville beginning in the mid-1800s. There was a breakthrough in 1869, when Isaac Gammon and David Brown became Knoxville's first African-American representatives on the Board of Aldermen, a precursor to the 20th century City Council.

Another notable African-American politician during the 1870s was William Francis Yardley. Historian Robert J. Booker says that Yardley “was one of Tennessee's most outspoken citizens and colorful public officials during Reconstruction times.” He'd studied law and became Knoxville’s first African-American lawyer in 1872.

After serving on the Board of Alderman from 1872 to 1873, Yardley in 1876 ran for governor as an independent.

Even though he lost the gubernatorial race, Knoxvillians affectionately nicknamed him “Governor Yardley,” Booker said.

William Francis Yardley was also the publisher and editor of Knoxville’s first African-American newspaper, the Knoxville Examiner, in 1878. He also published and helped establish the Knoxville Bulletin in 1882.

Moses Smith, Knoxville’s first African-American policeman, was elected to the Board of Aldermen in 1874 and 1878.

Flash forward to the 20th century - and the popularity of James Henry Presnell in the 1930s and 1940s.

According to Booker’s research, Presnell owned a medical practice in Knoxville and was respected in the city for his practice of medicine. He won a “Bronze Mayor Contest” in the Flashlight Herald, the African-American newspaper in Knoxville at that time. The “Bronze Mayor Contest” was intended to designate an African-American leader who would voice community concerns.

Booker said that Presnell won the contest “by more than 2,800 votes over his nearest rival.”

In recent decades, African-Americans have served without exception on every City Council. These elected representatives have demonstrated strong leadership. For example, Mark Brown in 2003 became the City's first elected African-American vice mayor, a position he was re-elected to in 2005.

In 2004, the City opened a neighborhood park in Mechanicsville and named it in honor of the late Councilman Danny Mayfield, co-founder of the urban ministry Tribe One and a community leader who represented the 6th District until his death from bone cancer in 2001. Mayfield had run unsuccessfully for mayor in 1999.

Former Mayor Brown believes that societal perceptions of African-Americans are positively changing - and he encourages all Knoxvillians to continue to be open-minded and politically engaged.

“I hope I am not the only African-American mayor that we are going to have in this city,” he said.

Painter Carl Hess unveils his portrait of former Mayor Daniel Brown. It hangs in a fifth floor City County Building gallery of mayors' portraits.

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BECK CULTURAL CENTER

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Learn more at BeckCenter.net

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center is a historic community treasure dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting artifacts and other evidence of contributions relating to the history and culture of African-Americans in East Tennessee and America, while creating educational experiences that promote wisdom for present and future generations.


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.



Learn about the significance of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center from Rev. Renee Kesler.



Listen to Rev. Renee Kesler, Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Discuss the MLK Legacy



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.



City Council Passes Resolution Asking to Exonerate Maurice Franklin Mays

Maurice Mays was executed in 1922 at the Nashville State Penitentiary for killing a white woman in Knoxville, however, experts and court documents show there was no evidence that he had committed the crime. 

101 years later, Knoxville City Council recognized that injustice by unanimously passing a resolution asking Governor Bill Lee to exonerate Mays.

The resolution passed unanimously and all Council members wanted their names as a co-sponsor of the resolution.
Read More  |  Watch WBIR Video


New Mural at Beck Cultural Exchange Center Promotes Local Heritage

“In every conceivable manner, the family is link to our past, bridge to our future.”
 
This is one of the most famous quotes by American author Alex Haley whose 13-foot statue gazes over Knoxville’s Alex Haley Heritage Square in Morningside Park.

Haley published his book, “Roots,” in 1976, which explored the African-American’s (as well as all Americans) right and necessity to understand his or her heritage.

Just across the street, the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, a non-profit museum that preserves African-American history of the region, recently unveiled an art piece that celebrates the roots and lineage of local African-Americans.

"At Beck, we are dedicated to the rich legacy of great people, places, and artifacts that make up this beautiful region of our country,” said Renee Kesler, President of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center.
Read More


Stadium Statues Celebrating Excellence

Brian Hanlon is a classically-trained world-renowned master sculptor, and 70 of his works have graced the Major League Baseball and National Football League stadiums.

