Historic Events in Nashville’s African American Community

In honor of Black History Month, we asked friend of Nfocus and ninth-generation Nashvillian, David Ewing, to share stories and events from the history of Nashville’s African American community.

He can be reached at www.NashvilleHistoryOnTour.com

Frederick Douglass’ Visit To Nashville

Eight years after the ratification of emancipation, thousands of African Americans in Nashville gathered in September 1873 to greet Frederick Douglass.

His journey to Nashville from Washington went smoothly until he changed trains in Louisville, KY. Douglass and his son took their seats in a car reserved for white passengers and were instructed by the brakeman to move. Douglass refused, contemplating the consequences of his decision. The conductor appeared and also sternly told him to move, to which Douglass replied, “Sir, I prefer to sit where I am.” Douglass remained seated and was not disturbed again during the remainder of his trip to Nashville.

A committee of 75 African Americans met Douglass at the train station, where he was welcomed by a local brass band, and he boarded an open carriage led by four beautiful horses. Douglass rode through downtown as Nashvillians, both white and African American, crowded the sidewalks to get a glimpse. Douglass remarked that he had “visited many Southern cities since the war, but I have visited none where the white people were more uniformly civil.” The committee took him to the Harding House, an African American hotel, where Douglass resided during his three-day trip to Nashville.

The next day, Frederick Douglass was the keynote speaker at the Third Annual Tennessee Colored Agricultural and Mechanical Association at the Colored Fairgrounds. Later, Tennessee Governor John Brown invited Douglass to the State Capitol where the abolitionist visited the tomb of President Polk.

Douglass requested a tour of Fisk University — the highlight of his visit. He shared that he was “impressed with Nashville, which had always maintained the reputation of being the center of the elite, culture and refinement of the South.”

Douglass knew the story of the famous Jubilee Singers, and, as he walked the campus, he viewed the foundations and one massive wall of Jubilee Hall under construction. He was quite impressed with Fisk, its students and the Jubilee Singers. Douglass later remarked about Fisk’s campus: “It has a commanding view of one of the most beautiful landscapes anywhere to be seen in this country.”

Douglass’ most memorable words were delivered at the end of his keynote speech to the attendees of the fair: “Our destiny is in our own hands. We are no longer slaves, but freemen. We are no longer property, but persons. We are not aliens, but citizens.”

Negro Day Parade

In 1897, Tennessee celebrated its 100th birthday by hosting the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. This sixmonth-long event was attended by people across the United States and showcased Tennessee’s people, history and accomplishments.

Many committees of African American Tennesseans formed to raise money to construct their Exposition building and to provide its contents and programming. In September, Booker T. Washington visited the building and delivered a speech during Emancipation Day.

The “Negro Building” was located across from the Parthenon to highlight the progress of African Americans in Tennessee. The three-story, 250-foot-long building on Lake Watauga was one of the most prominent structures of the Exposition. Inside, items on display chronicled African American creativity, achievements and businesses.

June 5, 1897, boasted Nashville’s then-largest parade of African Americans and included Union Army veterans of U.S. Colored Troops, militiamen, firefighters from Engine Company No. 4, and six brass bands, as well as African American students, factory workers and businesses. Every available horse, carriage and vehicle for hire in Nashville joined this parade.

After the Civil War, Nashville created public schools for African American students, and the teachers of these schools gathered on the steps of the State Capitol to join the parade as it continued to the Exposition grounds. Attendance for Negro Day was over 23,000 — second only to the attendance on Opening Day.

Throughout, the day featured speeches, music and entertainment, followed by fireworks in the evening. Music filled the Exposition, from African American bands to Fisk University’s Jubilee Club and Mozart Society performing popular and classical music.

The success of the day increased positive momentum for the African American community in Tennessee, which rippled out to benefit schools, churches, businesses and politics.

Morris Memorial Building

In 1925, the National Baptist Convention dedicated its new headquarters: the Morris Memorial Building, situated on the corner of Fourth Avenue and MLK Boulevard. The stately five-story structure was designed by famous Nashville architects Calvin and Moses McKissack of McKissack & McKissack. Constructed of quartered oak trim, the building boasts hardwood and tile floors as well as marble wainscoting in the hallways that are a testament to African American excellence. The $650,000 required for the project was raised locally and nationally from African American Baptist churches.

The Morris Memorial Building — anchoring the growing African American business district on Fourth Avenue between Deaderick and Gay Street — constitutes the last remaining part of this once-thriving district. It was the headquarters of McKissack & McKissack for decades, as well as a home to many other African American businesses, but the main function of the building was creating and printing religious materials for Baptist churches. In 1925, it was regarded as the most modern structure for African Americans in the South.

This prime downtown venue was previously the location of slave auctions. In their grand opening brochure, the National Baptist Convention recalled the arc of history and commemorated the progress African Americans had accomplished in Nashville: “What a contrast! For on that spot where once Negro slaves were bargained and sold now stands a beautiful modernly equipped publishing house owned, operated and controlled by Negro Baptist, towering toward the blue sky.”

In the 1910s, African American-owned businesses on Fourth Avenue included the One Cent Savings Bank (now Citizens Bank) and The People’s Savings Bank & Trust; The Nashville Globe, an African American newspaper; the law offices of J.C. Napier, Prince Albert Ewing, and his twin brother Taylor G. Ewing Sr; and Dr. Robert F. Boyd’s medical office. The Colored YMCA, the Harding House Hotel, Bijou Theater and the Masonic Temple rounded out this flourishing center of commerce.

The other buildings were all torn down in the 1950s during urban renewal, and the Morris Memorial Building is the last structure of this great history that still stands today.

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