Day 1: Knoxville Black History from Beck Center Archives
DAY 1: The Knoxville Negro was a 1929 publication of some of Knoxville’s Most Prominent (African-American) Negroes
The Knoxville Negro was a 100-page book of biographies of some of Knoxville’s influential Black men and women, business owners, physicians, attorneys, educators, socialities, and more. It was published by Bartow G. Wilson, former editor of the Knoxville Herald newspaper. The Knoxville Negro is a historical source of Black history and culture in Knoxville.
The Knoxville Negro provided a long list of Black-owned businesses within the city and historical addresses demolished by Urban Renewal, as well as biographical sketches of James Garfield Beck, Ethel Benson Beck, Carl Cowan, Shaderick Carter, Cora Burke, W. C. Kennedy, Dr. Henry Morgan Green, Dr. WSE. Hardy, and others.
This Beck artifact of an independently owned Black newspaper recorded and represented the Black community. Without it, there would be no photos and biographies of some of the most influential men and women and many others, in Knoxville’s history, whose lives enriched Black communities and the lives of all East Tennesseans.