But Hanlon says it's the seven bronze statues he sculpted for Covenant Health Park in Knoxville that stand out to him amongst all the others.




Most of the statues pay tribute to the 1920s Knoxville Giants, an inaugural Negro league team, and team leaders like Walter Claude "Steel Arm" Dickey and Forrest "One Wing" Maddox.

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center guided the process and worked closely with Hanlon and the Knoxville Smokies baseball team to make sure the historical interpretation was accurate and contextual.

It was important to all the project partners, including the City, that with the opening of Covenant Health Park — where, decades ago, a historically black neighborhood known as “The Bottom” had once stood — that homage be paid to those who were there playing ball there first: The Knoxville Giants. 

Hanlon, the Smokies and the Beck Center all shared the same hope — that the statues will help preserve a piece of little-known local history while also bringing connection and recognition for the Giants' achievements from across the community.

“The simplicity is beauty, and the simplicity here is that we’re telling the truth of what happened there, and celebrating excellence,” said Hanlon.


The construction of a stadium in a blighted, long-vacated part of East Knoxville also created an opportunity to increase awareness of the experiences of the Knoxville African-American families and business owners who had lived and worked in "The Bottom," the area near First Creek. Five decades ago, the Riverfront-Willow Street Urban Renewal Project decimated that part of Knoxville's Black community.

The statues in a public plaza on the northeast side of Covenant Health Park "empower us to learn and move forward with correctness and acknowledgement,” Hanlon said.

With warmer weather (and baseball season) approaching, and the recent renewed interest in understanding all of Knoxville's history, there is hope that school groups will begin to take advantage of historical artifacts and statues at the stadium.

Chris Allen, CEO of Boyd Sports, said that the team hopes this spring to begin making the stadium more available outside of game-time hours.

Owner Randy Boyd was one of the driving forces in Knoxville and Knox County jointly building a MLB-quality publicly-owned stadium with four public plazas — as well as incorporating local history throughout the stadium, including Hanlon's sculptures.

“Randy Boyd envisioned all of this, envisioned it since the day he bought the team,” Allen said.

Boyd doesn't seek credit for his role in personally funding many of the stadium's amenities. So his contributions sometimes go unspoken. But without his support and insistence on partnering with the Beck Center, it is safe to say the century-old Knoxville Giants would have gone underrepresented at Covenant Health Park.

“It takes someone like Randy Boyd to have the spiritual, intellectual fitness to follow through with this meaningful display,” Hanlon said.

- Written by Reagan Murphy, a University of Tennessee sophomore and 2026 spring semester intern with the City's Communications Department


Learn Your Heritage, Utilizing Genealogy Tools

“Our heritage is a big part of who we are, and at Beck, we strongly encourage anyone who isn’t familiar with their genealogy to get started on it today,” said Kesler.

Because of lack of documentation prior to emancipation, it can be challenging for African-Americans to get started on genealogy.

Here’s a start with some local resource tools:

https://sos.tn.gov/products/tsla/african-american-genealogical-resources-tennessee-state-library-and-archives

https://www.accessgenealogy.com/black-genealogy/tennessee-african-american-genealogy.htm

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Knox_County,_Tennessee_Genealogy

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JUNETEENTH

2025

Click here for info on the 2025 Annual MLK Jr Parade and Celebration on Juneteenth.


2024

There was a great turnout of participants and spectators for the 2024 MLK Jr Parade and celebration on Juneteenth. Dozens of City staffers and many of our Summer in the City interns helped celebrate the day by marching from Chilhowee Park to Dr. Walter Hardy Park. City Comms captured the day in video and still pictures. Check out the highlights.

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MLK COMMISSION

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Learn more at MLKKnox.org

Each year the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Commission Celebrates King Week in January in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Commission leads the community effort of various events paying tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A wide variety of educational, inspirational and celebratory events take place at locations across Knoxville.

2022 MLK Commemorative Commission Leadership Awards Luncheon

Knoxville's Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission celebrated their 40th anniversary at the annual MLK Leadership Awards Luncheon on January 13, 2022. Several City staff members attended, as well as local community and business leaders. The event was thought-provoking, hopeful and celebratory -- especially when our very own Director of Community Empowerment Charles Lomax Jr. received the Award for Diversity Champion. Author Nona Jones gave the keynote presentation. See videos below.

