Finding Community
The separate church meetings and private educational activities of free and enslaved African American Tennesseans prior to formal emancipation turned into a groundswell in the immediate post-War period. As Catholics and Jews, and Swiss, German, and Irish immigrants would also, African American leaders emerged in rural and urban locations and founded schools, churches, and fraternal aid organizations.
Scholarly Essay
Black Higher Education in Tennessee by Crystal deGregory
Lesson Plan
Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Tennessee
Cemeteries
Segregated African American cemeteries were a fact of life in the post-Civil War American South. They still exist by the hundreds across the southern landscape. ...More.
Lodges
Fraternal and benevolent lodges were often important institutions in African American as well as in ethnic immigrant communities. ...More.
Religious Institutions
The churches, with their significant roles in religion, education, politics, music, and ethnic identity, served as the cultural hearts of rural black communities. ...More.