Tennessee

Honoring the Confederacy, Tennessee GOP Stands for Insurrection

by Daniel Feller

Amid the recent furor over the expulsion of two Black Democrats from the state House, Tennessee lawmakers made another shameful move: affirming acclaim for the Confederacy while disregarding the work of historians who have demonstrated that the CSA was founded to protect slavery and white supremacy. 

Will a Grassroots Movement Remake Tennessee—Again?

by Ansley L. Quiros and Anthony C. Siracusa

This month's events in the state capitol, culminating in the expulsion of two House members after a raucous gun control protest, recalls Nashville's role as a center in the Black Freedom movement. 

The Real Story Behind the Expulsion of the Two Black Members of the "Tennessee Three"

by Jemar Tisby

The disproportionate response of the Tennessee House's majority—the expulsion of two Black members for the violation of decorum rules during a gun control protest—echoes the efforts of the so-called "Redeemers" of the Reconstruction era to reassert white supremacy through expulsions. 

The Tennessee Three's Ordeal Reflects Historic White Supremacy

by Elwood Watson

A Tennessee professor reflects on the recent events in the state capitol. 

Teaching History Without Harsh Truths? Tennessee's Law Demands the Impossible

by David Barber

"When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or our own Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee’s legislature enact laws to prevent teaching Black history, they are defending white supremacy."

Statement by People for Black History at University of Tennessee-Martin

The leaders of a student movement to resist Tennessee's restrictions on course content charges that their university's faculty senate has failed to give their petition a hearing. 

UT-Martin Student Government Condemns Tennessee "CRT" Law

Members of the People for Black History group argued that uncomfortable aspects of the state's and nation's history can't be skipped over.   

What Freedom Meant to Black People in Nashville During the Civil War

Incoming AHA President Thavolia Glymph discussed how the actions of Black refugees who moved behind Union lines at Fort Negley and other locations changed the meaning of the war and ensured that it would ultimately abolish slavery. 

The Dunce Party

by Rachel Bryan

Tennessee's "Divisive Concepts" bill would make it virtually impossible to teach the history and culture of the state and the wider South. 

University of Tennessee Must Take Stand to Call Out State CRT Bill as Exercise in White Supremacy

by David Barber

"Our students, and our society, desperately need to hear and learn the real history of this country – a history of this country that has no better telling than that history as seen through the eyes and experience of Black people."

My Life With Maus

by Tom Engelhardt

Although the aftermath of the Tennessee "Maus" controversy involved a flood of donated copies sent to the local community and the book's return to the bestseller charts, the revival of book-banning sentiments bodes ill for the course of the nation. 

Art Spiegelman Interviewed on Maus, Art and History, and his Missing Glasses

The graphic memoirist says that the Tennessee controversy probably doesn't reflect any antisemitic bigotry, but a desire to find a catharsis that fixes the horror of the Holocaust instead of recognizing it as ongoing. 

Maus in Tennessee

by Jeet Heer

The stated objections to Maus – profanity, nudity, filial disrespect, violence – are impossible to separate from the fact that the book is a graphic history of the Holocaust. 

Tennessee School Board Bans Holocaust Graphic Memoir "Maus"

Author Art Spiegelman called the decision "Orwellian" and suggested young people would be deprived of knowledge. 

The "Critical Race Theory" Ban Makes Teaching Black History Illegal in Tennessee

by David Barber

"The real object here is to prevent educators from discussing nearly four centuries of white domination over Black people.­­"

Chattanooga Struggles to Heal the Scars of a Lynching

by Peter Canellos

"In a time of mistrust along racial lines, the initiative in Chattanooga is a model for other communities. It demonstrates that agreed-upon facts can be a precursor to recovery."

The First Casualty in the War on Critical Race Theory

"I don’t ask the students to subscribe to any ideas. I don’t ask them to base their opinions on materials that we read. I just ask that they critically evaluate it and understand it. We evaluate claims. That’s all that we do." 

Professors: Tennessee Students Don't Learn Enough Black History

Despite charges of a "politically correct" curriculum, Tennessee history professors report that students enter their classes with almost no exposure to Black (or Native American) history from their high school studies. 

Bill Would Remove all Members of Tennessee Historical Commission

Some conservative legislators are upset with the state Historical Commission's recent decision to remove a memorial to slave trader and Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Tennessee capitol. 

The Lynching That Black Chattanooga Never Forgot Takes Center Stage Downtown

"Even as the bridge became a central gathering place of the city, some Black Chattanoogans who know its history have refused to cross it."