MLK, Jr. Commemoration Set for January 12, 2022 through June 19, 2022

The MLK Commemorative Commission will observe the 40th Annual King Week Celebration starting January 12, 2022. The 2022 theme, "Forty Years of Not Turning Around; Continuing the Journey for Justice and Equality", is attributed to the Dream and the Dreamer who affirmed, "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. And Justice is really love in calculation. Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love."
View Commemorative Events

MLK, Jr. Commemoration Set for January 13, 2021 through June 19, 2021

The MLK Commemorative Commission will observe the 39th Annual King Week Celebration starting January 13, 2021. The 2021 theme, A Legacy of Righteous Purpose: Social Justice and racial Equality - A Must Reality, is attributed to the Dream and the Dreamer who affirmed, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars".
View Commemorative Events

Knoxville's MLK Commission Plans Events for King Week 2020

For the 38th year, Knoxville’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission presents its annual King Week Celebration, which includes several opportunities to contemplate the life and legacy of the civil rights leader. This year’s theme – “Let Freedom Ring: Through Social Justice, Economic Empowerment, Love, Peace and Unity” – will echo through the week’s events and is reflected in the works on display through Jan. 31 in the MLK Gallery of Arts Tribute exhibit at the Arts and Culture Alliance at The Emporium, 100 S. Gay St. 
Read More

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ODD FELLOWS CEMETERY

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

UTK Odd Fellows Cemetery Project

UTK Odd Fellows Cemetery Initiative

Restoration of Odd Fellows Cemetery Continues with City Support

Feb. 15, 2019

It had become a field of weeds and destroyed tombstones. 

Odd Fellows Cemetery, one of Knoxville’s first African-American cemeteries, was neglected and overgrown. Then, in 2009, a community restoration effort began with the University of Tennessee School of Architecture, the volunteer-based Knoxville ReAnimation Coalition and the City of Knoxville. 

Established by various civic groups in the early 1880s, Odd Fellows serves as the resting place for some of the city's most prominent early black residents, including Cal Johnson, Knoxville's first black millionaire. 

The work of restoring and preserving the cemetery’s history continues today on the property, which is located on Bethel Avenue and adjoins Walter Hardy Park off Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. 

“For several years we have helped a great deal with markers that had been knocked down and clearing weeds,” said Chad Weth, the City’s Public Service Director. “And we have supplied gravel, wood chips and other materials for pathways at the cemetery.” 

Work also included planting trees and paving to protect and preserve the site.

“We also regularly supply rakes, shovels, wheel barrows and other tools for volunteers who are helping to beautify the cemetery,” Weth said. Public Service workers mow the cemetery several times a year.

“Any time we can help provide assistance to a historic area in Knoxville, it is well worth our time. This cemetery was very unsightly and overgrown, and with it being in the center of a neighborhood, it has been very important and a much-needed project.”

Public Service employees have even cleared areas with Bobcats and used open spaces of the cemetery as a kind of training site for employees, while maintaining parts of the cemetery at the same time with chainsaws when appropriate. 

Over the years, the City has celebrated the work and recognized the ongoing project to bring attention to this historic cemetery. 

In Spring 2012, Mayor Madeline Rogero, along with Councilman and former Mayor Daniel Brown, Steven Scruggs of the Knoxville Reanimation Coalition, and Katherine Ambroziak, Assistant Professor of Architecture at the UT, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Odd Fellows Cemetery at the intersection of South Kyle Street and Kenner Avenue.

Other work continues to bring about change at the cemetery. UT faculty members have worked with more than 1,500 community and student volunteers from Project GRAD, Chi Sigma Iota and Liberty Church to help map the cemetery's 250 stones.

Progress toward reclaiming Odd Fellows Cemetery as a public space could not be achieved without support from the City of Knoxville, said Ambroziak, who works with community volunteers and the Knoxville ReAnimation Coalition in continued restoration of the property. She also works with high school students to develop art projects to engage them in the rich history of the cemetery.

