Meharry Medical College, founded in 1876 in Nashville, Tennessee, is the second oldest medical school for African Americans in the nation. The college was established by the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Freedman’s Aid Society in 1876 when Samuel Meharry, a Scots-Irish immigrant salt trader … Read MoreMeharry Medical College (1876- )
Lane College is a co-ed, liberal arts college located in Jackson, Tennessee. The college was founded in 1882 by Bishop Isaac Lane, a former slave and bishop of the Colored Methodist Episcopal (CME) Church. Lane College is the first institution established by the Methodist Episcopal … Read MoreLane College (1882- )
Tennessee State University (TSU) is a historically black, comprehensive, four-year co-educational university located on a 500-acre campus in Nashville, Tennessee. With over 10,000 students, including nearly 1,900 graduate students, it is one of the largest historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the nation. It … Read MoreTennessee State University (1912- )
LeMoyne-Owen College is a private, historically black, four year, co-educational, liberal arts institution located in Memphis, Tennessee. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. The institution can trace its roots back to 1862, when the American Missionary Association (AMA) sent Lucinda Humphrey to … Read MoreLeMoyne-Owen College (1862- )
Labor union organizer and leader Bill Lucy was born on November 26, 1933, to Joseph and Susie Lucy in Memphis, Tennessee. Raised in Richmond, California, Lucy studied civil engineering at the University of California at Berkeley in the 1950s. He then joined the U.S. Navy … Read MoreWilliam “Bill” Lucy (1933- )
Georgia E. Lee Patton, physician and missionary, was born a slave in Grundy County, Tennessee. Her father died before her birth, leaving her mother to care for Patton and her siblings. After moving to Coffee County, Tennessee in 1866, her mother supported the family by … Read MoreGeorgia E.L. Patton (1864-1900)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and eight-time Grammy Award-winning singer Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock on November 26, 1939, in Nutbush, Haywood, County, Tennessee. The youngest daughter of a family of sharecroppers, Turner’s father, Floyd Richard Bullock, was an African American … Read MoreTina Turner (1939-2023)
J. Max Bond, Jr. was a prominent African American architect. He was born in 1935 into a prominent intellectual family from Louisville, Kentucky. His father, J. Max Bond, Sr., who held doctorate degrees in economics and sociology from the University of Southern California, was a … Read MoreJ. Max Bond, Jr. (1935-2009)
Alcee Lamar Hastings, the son of Julius C. and Mildred L. Hastings, was born on September 5, 1936 in Altamonte Springs, Florida. His parents were domestic servants who eventually left Florida to take jobs to pay for his education. Hastings remained in the state, living … Read MoreAlcee L. Hastings (1936-2021)
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) was created on January 10-11, 1957, when sixty black ministers and civil rights leaders met in Atlanta, Georgia in an effort to replicate the successful strategy and tactics of the recently concluded Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott. Rev. Martin Luther … Read MoreSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (1957- )
