Tennessee State Museum

Welcome to the Tennessee State Museum’s Online Collections portal. This represents only a small sampling of the Museum’s collection. More artifacts will be added on an ongoing basis. If you have any questions or don't find what you are looking for, please email us at collections@tnmuseum.org.

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Jubilee Day: Establishing Black Communities after Emancipation

As the Union army began moving into Tennessee in early 1862, many enslaved people sought their freedom. Although Tennessee was exempted from Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, slavery disintegrated in the state during the war. August 8th is often celebrated as Emancipation Day in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. The date is believed to be associated with the exact day Military Governor Andrew Johnson freed the people he enslaved in 1863. As early as 1871, Black Tennesseans, mainly in East Tennessee, began to celebrate their freedom annually on this date. These celebrations were widely attended in the late 1800s and early 1900s by many Black Tennesseans as well as visitors from other states.

During the Civil War and after, Black Tennesseans faced the challenges of asserting their new status as citizens, developing sustainable communities, and establishing traditions. Through the artifacts featured here, we honor and explore the efforts Black Tennesseans made to build families, schools, and churches during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

The History of Emancipation Day in Tennessee

Item Selection	Available Actions	Object ID	Image	Synopsis
		10.138		Fisk University's Jubilee Hall \| black-and-white photograph \| Fisk University \| Nashville, TN \| Davidson County \| Jubilee Hall \| Education \| African American \| Black History
		10.142		Nashville Normal and Theological Institute, Roger Williams University \| black-and-white photograph \| Roger Williams University \| LeMoyne-Owen College \| Black History \| African American \| Education \| Nashville, TN \| Davidson County \| Nashville Normal and Theological Institute \| Religion
		78.29.5		"Nashville and the Camp of the 125th Regiment of Ills. Vols. Inft. at Edgefield Tennessee." \| black-and-white photograph \| Schrader, Theodore \| Civil War \| Edgefield, TN \| Nashville, TN \| Davidson County \| Black History \| United States Army \| Lithograph
		81.49.4		Marshall Brady's U.S. Army Enlistment Papers \| Military Record \| Brady, Marshall \| Gibson County \| United States Colored Troops (USCT) \| African American \| Black History \| United States Army \| Civil War
		81.49.9		Lewis Hays' U.S. Army Enlistment Papers \| Military Record \| Hays, Lewis \| Grainger County \| Ft. Smith, AR \| African American \| Black History \| Civil War
		88.71.1		Delegates to the Constitutional Convention 1870 \| handbill \| Constitutional Convention \| Reconstruction \| Tennessee State Constitution \| African American \| Black History
		88.82.2		Fort Negley, West Facade \| photographic print \| Fort Negley \| Civil War \| Drawing \| United States Army \| African American \| Black History
		89.50		Ft. Pickering, Memphis \| Drawing \| Blanton, William \| Fort Pickering \| Memphis, TN \| Shelby County \| Civil War \| Mississippi River \| Sherman, William Tecumseh \| Beale Street \| African American \| Black History \| United States Army
		89.62		Letter \| Ferree, William D. \| Sims, Lewis \| Fort Pickering \| Civil War \| Mississippi River \| Memphis, TN \| Shelby County \| Beale Street \| African American \| Black History \| United States Colored Troops (USCT)
		93.67		Letter \| Perry, John F. \| Civil War \| Memphis, TN \| Shelby County \| Helena, AR \| African American \| Black History
		94.120		Contract \| Moore, Lucy \| Fielder, John S. \| Henderson County \| Lexington, TN \| Reconstruction \| Black History \| Civil Rights \| Children \| African American
		95.19.46		Stones River National Cemetery \| Cabinet Photograph \| McGregor, W. A. \| Cemetery \| Death \| Civil War \| Battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro) \| Murfreesboro, TN \| Rutherford County
		95.19.65		Agricultural and Industrial State Teacher College \| black-and-white photograph \| Wiles \| Black History \| Tennessee State University \| Tennessee A & I State University \| Education \| African American \| Nashville, TN \| Davidson County
		1998.8.4		Bond \| Grisham, J. F. \| African American \| Reconstruction \| Marriage \| Black History \| Crawford, D. Henry \| Greenlees, Jane
		2000.464		"The Jubilee Singers, 1873" \| Poster \| Fisk Jubilee Singers \| Fisk University \| Nashville, TN \| Davidson County \| Reconstruction \| Education \| Queen Victoria
		2005.230.47		Pin \| Black History \| African American \| Meharry Medical College \| Education \| Medicine \| Nashville, TN \| Davidson County
		2008.6.5		The McGees \| Tintype \| Knoxville, TN \| Knox County \| African American \| Black History \| McGee, M. \| Wedding Ceremony
		2008.98.9		Letter, A. J. Marchbanks to Gen. B.H. Hill \| Letter \| Marchbanks, A. J. \| Civil War \| Cornersville, TN \| Warren County \| Reconstruction \| African American \| Black History \| Hill, Benjamin H. \| Emancipation
		2013.94.119		"Belle Meade (Harding birthplace cabin)" \| Stereoview \| Thuss, Koellein & Giers \| The Bruce Jackson Collection \| Nashville, TN \| Davidson County \| Belle Meade Plantation \| Harding, William Giles \| Green, Bob \| Horse \| African American \| Black History \| Reconstruction \| Slavery
		2014.3.2		Labor Contract from Jessy Brown and Family to Thomas Brown \| Contract \| Tax Stamp \| Brown, Jessy \| Brown, Thomas \| Labor \| family \| Reconstruction \| Agriculture \| Sharecropper \| African American \| Black History