“The City continues to support us with donated materials, use of equipment and offers guidance with people interested in contributing to the project. We are so fortunate to have the City's support and blessing,” Ambroziak said.
 

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TRAVELERS GREEN BOOK

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

View Copies of the Green Book

The "Green Book," a travel guide created for African Americans from the 1930s through to 1960s, was brought to the notice of many people this year through a movie by the same name that won Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The Beck Cultural Exchange Center has used a photocopy of the 1956 Green Book as a teaching tool for many years. The Green Book illustrates the realities for African Americans traveling in the South during a time when Jim Crow laws allowed businesses to discriminate against people of color, determining where they could stay and eat in America. The actual title of the book was the “Negro Motorist (later Travelers') Green Book,” and it was published from 1936 to 1966.
Read More about the Travelers' Green Book

Digital Copies of the Green Book Online

The New York Public Library has several versions of the Green Book available to view online.

View Historic Copies of the Green Book

Former Black-owned Motel Will Get New Life as Supportive Housing

A former Black-owned motel that provided lodging for Black travelers in Knoxville during the segregation era will soon provide much-needed permanent supportive housing for men with prison records. 


Future home of Dogan-Gaither Flats, per Google street views Feb. 2019

The building with the double butterfly roof at 211 Jessamine, between Jackson and Magnolia avenues, was built in 1963 as the Dogan-Gaither Motor Court. During the 1960s, it was one of very few places that Black travelers to East Tennessee could find lodging during a time when a majority of area motels refused to serve Black customers. 

The building’s new incarnation will be as Dogan-Gaither Flats, 16 one-bedroom units of supportive housing owned by 4th Purpose Foundation, a Knoxville-based criminal justice reform philanthropy, and managed by Men of Valor, a nonprofit focused on reducing recidivism among ex-offenders through “encouragement, support, accountability, and training.” 

“We are happy to see this life-altering housing and reform model expand here in Knoxville,” said Mayor Indya Kincannon. “We want to help decrease recidivism rates and increase success stories for these men. One way we can help do that is by ensuring this is an affordable-housing option as they reintegrate in our community.”  

The City invested $480,000 from its Affordable Rental Development Fund to support the housing project. City Council voted to approve the funding on Jan. 26. 

One of the building’s previous owners, Bittle and Sons, received $50,000 from the City’s Commercial Facade Improvement Fund during a 2013-14 renovation project, during which it invested $12,500 of its own funds. This was one the first façade projects in the Magnolia Warehouse district. 

“Many City goals overlap in this project,” says Charles Lomax, Director of the City’s Office of Community Empowerment. “Affordable housing is necessary to help justice-system-impacted individuals get back on their feet and take full advantage of another opportunity.

“One of the challenges we’ve identified in our community is people who have criminal records finding employment, and this project addresses those barriers to opportunity and success.” 

Who were Dogan and Gaither? They were Knoxville couple Alexander D. Gaither and Dorothy Dogan Gaither. He was born in Mechanicsville and graduated from Knoxville College. She grew up in the neighborhood east of downtown, daughter of Nathan Dogan, a career bellman at the Farragut Hotel and a prominent member of the Black community. 

The Dogan Gaither Motor Lodge at 211 Jessamine -- 28 units with TVs and air conditioning, plus a restaurant and a tavern--hosted stays by musical luminaries Cab Calloway and Ray Charles. But it was not the couple’s first venture. It was the motel’s second incarnation in just a few years. 

On July 28, 1957, Alexander and Dorothy had welcomed Knoxville Mayor Jack Dance as a guest speaker to the grand opening of their 20-unit motor lodge at 208 E. Vine Avenue near Central Street. 


Photo of the original Dothan-Gaither Motor Court, care of Beck Cultural Center

In 1959, that motel was listed in the Nationwide Hotel Association Directory and Guide to Travelers, a publication like the famous Green Book guide that assisted Black travelers in the Jim Crow era to find welcoming restaurants, gas stations, lodgings, etc. 

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However, the motel at Vine Ave was a casualty of the “Downtown Loop construction,” part of the urban renewal projects that created the Summit Hill Drive and James White Parkway and displaced a large community of Black businesses and homes, including the Dogan family home on East Main. 

