For over forty years, the Metropolitan Historical Commission and Tennessee State University have celebrated the contributions of African Americans to Nashville and Tennessee through the Nashville Conference on African-American History and Culture. Each February, Nashvillians come together to honor these individuals through historical and cultural presentations by historians, artists, students, dramatists, musicians, genealogists, and others interested in the history of our city and state. The long-running series, Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee, a collection of nearly two hundred short publications, makes the Conference research available to the public.
Submissions from 1986
Kelley v. Board of Education: the Beginning of School Desegregation in Nashville, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 1997
Wilma Rudolph and the TSU Tigerbelles, Bobby Lovett
Tennessee Centennial Exposition, Reavis Mitchell
Tennessee State University at the Centennial (1912-2012), Reavis Mitchell
The Negro Branch of the Carnegie Library, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 1998
African-American Builders of Sevier County, Tennessee, Robbie D. Jones
Aaron Douglas (1899 -1979), Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr.
Harold M. Love (1919 -1996), Pamela Smoot
Theodore "Ted" Rhodes (1913 - 1969), Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 1999
Jefferson Street, Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr.
People's Saving Bank and Trust Company (1909 - 1930), Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2000
Patti Julia Malone 1859-1897, Mary Glenn Hearne
Luther Plato Carmichael, 1905 -1998, Linda T. Wynn
Marshall Keeble, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2001
The Tennessee Rural African-American Church Project and Craigs Chapel AME Zion Church of Loudon County, Caneta Skelley Hankins
Vivien T. Thomas 1910-1985, Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr.
Eva Lowert Bowman 1899-1984, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2004
The Clinton High School Desegregation Case, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2005
Mrs. Curlie (C.E.) McGruder, Pamela Lane-Bobo
Gregory D. Ridley, Jr. (1925 -2004), Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr.
Frances Euphemia Thompson (C. 1900-1992), Leslie N. Sharp
Economic Withdrawal During the Nashville Sit-Ins, Linda T. Wynn
Nashville and Its Role in Desegregating The SouthEastern Conference, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2008
James Raymond Lawson (1915 -1996), Crystal deGregory
Henry Alvin Cameron (1872-1918), Donald L. Johnson
Fisk's Stieglitz Collection Controversy: Radiator Building in Retrospect, Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr.
Submissions from 2010
29th Annual Nashville Conference on African-American History and Culture (Program), Metropolitan Nashville Historical Commission
Submissions from 2011
Nashville's Jefferson Street, Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr.
Mattie E. Coleman, Linda T. Wynn
Riding for Equality and Justice : Nashville Student Activists and the 1961 Freedom Rides, Linda T. Wynn (Revised, 2006)
Submissions from 2012
Tennessee State University's Aristocrat of Bands, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2013
Metropolitan Consolidation and Nashville's African-American Community, Carole Bucy
Hiram Van Gordon (1918-1979), Learotha Williams
The Emancipation Proclamation in Tennessee, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2014
Fort Negley, Krista Castillo
Beth Madison Howse, Crystal deGregory
Thomas Washington Talley, Tara Mitchell Mielnik
James Weldon Johnson, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2015
Samuel F. Yette, Pamela E. Foster
John McCline, Stephen T. Rogers
Elbert Williams, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2016
Roland Hayes (1887-1977), Pamela Bobo
Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee (Book Project), Bobby L. Lovett and Linda T. Wynee
Dr. Matthew W. Kennedy (1921-2014), Gloria McKissack
Fisk University Historic District, Tara Mitchell Mielnik
John Hope Franklin (1915 - 2009), Learotha Williams
Juliette Derricotte (1897-1931), Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2017
Lillian "Lil" Hardin Armstrong (1898-1971), K. T. Ewing
The First Day of (Desegregated) School in Nashville, September 9,1957, Tara Mitchell Mielnik
Coach Edwards S. Temple (1927-2016), Fletcher F. Moon
Submissions from 2018
Edgehill, Joel Dark
George Edmund Haynes, 1880-1960, Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr.
Nettie Langston Napier, Learotha Williams
Nashville and Davidson County Public Schools Names for African Americans, Linda T. Wynn
Remembering the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr (January 15, 1929-April 4 ,1968), Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2019
Lewis Winter, Nashville Entrepreneur (1839-1911), Gloria McKissack
Zema W. Hill (1891-1970), Reavis L. Mitchell, Jr. (Revised 1990)
Interstate 40 and the Decimation of Jefferson Street, Linda T. Wynn
DeFord Bailey (1899 -1982), Linda T. Wynn (Revised, 1989)
Submissions from 2021
Profiles of African Americans in Tennessee (Second Edition), Bobby L. Lovett, Linda T. Wynn, and Caroline Eller
Submissions from 2022
College Hill, Caroline Eller
Jackson Hicks Brown (1908 - 1968), Caroline Eller
Kossie Gardner, Sr. (1897 - 1990), Caroline Eller
Callie Guy House (1861 - 1928), Linda T. Wynn
Minnie Lou Crosthwaite (1860 - 1937), Linda T. Wynn
Morris Memorial Building and Its Contribution to Nashville's Religious Printing Tradition, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2023
JohnEtta Hayes (1915-2008), Caroline Eller
Marion James-Majors (1934-2016), Caroline Eller
Nashville Christian Institute (1940-1967), Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D.
Gardner's Gold Coast: Nashville's First African American Subdivision, Linda T. Wynn
Z. Alexander Looby, Robert E. Lillard, and the Chartering of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, Linda T. Wynn
Submissions from 2024
Clark Memorial Methodist Church, Claudette Stager
First Community Church, Claudette Stager
Updates re: the Bass Street Community at Fort Negley Park, Angela Sutton
The African American Journey on the Road to Attain Civil and Human Rights, Linda T. Wynn
The Centennial Year of American Baptist College 1924 - 2024, Linda T. Wynn