Preparing for our Walk With Shawn: Here is an outline of some of the history we will be passing on our journey together!
Walks in Edgehill
SNAP is excited and grateful to participate in the Walk With Shawn movement this evening! Opportunities like these to meditate on our past, our present, and our future are rare and we are thrilled to join our neighbors in this movement. Before we walk, we wanted to share a map centering us on our history and how Wedgewood-Houston is dependent on communities of color for our past, present, and future. We have always been a diverse neighborhood and we are working to preserve that through creating and preserving housing opportunities, sharing and celebrating our history, and celebrating our surrounding neighborhoods and their histories. We are excited to share some time together and enjoy our space in this movement. We look forward to seeing you there.
Here is a highlight of some of the history we'll be walking through as we walk together.
1. South Nashville Action People's Community Center has been a meeting hub for ALL residents since it's opening. SNAP repurposed this location, home to a former bar that fostered violence in the neighborhood, to serve our community. Through the years it's been utilized as the home of after school programming, adult learning education, a center for advocacy for our neighbors, a non-profit incubator, a space for collaboration with local developers, and our Community Meeting Space.
2. SNAP Housing (429 Humphreys Street) is one of the many spaces in the neighborhood that provide affordable housing. Founded in 1990 in response to a growing need to preserve financially accessible housing in Wedgewood-Houston, the SNAP Housing building was purchased from Love United Missionary Baptist Church next door. SNAP members are honored by the responsibility to be caretaker of this critical mission to preserve and protect affordability in the neighborhood.
3. Not all of the history in Wedgewood-Houston is that of serving our neighbors. The first resident of Wedgewood-Houston was Captain John Rains, a slave owner who built Rains Station on the corner of Merritt and Rains.* The remaining smokehouse that existed on this property will be visible as we turn right onto Merritt Street. It is a reminder that many of our first black residents and their descendants did not come here of their own free will but later freely devoted themselves to the growth of Wedgewood-Houston and the welfare of their neighbors.
4. Pennsylvania Feedman's Relief Association established schools in Middle Tennessee for Freed persons. One of which was located on Martin St for children that would have been the first formal education in Nashville for the Black community. 50 students attended daily for $1 per month, if they were able. We are currently researching the location of this school. If you have any information on its location or history we would be overjoyed to hear from you.
A walk through our neighborhood isn't complete without acknowledging the history of our surrounding neighborhoods. Both Edgehill and Chestnut Hill have contributed to our city in such profound ways. Each neighborhood was founded by "slaves and freedmen who built and helped defend all three nearby forts [Fort Negley, Fort Morton, and Fort Casino] and stayed in the area after the war to form predominantly black communities in Edgehill" and Chestnut Hill.**
Chestnut Hill is also the neighborhood where Meharry Medical College was founded. "Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first medical school for African Americans in the South, which then held the highest proportion of this ethnicity. It has become the largest private historically black institution in the United States solely dedicated to educating health care professionals and scientists."***
That's only the tip of our historical iceberg but we are so excited to celebrate these histories with our neighbors tonight and we look forward to seeing you all there!
May we all continue to grow and serve together for many years to come.
Sincerely,
The Steering Committee & Executive Director of South Nashville Action People
Historical Reference Links:
* A History of Captain John Rains
** A Short History of Edgehill
*** Wiki For Meharry Medical College