The Dogan-Gaither Motor Lodge was one of the few Black-owned businesses displaced by urban renewal to survive. 

“It’s fitting that people who need to find a safe and welcoming place to stay along their journey will once again find that at the motel built by Alexander and Dorothy,” Lomax said.

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CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 COMMEMORATION

2014 marked the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. To commemorate that landmark legislation, and to discuss civil rights progress and challenges in the decades since, the City of Knoxville and partners across East Tennessee will be hosting a series of events throughout 2014. 

Under the title "Unfinished Business: Then, Now & Going Forward," the series included lectures, films, panel discussions and other events. 

Schedule of Events:

FEB. 28, 2014 - Political Roundtable Discussion on Title I & Title VIII - "Voting, Voting Statistics and Districting"
TIME: 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Brown Bag Lunch
LOCATION: Small Assembly Room -City County Building
The panel will be led by moderator Robert Booker, a former Tennessee state representative and Knoxville City Councilman, and current Executive Director of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. Panel members will include state Rep. Joe Armstrong; City Councilman and former Mayor Daniel Brown; Knox County Election Commission Chairman Chris Heagerty; and Bill Lyons, Deputy to Mayor Madeline Rogero and a former political science professor at the University of Tennessee. This is a FREE brown-bag affair and attendees are invited to bring a lunch. 

MAR. 25, 2014 - Tennessee Human Rights Commission (THRC) - "The State of Humans Rights in Tennessee"
TIME: 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
LOCATION: UT Extension Campus - Large Meeting Room, 1801 Downtown West Blvd, Knoxville , TN 37919 
The Tennessee Human Rights Commission will hold Hearings in Spring 2014 in communities across the state. Leaders from community organizations, government, advocacy groups and researchers will bring testimony related to their own areas of expertise. These written and oral testimonies will be included in the forthcoming report, "The State of Human Rights in Tennessee" from the Commission. The final report will include information from those bringing testimony in addition to statistics, trends and information from the Commission's own work, safeguarding individuals from discrimination through enforcement and education. For more information contact Susannah Berry at 615-253-1608 or [email protected] or register at http://knoxvillehearing.eventbrite.com.

APR. 4, 2014 - Art Opening of "Bittersweet Harvest"
TIME: 5:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Casa HoLa, Suite 109, 100 S. Gay St. (Emporium Building) 
HoLa Hora Latina will have the opening of "Bittersweet Harvest" - a collection of powerful posters which depict the struggle of migrant workers. The exhibit will continue until April 24. For additional information contact [email protected] or 865-335-3358.

APR. 5, 2014 - A special screening of Cesar Chavez Movie
TIME: 3:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Regal Pinnacle Stadium 18 in Turkey Creek
Centro Hispano de East Tennessee, HoLa-Hora Latina, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of East Tennessee and Regal Entertainment Group - invite you to participate in a special screening of the new movie Cesar Chavez, with remarks by Mayor Madeline Rogero following the movie.  Mayor Rogero postponed her college studies in the mid-'70s to work with Cesar Chavez to help farm workers improve their living and working conditions. The master of ceremonies will be WVLT's Marco Villareal. We encourage you to purchase your tickets in advance. You can do so on line at www.REGmovies.com starting April 1. 

APR. 11, 2014 - ECHO Fair Housing Conference
TIME: 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Rothchild's, 8807 Kingston Pike
Cost $65. 30 scholarships are available to citizens who are interested. Registration is required. Contact 865-215-3345 or 865-594-6494.

APR. 22, 2014 - City of Knoxville, Community Development Week Equity Awards Recognition
TIME: 7:30 a.m.
LOCATION: Standard, 412-416 Jackson Ave.
"Remembrance, Reflections and Recommitment." Invitation only. 

APR. 23, 2014 - Todd Purdum Book Signing and Lunch
TIME: 12 Noon-1:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Beck Cultural Exchange Center, 1927 Dandridge Ave.
Todd Purdum, NY times writer and author of "An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964" will participate in a Book Signing and Lunch. 

