Appalachian History

It wasn’t the only American city simmering with race riots in that ‘Red Summer’ of 1919. But Knoxville, TN up till that time had always prided itself as a model southern city when it came to race relations. That civic image changed dramatically starting on August 30, when an intruder shot and killed Mrs. Bertie [...]

Please welcome guest author Eric Dixon, a sophomore in philosophy at the University of Tennesse/Knoxville. The following piece of his ran February 28, 2011 in the ‘Appalachian Outlook series’ published regularly in the school newspaper, The Daily Beacon. Appalachian mountain music is a tradition that traces some of its most distinct roots back to East [...]

“Some boys git it in their heads that they can make a sight of money selling liquor. The law cracks down on them almost as soon as they git a start. We see it happen every day around here. You’ve got to keep the law paid off a good and plenty or else the penitentiary [...]

Originally published at Hillbilly Savants by John Kerns The entrance to Old Gray Cemetery in Knoxville, Tenn. The historical marker reads: “Old Gray Cemetery, incorporated in 1850, is the resting place of William G. Brownlow, Tennessee Governor and U.S. Senator, as well as two other U.S. Senators, eight U.S. Congressmen, 26 mayors of Knoxville, and [...]

“Bullets and ballots are not companions;” said Lizzie French in a famous 1912 speech to the Tenneesee Bar Association, “but ballots in the hands of people are supposed to be a substitute for bullets in the hands of hired agents…Thanks be to God that in giving women the crown of motherhood he made her the [...]