Historic African American Places in the Chattanooga Area

My personal interest in the topic goes back more than five years to the time when I was conducting special research projects for Ms. Vilma Fields, then Director of the Chattanooga African American Museum.  The idea for this book came from many discussions with Ms. Fields, who saw the need for such information to be used in the local schools — not just in February for the so called “Black History” month but throughout the entire year.  It was also seen that such a book would be a valuable tool in the promotion of local historic tourism.  The project was greatly helped by three earlier research projects that I have completed for Ms. Sherrie Gilchrist, founder and CEO of the Tennessee Multicultural Chamber of Commerce.  From the time that the project was first conceived, I received strong support and encouragement from Gladys Wooten, President of the National African American Historical Association of Marion County, Tennessee.  Ms. Susan Hawkins, a park ranger at Fort Donelson National Military Park, was also helpful. In all aspects of the study, technical assistance was provided by R. Bruce Wilkey.  

The untimely passing of Ms. Fields seemed to bring an end to this and other projects that we had discussed at the Chattanooga African American Museum.  Fortunately, however, I came to know Ms. Rita Lorraine Hubbard, author of African Americans of Chattanooga: A History of Unsung Heroes,  who shares my long standing interest in local African American history.  She assisted me in all aspects of reviving this project and continuing it to completion.  As a former teacher, Ms. Hubbard will provide lesson plans and other materials to be used with the book

The archival research was largely conducted in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Library, the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library, and the Archives of the Chattanooga African American Museum.  I would like to express my thanks to the personnel and staff at all these facilities.  I also want to express my thanks to a number of other individuals who provided encouragement and helped with the project in various ways.  These include my friend Joyce Russell Terrell, Martha Dodson and her family, Chuck Hamilton and Tom Kunesh.

The combined efforts of all these people, as well as numerous others who helped in small ways, made the study a success and the work a real pleasure.  Any errors of fact or omission are, of course, my own.  Hopefully they will be few.  This work is not intended to be the final word on the subject.  Rather, in broader terms, it has been my purpose to establish a data base that can stimulate additional research and provide a framework for additional information as further work is done or new facts come to light.