APR. 25, 2014 - Former Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley and U.S. Attorney Doug Jones
TIME: 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
LOCATION: Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, 1807 Dandridge Ave
Baxley and Jones prosecuted the four men who bombed the 16th Street church and killed the four little girls. They will discuss this case, present their prosecution method and answer questions. Moderator Rev. Charles Fels. This is a FREE event. 

JUN. 19, 2014 - Film Festival - "Amos 'n' Andy Seminar"
TIME: 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Beck Cultural Exchange Center, 1927 Dandridge Ave
Seminar will highlight the relative historic significance of the show and present a re-evaluation of this African American comedy show that was suppressed due to racial stereotypes. This festival will compare and contrast the comedy of yesterday (1964) and the comedy (2014) of today. This is a FREE event. Contact Brad Reeves at 865-215-8856 or [email protected] or contact Robert Booker at 865 524-8461 or [email protected].

JUNE 19 - "Mass Meeting"
TIME: 6:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Payne Avenue Baptist Church, 2714 MLK Blvd.
Sponsored by Knoxville District Baptist Association and Knoxville Interdenominational Christian Ministerial Association Keynote Speaker - Rev, Dr. C.T. Vivian. Dr. Vivian was honored for his vision and leadership in the fight for justice when he was awarded this Nation's highest civilian honor - The Presidential Medal of Freedom. Among his many leadership roles, he has served on the board of the Center for Democratic Renewal and the National Voting Rights Museum. He currently serves as a and founding Board Member of Capital City Bank, a Black-owned bank in Atlanta, and is also Board Chair of BASIC Diversity, Inc., the Nation's oldest diversity consulting firm. He has provided civil rights counsel to Presidents Johnson, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and Obama, and he continues to lecture on racial justice and democracy throughout the world. 

JUL. 2, 2014 - Commemorative Civil Rights March
TIME: 6:00 p.m. (line-up begins at 5:00 p.m.)
LOCATION: March begins at Knoxville Safety Building at 800 Howard Baker Jr. Ave. (KPD) and ends at Mt. Olive Baptist Church at 1601 Dandridge Ave.
For more information please contact David Twiggs at 865-300-2154 or [email protected] or Marva Martin at [email protected]. Sponsored by Visit Knoxville, Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, Tennessee Valley Authority, KJCFF, Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Knoxville Area Transit, Faith Coalition, Metropolitan Planning Commission, Knoxville Jewish Community Family of Funds and City of Knoxville.

JUL. 2, 2014 - Celebration of Civil Rights Bill Signing - Legendary Civil Rights Leaders Rabbi Israel Dresner and Dorie Ladner will Speak
TIME: 7:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Mt. Olive Baptist Church, 1601 Dandridge Ave
Following the Commemorative Civil Rights March, Legendary Civil Rights Leaders Rabbi Israel Dresner and Dorie Ladner will speak. In 1961, Ladner became involved with the Freedom Riders in Jackson and was able to learn her first lessons in nonviolent action. In December 1962, she was arrested for attempting to desegregate a Woolworth's lunch counter. That same year, she joined with Robert Moses, Mississippi Project director for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and others from the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and began working to register disenfranchised black voters and to end racially segregated public accommodations. Rabbi Dresner was the foremost rabbinic participant in the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s and was one of the three rabbis who were closest to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King spoke on two occasions (1963 and 1966) to Rabbi Dresner's synagogue in Springfield, N.J. He was the first Rabbi arrested in the freedom struggle in 1961 in an interfaith clergy freedom ride. President Obama honored the Rabbi at the White House the evening before the 50-year anniversary celebration of the March on Washington. Program is  free.  Sponsored by Visit Knoxville, Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, Tennessee Valley Authority, KJCFF, Beck Cultural Exchange Center, Knoxville Area Transit, Faith Coalition, Metropolitan Planning Commission, Knoxville Jewish Community Family of Funds and City of Knoxville.

SEPT. 5, 2014 - "Celebrating local African-American history and the Civil Rights Movement " - Viewing of Knoxville Civil Rights footage, art exhibits by Simms Fine Art and Geneva Gallery and musical performances. 
TIME: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: East Tennessee History Center 601 Gay St. 
Sponsored by Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound (TAMIS) and the Knox County Public Library. Contact TAMIS at 865-215-8856 or [email protected]. This footage goes as far back as the 40's and highlights some of the leaders that set the foundation for the Civil Rights Movement. See lots of live footage of Mechanicsville, Lonsdale, Downtown and east Knoxville before Urban Renewal. There is footage of students and the acting principal of Mtn. View Elementary School before it was closed. Mt. Calvary Baptist Church on Dandridge Ave is now on that site now. Footage also available of Knoxville College in its prime plus more. Refreshments served.

