Urban renewal programs that applied large-scale removal of community urban space and structures, have a long history of differential impact to its community members. These effects persist. Furthermore, current redevelopment projects continue to negatively adjust the landscapes for African Americans. Most research on these impacts tends to focus on the economic failure of downtown, or the displacement of community structures, such as businesses, homes, and churches. Less is studied on the human experience before and after the change. Based on an ethno-historical account of three African American communities in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, this thesis examines the memories of the landscape before and after urban renewal from the perspective of former residents of The Bottom, Mountain View, and Morningside communities. By adding the combined concepts of racialization, spatialities and mobilities, this study provides a more complete understanding of racialized space that is lived. I argue that this memory provides insights for contemporary debates in urban planning and illuminates the invisible racialization of lived space.

The strange career of Jim Crow : the early civil rights movement in Tennessee, 1935-1950 -- We are not afraid! : Brown and Jim Crow schools in Tennessee -- Hell no, we won't integrate : continuing school desegregation in Tennessee -- Keep Memphis down in Dixie : sit-in demonstrations and desegregation of public facilities -- Let nobody turn me around : sit-ins and public demonstrations continue to spread -- The King God didn't save : the movement turns violent in Tennessee -- The Black Republicans : civil rights and politics in Tennessee -- The Black Democrats : civil rights and politics in Tennessee -- The frustrated fellowship : civil rights and African American politics in Tennessee -- Make Tennessee state equivalent to UT for white students : desegregation of higher education -- After Geier and the merger : desegregation of higher education in Tennessee continues -- Don't you wish you were white? : the conclusion.

Studies of American History can no longer be complete without taking into account the African American perspective. For Tennessee, that perspective is amply provided by this anthology of articles from the Tennessee Historical Quarterly. Covering two hundred years of state history, from the frontier era to the bicentennial, Trial and Triumph presents the best and most current scholarship on African Americans in Tennessee. These selections give voice to many unheard people from Tennessee's past. Various essays recount the bravery of the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, bring to light the diaries of the planter Robert Cartmell, whose writings reveal hostile relations between slaves and master; and celebrate the life of Girl Scouts activist Josephine Holloway, who helped nurture young girls in the face of prejudice. While focusing primarily on research from the 1990s that enriched our understanding of African American life, the collection also features valuable older articles on such topics as the black Baptist church and blacks on the Nashville frontier. With introductions by Caroll Van West explaining each chapter's place within boarder trends, Trial and Triumph is a provocative work that will help general readers and students to better appreciate events too often overlooked by standard accounts. These readings clearly show how the people, places, and events of the state's African American history point the way to new narratives of Tennessee history itself.

While black men and women have played important roles in Tennessee's growth and history; slavery, caste, and segregation have forced them to live apart and to create a separate history. In this historical analysis, Lester Lamon offers an understanding of the history of black Tennesseans, recognizing that they have been both a part of and apart from the developments affecting the dominant white population of the state. The different economic priorities, political loyalties, and racial populations evident in the three "Grand Divisions" of the state have created superficial differences in the historical experiences of blacks in the three regions. Intrastate competition has reinforced these sectional differences, but a common factor found in the black experience has been a racial "givenness"--the idea that blacks should not expect equality or free association with whites. Tennessee's black history is not one of a surrender to racial pressure, but, instead, is a story of courage, sacrifice, frustration, and dreams of freedom, equality, and respect for human dignity. Blacks in Tennessee provides a necessary and culturally enriching addition to the traditional history of the state.

Walker (history, U. of California, Davis) challenges the revisionist views of black people put forth in the 1960's and 1970's, claiming that they were revolutionary and necessary at the time, but have now petrified into dogma that impedes further study. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In 1919, the city of Knoxville, Tennessee exploded in a firestorm of racial hatred & violence when a black man was accused of murdering a white woman. Knoxville prided itself as a liberal, harmonious community that had sympathized with the North during the Civil War. There had never been a lynching & the black citizens were encouraged to vote. Yet, despite this outward amiability, both blacks & whites were acutely aware of the invisible divide that kept them separate. When one man, fueled by passion, dared to cross that line, he became the catalyst that ignited the ever-present, seething unease into an ugly flame of hatred. It was common knowledge that Maurice Hayes, the handsome light-skinned black owner of a popular nightclub, was the illegitimate son of Knoxville's white mayor. This circumstance, coupled with his involvement with several white women, made him an easy target for the latent racial hostility that fermented beneath the city's sleepy facade. When a white woman was found brutally murdered, despite a glaring lack of evidence against him, Hayes was the only suspect. In the aftermath of the crime, an outraged white community erupted, revealing the ugly hypocrisy & thinly veiled hatred that simmered close to the surface. Vividly documents the racially charged atmosphere of a city gone mad in a true crime chronicle that remains chillingly relevant today.