By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — It just makes good sense. Bring into the classroom those who are successfully doing the work in the communities in the field of study being taught to the student. The advantage to the student to learn from the masters along with the theories and models in the textbooks can only make them better in their fields of study. Beginning this fall there is a new course in the University of Tennessee’s College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and Knoxville’s own Daryl Arnold, founder and pastor of Overcoming Believers Church has been selected to…
Author: Vivian Underwood Shipe
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — In the 100th year since the execution of Maurice Mays, the Beck Cultural Exchange Center, POP Ten, and Divine Urban Expressions are leading a community effort to right what has always been considered a great wrong – the death of an innocent man. In what is considered the bloodiest summer of riots in the United States; the summer of 1919 saw racial violence in many states. Tennessee was no different. Knoxville was the scene of one of those riots that began when the towns people learned a white woman named Bertie Lindsey had been…
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — As they have for the last seven years, the Beck Cultural Exchange Center culminated a weekend of festivities acknowledging the date slaves were freed in Tennessee with the debut film presentation of a film by Emmy Award winner Loki Mullholland. The film did not disappoint. With Civil Rights legend Jo Ann Bland as the film moderator, “After Selma” tells the story of what happened after the Bloody Sunday attempted crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma to Montgomery in a march for voting rights by over 600 people who were beaten during the…
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — As she looked out over the crowd of over 6,000 Knoxville Area Urban Leagues, President/CEO Phyllis Young Nichols joyfully remarked that it was the largest back-to-school effort by the organization in the 20 years since they started giving children school shoes. The Knoxville Area Urban League began in Knoxville in 1968. It is a civil rights, economic development and social service organization and is a member of the National Urban League, the oldest community-based movement in the United States, devoted to empowering African Americans. Stretching across the vast entrance way to Caswell Park in…
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — What do you do when you learn the numbers are down in the inner city during early voting and you know how critical local elections are? If you are Gail Carter, long time community advocate for over 50 years, you rally the troops. Carter decided that the first Monday of early voting she would remove one of the barriers of trying to vote on the lunch hour by providing a free lunch for those who came out to vote with hotdogs, chips, and drinks. Her dedication to the community and her connections from over…
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — As she prepared to retire, Valeria Clark, or “Cherry”, as she has been known in the community for decades, looked around the city in which she worked and realized just how financially unprepared the young generation around her was. Clark has always been involved in the financial field in one role or another and what she saw really alarmed her. With a poverty rate of 42 percent in the Black community of Knoxville; Valeria Clark has stepped up to make a difference with a burning desire to see a change in the community in…
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — It was a celebration befitting a King. The festivities were held in the ballroom of the Crowne Plaza, one of Knoxville’s finest hotels. Guest came from far and wide, dignitaries, community leaders, including candidate for Tennessee governor, Memphis Councilman, JB Smiley Jr. It was the celebration of 80 years of an icon. A man of integrity. A walking, living , breathing part of history who, by his courageous efforts during the civil rights movement, has made life better for those living today and for generations to come.
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — In Knoxville, the celebration of June 19th began as it did in 1866 — with a big church celebration at Lennon Seney UMC, and, over the weekend, moved up the street to The Beck Cultural Center. The Beck continued the festivities over the weekend, holding a virtual town hall meeting and a delicious Father’s Day jazz luncheon, well-attended by fathers and their families. There were prizes for the fathers and stories were shared by those in attendance about their fathers and lessons passed onto them. Following a parade the festivities ended on Monday with…
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — It is the faces that will grab your eyes and heart as you turn onto Harriet Tubman Street . Against a blue background , stretching the length of the Change Center are twenty five faces of children, all under the age of twenty who have died by gunfire and other traumas in Knoxville over the last few years. Twenty five. Felicia Outsey, Executive Director of Love is the Answer, with the permission and blessing of the overseers of the Change Center, wanted to create a way to remember the children. in keeping with her…
By Vivian Shipe KNOXVILLE, TN — As part of an effort to learn the concerns of the people they serve across the state, members of the Tennessee Black Caucus State legislature have been meeting in town hall settings across the state. Sam McKenzie, State Legislator from Knoxville hosted the listening event for Knoxville on June 2nd at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center. Rev. Renee Kesler, who is the Executive Director moderated the two-hour meeting. The members of the caucus were also joined at by Representatives Bob Ramsey and Gloria Johnson during a special presentation of a Living Legend proclamation which…