OCT. 18, 2014 - Civil Rights March for Historical Black Colleges and Universities
TIME: 11 a.m.
LOCATION: Knoxville College Campus, 901 Knoxville College Drive
Sponsored by Knoxville College Homecoming Committee and City of Knoxville. 

OCT. 18, 2014 - Cultural Festival on the Lawn
TIME: 12 Noon
LOCATION: Knoxville College Campus, 901 Knoxville College Drive
Festival to include vendors, food and exhibits. Sponsored by Knoxville College Homecoming Committee and City of Knoxville. 

OCT.  19, 2014 - Ecumenical Civil Rights Worship Service and "Silver Rights Reception"
TIME: 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon 
LOCATION: Fourth United Presbyterian Church at 1323 N. Broadway
Sponsored by Knoxville College Homecoming Committee and City of Knoxville. 

DEC. 10, 2014 - Unfinished Business: Then, Now and Going Forward
TIME: 5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Beck Cultural Exchange Center, 1927 Dandridge Ave. 
The event will recap what's been learned in the past year and invite Knoxvillians to look ahead for ways to continue to embrace inclusion and diversity.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 Commemoration Sponsors:

Beck Cultural Exchange Center
Centro Hispano
Children's Defense Fund "Haley Farm"
Faith Coalition
Highlander Center
Hola Latino
Knox Bar Association
Knox County School Systems
Knoxville District Baptist Association
Knoxville Interdenominational Christian Ministerial Alliance
Knoxville Jewish Alliance
Knoxville Jewish Community Family of Funds
Leadership Knoxville
Martin Luther King Commemorative Commission
Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority
Metropolitan Planning Commission
National Coalition of 100 Black Women of Greater Knoxville
TVA
U.T. Knoxville - Vice Chancellors Office of Equity and Diversity
Visit Knoxville

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VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965 COMMEMORATION

The City of Knoxville is planning a series of events in 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This legislation outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the United States. 

The series will kick off with a special screening of the new film "Selma" at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 10, at Regal Cinemas' Pinnacle Turkey Creek theater, 9674 Parkside Drive. The acclaimed drama portrays the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr., and the political negotiations behind the Voting Rights Act. 

The Voting Rights Act prohibits states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite" to "deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color." Specifically, Congress intended the act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote, a principal means by which Southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising the franchise. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act into law on Aug. 6, 1965, just 13 months after signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Schedule of Events

SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015

"Selma" movie showing at Regal Cinemas' Pinnacle Turkey Creek theater
Location: 9674 Parkside Dr.
Time: 3 p.m. 
More Info: The acclaimed drama portrays the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches led by Martin Luther King Jr., and the political negotiations behind the Voting Rights Act. 
Tickets: Tickets to the special Jan. 10 screening are available for $8 adult and $7.50 for children and senior citizens and advanced purchasing of your ticket is encouraged. The movie is rated PG-13. Local Civil Rights leaders who participated at the grassroots level to register voters or on the national level at the White House will offer first-hand accounts of their experience. The City is offering KAT bus transportation to the movie leaving promptly from the Civic Coliseum parking garage at 2:00 returning around 6:30 p.m.. The vehicles seat up to 6 mobility devices. 

