NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Around Downtown Nashville, there are many landmarks and QR codes, marking historically important places throughout the city and a decent amount of those marks contain Black history of Nashville. But who had these marks put up around the city?
Tennessee State University’s Dr. Learotha Williams has made his mark to ensure that the city remembers Black Nashville as well.
Since coming to Nashville, Dr. Williams has been the face of the North Nashville Heritage Project, which focuses on creating a greater understanding of the African American experience of Nashville. Throughout his Nashville career, he has helped landmarks be created in the name of Black history and also ensured that the past will be remembered.
Dr. Williams started out in history after being mesmerized by the stories his family would tell him about the past. After getting his Ph.D. in African American history at Florida State University, Williams came to Nashville in 2009. Now he has dedicated his life’s work to the conservation of this sacred history and telling the truth about it too.
“A lot of our history is painful. But we aren’t given the opportunity to tell more nuanced stories about our history. We’re given 28 days in February and those fly by quick,” says Dr. Williams.
Nashville is filled with Black History, stretching from the slaves that built Fort Negley, to the HBCU students who participated in the Nashville sit-ins. In 1960, students from American Baptist College, Fisk University, Meharry Medical School, Tennessee State University, and Martin Luther King Jr. High School, protested racial segregation at lunch counters.
This three-month protest resulted in the integration of lunch counters. This was one of the few sit-ins that kickstarted the sit-ins throughout the South.
“A lot of those students that we read about that participated in the Civil Rights Movement in Nashville were TSU Tigers. Kean Hall should be well known for its Silent March, where Diane Nash and others confronted the mayor on integrating lunch counters. It’s important for people to know the history and we need to do a better job of making sure it’s known.”
Dr. Williams believes that the city needs to do more in its effort to conserve historical places in Nashville that are integral to the history of Black Nashville. He says that the city has made promises it couldn’t keep.
“The city didn’t care about these spaces, but we did. We’ve had a lot of lip service but like James Baldwin said, ‘I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.’”
After reaching out to the Nashville Historic Commission, the commission stated that “the MHC, like Dr. Williams, is very concerned about the loss of historic African American sires in Davidson County. These sites are tied to many stories that speak to Nashville’s rich and unique African American history and culture.”
The commission claims to want to conserve the history of Black Nashville, saying though more needs to be done, they are doing their part in “protecting these resources and sharing this history.”
