December 14, 1926: Singing tenor, Roland Hayes performed at the Lyric Theater to a mixed-race audience at the invitation of the Knoxville Altruistic Club, a Black organization. His performance earned top reviews.
December 16, 1943: Knoxville College went from a “B” to an “A” rating from the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (SACSC) for the first time in its history.
December 17, 1933
The first performance of selections from Handel’s Messiah by the Knoxville College Coleridge Taylor chorus was presented this night in 1933. Newell Coleridge Fitzpatrick, director of the voice department, directed the chorus. Presented in MacMillan Memorial Chapel, the soloists included Mattie Bell Hall (soprano), Arnette Gravely (contralto), and Eugene Brice (tenor). Accompanists were Pearl Henderson and Marcellus Saunders.
December 18, 1933: Prominent Black Knoxville physician Dr. Henry Morgan Green’s editorial “Where Is Negro in New Deal?” was published in the Knoxville News-Sentinel outlining Black workers concerns over jobs taken from Blacks and given to white workers in the National Recovery Administration (NRA); the lack of provisions for Black workers in Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and other unkept promises. Green stated that Black people are patriotic and loyal Americans and ask when the New Deal will benefit Black communities.
December 19, 1914: Black teachers in Knoxville and Knox County schools organized what became The Colored Teachers’ League. Its first president was Fritz Cansler. In 1933, a committee led by Dewey W. Roberts, Sr. challenged the less-than salaries at Negro Schools among other disparities.
December 20, 1872: Coal Creek Coal Company donated land for Blacks to build a house of worship to be used by all orthodox Christian denominations. The Black Coal Creek community was alongside Clinch River in Anderson County, formerly Lake City and recently named Rocky Top, Tennessee.
December 21, 1927: Knoxville Colored High School rendered a Christmas program.