365 PROJECT:  Tri-Cities Black History Points of Interest

By From the Archives

Published: September 5, 2008

***NOTE: All 365 PROJECT content was reposted after Tricities.com underwent a website renovation Spring 2008.***

Originally Published: February 1, 2008
NICKI MAYO, WJHL-TV/Tricities.com

Travel through time using the 365 Project map. This Google Map allows you to plan a trip around the Tri-Cities to learn more about Black History. If you don’t see an important point of interest you can e-mail a submission to for review.

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*** Bristol TN/VA ***
Citizens Cemetery
LOCATION: Piedmont Street and Glenway Ave., Bristol, VA
The Citizen’s Cemetery sits on a parcel of land along Piedmont and Glenway Avenue. Formerly known as the “Colored Citizen’s Cemetery,” the gravesite was owned by former slaves during the nation’s Reconstruction period. The March 2005 Bristol Preservationist reports several African American descendants of Thomas Jefferson are buried there.
Frederick Douglas High School
LOCATION: 1501 Euclid Ave, Bristol, VA 24201
The Frederick Douglas High School educated Bristol, VA African Americans before desegregation. This building currently houses the Douglas Senior Community Center.
John Nobleton House / Nyumba Ya Tausi- Peacock Museum
LOCATION: 412 Clinton Ave., Bristol, VA 24201
This Bristol, VA home houses pan-African history across the ages. Former slave H.A Bickley bought this Clinton Avenue home back in 1890. It was later acquired by Oakey the widow of John Nobleton. Nobleton was killed in an accident while working for the Norfolk and Western Railroad. Okey’s mother, Rester Ann James, a former slave also once lived in the house. Today the home is owned by Wilhelmina Banks whose mother once resided in the home. Banks has transformed the John Nobleton house into the Nyumba Ya Tausi- Peacock Museum. It houses 800 pieces of African American art, Bristol, TN collectibles, slavery and family heirlooms and memorabilia. 
Slater High School
LOCATION: 325 Mcdowell St, Bristol, TN 37620
The Slater High School educated Bristol, TN African Americans before desegregation. This building currently houses the Bristol-Slater Senior Community Center.
*** Johnson City/ Jonesborough ***
Dr. Hezekiah Hankal Marker
LOCATION: 224 W. Main St., Johnson City, TN 37601 (On the Market Street Side)
Soon after Emancipation, Dr. Hezekiah B. Hankal, a native of Washington County, helped establish Christian Churches for African Americans, many of them newly freed slaves, in Johnson City, Jonesborough, Bristol (Tennessee), and near Washington College Academy. He was a practicing physician and an educator as well as a minister of the Gospel. He once served as an alderman on the Johnson City council. This is a Langston Heritage TN State Historic Marker site.
Langston High School Marker
LOCATION: 225 Myrtle Ave., Johnson City, TN 37601
The Langston High School educated African Americans before desegregation. Dr. Hezekiah B. Hankal, Principal William Wolfe, and others established the school on this site in 1893. Several additions to the building came later, and most of the original 1893 building was replaced by new construction in the 1950’s. The school remained open following integration in the 1960’s, but the majority of students opted to attend Science Hill High School. The school closed in 1965. Today it is used as the Johnson City School Maintenance building. This is a Langston Heritage TN State Historic Marker site.
Lt. Alfred Martin Ray Marker
LOCATION: S 2nd Ave & W Woodrow Ave, Jonesborough, TN 37659
Corner of Depot & Woodrow, Jonesborough, TN 37659,
(Market is located on side yard-Depot St.)
Jonesborough native Lt. Alfred Martin Ray is a former slave who joined the military. The 10th Calvary Buffalo Soldier was among those who planted the American flag on San Juan Hill in Cuba in 1896 during the Spanish-American War. This Langston Heritage TN State Historic Marker sits on property he once owned.
The Manumission Intelligence & The Emancipator
LOCATION: West Main St., Jonesborough, TN, 37659
The Manumission Intelligence & The Emancipator were the nation’s oldest publications dedicate to the abolition of slavery. These Jonesborough based publications circulated between 1819-1920. Quaker Elihu Embree circulated The Emancipator and printed it in Jacob Howard’s print shop. A fire destroyed the shop on the corner of Main Street and First Avenue.
Thankful Baptist Church/Princeton Freewill Baptist Church
LOCATION: Water St., Johnson City, TN 37604
The Princeton Freewill Baptist Church is the former home of Thankful Baptist Church. The Thankful congregation dates back to the early 1870’s. At first, it worshiped together with West Main Street Christian Church and St. Paul AME Zion Church in the log schoolhouse on Buffalo Street, the three denominations rotating Sundays in leading the services. The Princeton FWB Church building dates back to 1912. It is recognized in the National Historic Register. It replaced two earlier buildings of Thankful Baptist Church on the same site. Those buildings housed the “Colored School” between its time in the West Main Street Christian Church building and the construction of Langston High School.
St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Zion (A.M.E. Zion) Church
LOCATION: Corner of Welbourne St & E Millard St., Johnson City, TN 37601
(One block off Roan St behind Central Baptist Church)
The Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church congregation dates back to the early 1870’s. At first, it worshiped together with Thankful Baptist Church and West Main Street Christian Church in the log schoolhouse on Buffalo Street, each one leading the services on alternate Sundays. St. Paul’s present building dates back to 1920. It replaced an earlier building on the same site, which replaced an earlier building atop Science Hill. The site is recognized on the National Historic Register.
Warner Institute
LOCATION:
Built by the Holston Association of Baptist Churches in 1854, this building housed the Holston Baptist Female Institute, Tadlock’s School for Boys (ca. 1866-67), and Holston Male Institute (1867-76), operated by Confederate Colonel Robert Dungan. In 1876, Yardley Warner of the Society of Friends purchased the building and established Warner Institute to educate “colored persons and train colored teachers.“ Julia B. Nelson and others from the American Missionary Association operated the school for the Friends.
West Main Street Christian Church Marker
LOCATION: 224 W. Main St., Johnson City, TN 37604
The West Main Street Christian Church was formerly known as the “Colored Christian Church.” Its frame building, now bricked over, is the oldest church building still standing in Johnson City. It was built in 1889 to serve as a church and also as the “Colored School,” between the time that school used the log building on Buffalo Street and the construction of Langston High School. The congregation, led by Dr. H. B. Hankal, began in the late 1860’s, and was soon worshiping together with Thankful Baptist Church and St. Paul AME Zion Church in the log schoolhouse on Buffalo Street. These denominations alternated preaching responsibilities on different Sundays there. This is a Langston Heritage TN State Historic Marker.
Kingsport, Sullivan Co.
Douglass High School
LOCATION: Louis St., Kingsport, TN, 37660
The Douglass High School educated African Americans before, during, and after desegregation. It was the largest Black school in upper Tennessee. The secondary education facility spawned from the Oklahoma Grove School which opened in 1913. The building condition was not sound and parents rallied for a new school. Those appeals fell on death ears until 1924. The Kingsport Board of Education funded a new school at the 700-block of Sullivan Street at Center Street. The student body outgrew the building and a contract was awarded in1928 for a new school called the Frederick Douglass School. This elementary-high school was built at the corner of Center Street and East Sevier Avenue. A new building was constructed on Louis Street in 1951. Douglass gained Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges accreditation before closing down in 1966. Today the building houses the Douglass Community Center.
Oak Hill Cemetery, section V
LOCATION: 800 Truxton Drive, Kingsport, TN, 37660
(Oak Hill Cemetery, lower end of the cemetery)
The Oak Hill Cemetery, section V is the traditionally the African American burial place in Kingsport. There are plots dating back to the early 19th century.

