By O.J. Early More than 50 years after leaving ETSU to care for his family, a 73-year-old graduate returned to campus and crossed the Commencement stage. Amid the joyous shouts and happy tears at Commencement, Homer Eugene Henley Jr. quietly crossed the graduation stage. At 73, it was a walk more than half a century in the making. Henley first arrived at East Tennessee State University in the early 1970s. He was a bright, hopeful young student immersed in campus life. He played drums in the marching band, lived in Clement, Taylor, and McCord halls, and carried the kind of dreams that…
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. Napier Elementary School opened a new Storybook Trail and outdoor classroom area today, giving students, families, and community members a place to read familiar stories together. The project was made possible through a two-year, $75,000 PNC Foundation grant to Nashville Public Schools, while the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation, which has worked on similar spaces across Tennessee, helped make this one of the first Storybook Trails at an elementary school in the state. “We want to give every student plenty of opportunities to grow as readers, and the Storybook Trail is an innovative, creative, and beautiful way to do that,” Nashville…
By Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover, JD, CPA At a time when the nation is wrestling with a Supreme Court decision that gutted key protections of the Voting Rights Act, it is important to remember that May 17 marks the 72nd anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education (May 17, 1954) — the ruling that declared segregated schools unconstitutional and inherently unequal. It served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement and paved the way for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Brown showed that education and the right to vote are the strongest pillars of progress — and they…
MEMPHIS, TN — Willis Lincoln “T.J.” Hardaway, son of the late Tennessee Rep. G.A. Hardaway, will temporarily assume his father’s seat until the next general election in November after the Shelby County Board of Commissioners approved his appointment Wednesday. G.A. Hardaway died late last month at age 71 following a brief illness, bringing a sudden end to a career representing Memphis that began in 2007, when he was first elected to represent Tennessee House District 92. The senior Hardaway was elected to House District 93, representing south Memphis and Orange Mound. It is this district that T.J. Hardway will now…
It’s been a while since I’ve reached out like this—but as your mayor, I want to make sure you’re hearing directly from me about the gerrymandering happening in Tennessee right now. This week, the Tennessee legislature rushed through partisan gerrymandered maps in all nine of the state’s congressional districts ahead of this year’s midterm election. Unfair redistricting maps don’t help us get dedicated funding for housing, expand Medicaid, or make childcare easier. After the United States Supreme Court decision last week demolished the Voting Rights Act, I joined a rally at the state capitol—because none of our congressional representatives could. We…
By Kearston Winrow Hi, I’m Kearston, Communications Manager at Nashville International Airport® — better known as BNA®. When I heard Southwest Airlines® was adding a nonstop flight from Nashville (BNA) to Knoxville (TYS), I knew immediately I had to be on that inaugural flight. I’ll be honest — Knoxville had always been a pit stop on the way to Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg for me. But this time, I was determined to give the city a chance and find out why so many people call Rocky Top one of the best places to visit in Tennessee. With BNA’s Memphis nonstop approaching its one-year…
NASHVILLE — Frankie Mae Keeling-Henry, a former Tennessee State University student, educator and one of Nashville’s last remaining Freedom Riders who participated in the city’s historic lunch-counter sit-ins, has died. She was 85. Keeling-Henry died Saturday, May 2, 2026. She is survived by her son, Lamont Henry, as well as other relatives and friends. As a young college student, Keeling-Henry joined demonstrations alongside civil rights leaders including Diane Nash and John Lewis. In 1960, while a freshman at Tennessee State University, Keeling-Henry became involved in one of Nashville’s lunch-counter sit-ins after unexpectedly finding herself in the middle of the demonstration.…