A Walk Through History in Nashville

Last Friday, my oldest (age 11) was out of school so in honor of Black History Month, we decided to explore some prominent Civil Rights spots here in Nashville. Here’s what we did:

We drove downtown to one of our all time favorite Nashville spots – The Downtown Nashville Public Library – where we made a quick stop in the Civil Rights Room. The room is located on the 2nd floor where you can learn about women and men who were leaders in the Civil Rights Movement right here in Nashville.

 

The Civil Rights Room overlooks the intersection of Church Street and Seventh Avenue North, where nonviolent protests against segregated lunch counters took place in the 1960s.

 

Included in the room is a symbolic lunch counter where you can sit and read the Ten Rules of Conduct carried by the protesters during the sit-ins in the 1960s and examine the timeline of local and national events. There are shelves of books centered around this history and photographs around the room documenting the events here in Nashville. You can schedule tours of this room too.

After visiting the Civil Rights Room, we headed out of the library through the front doors onto Church Street. We walked up to 5th and to the newly remodeled and recently opened Woolworth on 5th for lunch.

Continuing our learning of the Nashville sit-ins, the Woolworth building became the site of some of the first lunch counter sit-ins during the 1960s, led by civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis. The new Woolworth on 5th beautifully honors the history of this space by serving as a “welcome table for all.” The food was great, but the atmosphere was amazing. From the recreated counter, to the film reels playing above the floor, to the incredible artwork (by Mary L. Proctor) – it felt significant and powerful to be in this space with my daughter and talk to her about what happened here. After lunch, we explored the three levels of the space – again, admiring the history of this incredible spot.

As we left to return to our car we stopped at the Sarah Estell historic marker which reads: “Sarah Estell, a free black woman in the slavery era, ran an ice cream parlor and sweet shop near here.  She overcame the many hurdles faced by free persons of color, and her venture thrived.  Her catering firm met the banquet needs of the city’s firemen, church socials, and political parties from 1840-1860.”

 

When we got home later that afternoon, we did a little more research on Sarah – over ice cream, of course.