Riverview Community
LOCATION: South Wilcox Dr, Douglass, Dunbar and Lincoln Streets, Kingsport, TN 37660
The Riverview Community sits on the site of a former Federal Dye-Stuff Chemical company near the south fork of the Holston River.  In the 1930-40’s, hundreds of African American industry workers moved in and settled in the area around Sullivan, Center, and East Walnut (now East Sevier and Wilcox Drive). Black bought one acre parcels on the chemical dumpsite for 100 dollars a lot. Developers constructed the now defunct Riverview Apartments which buckled at the seams of overpopulation. These apartments have since been demolished to make way for a 12-million dollar Hope VI redevelopment project and four Hope Build homes.
__________________________________
SOURCES:
Mary Alexander, The Langston Heritage Group
Wilhelmina Banks, John Nobleton House / Nyumba Ya Tausi- Peacock Museum
Amy Hopper, Bristol Historical Association, Inc.
Dr. Donald Shaffer, The Langston Heritage Group
Calvin Sneed, Sons and Daughters of Douglass
PHOTO COURTESY: Bristol Historical Association, Inc.
PHOTO COURTESY: Wilhelmina Banks, John Nobleton House
PHOTO COURTESY: Sons and Daughters of Douglass
PHOTO COURTESY: Langston Heritage Group
PHOTO COURTESY: Thankful Baptist Church
PHOTO COURTESY: Kingsport City Archives

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Check out the complete 365 PROJECT Series

Mapping Tri-Cities Black History Home Page
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_mapping_tri_cities_black_history_home_page/13633/

Tri-Cities Black History Points Of Interest
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_tri_cities_black_history_points_of_interest/13634/

‘Tri-Cities Trailblazers’ Setting the Stage
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_tri_cities_trailblazers_setting_the_stage/13635/

First Black Roan Scholar
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_first_black_roan_scholar/13636/

First Black Chamber Officer
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_first_black_chamber_officer/13637/

World Class Runner Gets Kids On Track With Tennis
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_world_class_runner_gets_kids_on_track_with_tennis1/13638/

Bristol TN Exhibit Links Quilts To Underground Railroad
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_bristol_tn_exhibit_links_quilts_to_underground_railroad/13639/

Douglass School Alumni Promote Community Pride Online
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_douglass_school_alumni_promote_community_pride_online/13640/

Tri-Cities Black History Pop Quiz Answers
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_tri_cities_black_history_pop_quiz_answers/13641/

Extended Interview With Langston Heritage Group Director Mary Alexander
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_extended_interview_with_langston_heritage_group_director_mary_a/13643/

Extended Interview With Calvin Sneed, Sons and Daughters of Douglass Historian
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/education/article/365_project_extended_interview_with_calvin_sneed_sons_and_daughters_of_doug/13644/