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

"Let Us March on Ballot Boxes" - a commemorative march in remembrance of "Bloody Sunday."
Location: March starts at corner of Gay St. and Blount Ave.
Time: 1 p.m. Lineup begins, 2 p.m. Step-off time 
More info: No motorized vehicles or animals, mobility devices and service animals are permitted, release form needs to be completed and submitted
Shuttle: 12:45 - 1:45 p.m. from the coliseum parking garage to the corner of Gay St. and Blount Ave
Route: Begin at Gay St Bridge and Blount Ave., cross Gay St Bridge, right on Hill Ave, left on Hall of Fame, end at coliseum.In the event of inclement weather stay tuned to your local TV and radio stations for announcements or call 865-215-3867 about the march. 
Following the March: 3:00 Program - Coliseum Ballroom. Voting Registration will be available. 
Cost : Free 

FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2015

Knoxville Area Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Conference at Rothchild's Catering and Conference Center
Location: 8807 Kingston Pike
Time: 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Agenda Items: Overview of the Civil Rights Movement,Fair Housing 101, Immigration/National Origin Issues, Reasonable Accommodations, Predatory Lending, Fair Housing Act Commemoration, Walk for Equality
Registration Fee: $65.00
Note: There are a limited number of scholarships available to neighborhood residents Contact: Jennifer Bell at 403-1234
Conference Sponsor: Equality Coalition for Housing Opportunities (ECHO)

THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2015

A Conversation about the Status of Human Rights in Tennessee Report at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center
Location: 1927 Dandridge Ave.
Time: 1-3 p.m.
More info: The Status of Human Rights in Tennessee Report was released in November 2014. The report details human right issues facing Tennesseans gathered from testimony given in statewide hearings. The report highlights issues related to employment, housing, public access,justice, immigration, LGBT, Voting Rights, Civil Rights, homelessness,disability rights, education and violence against women.

SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2015

Essay Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act at the Family Justice Center
Location: 400 Harriet Tubman St.
Time: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
More info: Essays accepted from students Feb 28th till April 10th.
Sponsored by National Alliance of Postal and Federal Employees Local406. Contact Vivian Underwood Shipe, President NAPFE Local 406 at865-617-8353 or [email protected]. 

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015

Home of the Brave  - The Viola Liuzzo Story at East Tennessee History Center
Location: 601 S. Gay St.
Time: 6 p.m., popcorn & soft drinks provided
More info: Viola Fauver Gregg Liuzzo (April 11, 1925-March 25, 1965) was a Unitarian Universalist civil rights activist from Michigan. In March 1965 Liuzzo, then a housewife and mother of 5 with a history of local activism, heeded the call of Martin Luther King Jr and traveled from Detroit, Michigan to Selma, Alabama in the wake of the Bloody Sunday attempt at marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Liuzzo participated in the successful Selma to Montgomery marches and helped with coordination and logistics. Driving back from a trip shuttling fellow activists to the Montgomery airport, she was shot dead by members of the Ku Klux Klan. She was 39 years old. 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2015

"Let Us March on Ballot Boxes" Keynote Speaker Joanne Bland at the Beck Cultural Exchange
Location: 1927 Dandridge Ave.
Time: 6 p.m., refreshments 5:30 p.m.
More info: Bland began her civil rights activism in the early 60s. The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) activists organized Bland and other area children and teenagers to participate in the civil rights movement. In the front lines of the struggle, the young Bland marched on "Bloody Sunday" and "Turn Around Tuesday," and the first leg of the successful March from Selma to Montgomery, witnessing brutal beatings of fellow marchers by police.  By the time she was 11 years old Bland had been arrested 13 times. Ms. Bland’s early involvement in the struggle against “Jim Crow,” American apartheid, has been the foundation for her civil and human rights work throughout her life. Sally Liuzzo Prado (daughter of Viola Liuzzo) has a special part in the program.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2015

Eighth of August Jubilee by Beck Cultural Exchange Center
Location:  First United Presbyterian Church Historic Cemetery at Knoxville College and at Chilhowee Park at 3301 E Magnolia Ave
Time: To be announced at http://www.beckcenter.net/eighth-of-august-jubilee/
More info: Beck Cultural Exchange Center will celebrate its 40-Year Anniversary with its inaugural “Eighth of August Jubilee” celebration at Chilhowee Park. The day will kick off with a Libation Ceremony at the First United Presbyterian Church Historic Cemetery at Knoxville College, the burial site of former slaves owned by Tennessee Military Governor, Andrew Johnson, freed on Aug. 8, 1863, the date that became known as Emancipation Day throughout the region. The celebration will then continue at Chilhowee Park with family-friendly activities throughout the day. For more info please visit http://www.beckcenter.net/eighth-of-august-jubilee/.

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