Based on a 1903 gospel version by Reverend Charles Tindley of Philadelphia, and in 1946, the song for striking employees of the American Tobacco Company, "We Shall Overcome" spread through the country as an anthem for southern African American...
A photograph of student demonstrators being arrested and escorted into a paddy wagon after a nonviolent protest at the Greyhound Bus Terminal, 6th Avenue and Commerce Street, Nashville, Tennessee, March 3, 1960. Students continued demonstrations...
A photograph of student demonstrators, in front of the previously segregated Post House Restaurant located inside the Greyhound Bus Terminal, 6th Avenue and Commerce Street, Nashville, Tennessee, March 3, 1960. Led by Student Nonviolent...
A photograph of members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Guy Carawan of the Highlander Folk School at a mass meeting at Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, April 21, 1960, following the bombing of attorney Z. Alexander...
A photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Reverend Kelly Miller Smith at Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, April 21, 1960, preparing to speak to an audience of over 4000 following the bombing of the home of prominent civil rights...
A photograph of Coretta Scott King, Reverend Kelly Miller Smith and Mrs. D. Conrad Gandy at First Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, October 20, 1958. Mrs. King addressed the group at a Women's Day program at First Baptist Church, 8th Avenue...
A photograph of Stokely Carmichael at the 1967 IMPACT Symposium, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, April 8, 1967. Carmichael's 1967 appearance at Vanderbilt University would be cited as "the cause of significant controversy throughout...
Excerpts from an interview with civil rights activists Bernard LaFayette, Jr., James Bevel and Ernest Rip Patton conducted on 17 January 2003 by Kathryn G. Bennett. In the excerpts Rev. Bernard LaFayette, Jr. discusses his decision as a young man...
A photograph of conference participants posed together at the Race Relations Conference at Talley Hall, Fisk University. Fisk began hosting the annual Race Relations Institute in 1944. Organized by Dr. Charles S. Johnson, head of Fisk's sociology...
A photograph of A. Z. Kelley and some of the legal team from Kelley v. Board of Education of Nashville in September 1955. Following the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, the Supreme Court issued Brown II, ordering that schools to desegregate...
A photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Harold D. Street enrolling their daughter, Lajuanda (second girl) and a friend at Glenn Elementary School, Nashville, Tennessee, 27 August 1957. Enrollment came under a court-approved plan, which called for...
A photograph of Grace McKinley escorting her daughter Linda Gail McKinley (second girl) and a friend to Fehr Elementary School, corner of Fifth Avenue and Garfield Street, Nashville, Tennessee, 9 September 1957. Mrs. McKinley walks through an irate...
A photograph of irate segregationists exchanging words with supporters of desegregation at Fehr Elementary School, Nashville, Tennessee, 9 September 1957. Police officers escorted African American students into the school, marking the first day of...
A photograph of three-time Olympic gold medal winner Wilma Rudolph and her parents as they rode in a parade after leading the Tennessee A & I University track team to victory in Rome. Rudolph agreed to participate only if the event was...
A photograph of Reverend James Morris Lawson, Jr., at First Baptist Church, 8th Avenue North, Nashville, Tennessee, March 1, 1960. Having served as field representative for the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Reverend Lawson was the key organizer and...
A photograph of workshop leaders and participants at the 25th Anniversary Session and meeting of Highlander Folk School, Monteagle, Tennessee on August 31, 1957. Myles Horton and Don West founded Highlander Folk School in Grundy County, Tennessee,...
A photograph of anti-segregation demonstrators during the Freedom March, 18th Avenue North and Jefferson Street, Nashville, Tennessee, March 23, 1963. Leading the march is John R. Lewis and Archie E. Allen. The Freedom March was sponsored by the...
A photograph of Reverend Joseph Metz Rollins with police officers before a demonstration, Nashville, Tennessee, May 9, 1963. Reverend Rollins served with the National Committee of Black Churchmen and the Nashville Christian Leadership Council...
A photograph of participants in the 1968 Poor People's March, Nashville, Tennessee, May 8, 1968. In March 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. announced plans for the Poor People's Campaign for the purposes of organizing and uniting the poor across...
A photograph of a massive crowd of silent marchers at the Court House Square, Davidson County Courthouse, James Robertson Parkway, Nashville, Tennessee, April 19, 1960. A crowd of over 3000 participants marched in silence from the campus of...