Morristown & Hamblen County, TN
Formed after the US Civil War from parts of Grainger, Jefferson and Hawkins Counties. Due to this post-emancipation political formation, it can be difficult to trace Black families to modern areas of the County.
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Jefferson County, Tennessee: People of Color, 1860 & 1870
Pineville School was one of the earliest & longest operating Black primary schools in the county. In 1939, it combined with Golda & Lowland's one room schoolhouses. In 1947, Russellville's 7th & 8th graders began attending Pineville and one year later, the school would absorb Whitesburg's Black students.
In 1954, the new brick Miller Boyd school was built nearby to replace Pineville.
Morristown College History Project
From 1881 to 1994, Morristown, Tennessee enjoyed presence of Morristown Normal and Industrial College, a historically Black college created to serve the educational needs of the area’s African-American residents.
Built on the grounds of the old slave market, the college campus has now been purchased by the City of Morristown and all buildings have been demolished. The site has been turned into a city park, named "Hertiage Park".
Despite is, there is a strong narrative and huge body of historic materials associated with this late learning institution still available from the caretakers of this Historically Black College.
In April of 2018, Black in Appalachia partnered with The Africa to Appalachia Foundation to begin the process of digitizing, cataloguing and making available materials associated with late HBCU, Morristown College. This project will be ongoing for the foreseeable future.
View the Morristown College materials here
If interested in contributing to this collection or volunteering,
email us: info[at]BlackInAppalachia.org
Resources
Selected Readings:
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A Highway in the Wilderness by Mrs. A.H. Stearns - Press of MacGowan & Cooke, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1892
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A School For Freedom: Morristown College and Five Generations of Education for Blacks, 1868 - 1985 by Jovita Wells - Morristown College, 1986
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A Historical Analysis of Selected Forces and Events Which Influenced the Founding, Growth and Development of Morristown College, A Historically Black Two-Year College From 1881 to 1981 by Brenda Hines Hammond -
The George Washington University Ed.D. 1983 -
Methodist Adventures in Negro Education by Jay S. Stowell - The Methodist Book Concern, 1922 - ISBN: 9781332518623
