Ridgeside Farm

08/14/2024

https://savingplaces.org/african-american-cultural-heritage

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund from the National Trust seeks to tell our nation's full story.

08/07/2024

There are some good things coming our way this time around!

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2024/8/7/490615/Office-Of-Outdoor-Recreation-In.aspx

TDEC exists to enhance the quality of life for citizens of Tennessee and to be stewards of our natur

08/04/2024

Six months after the Battle of Chattanooga, the Battle of Atlanta further drove the Confederacy to defeat.

The Battle of Atlanta was one of the Civil War's most pivotal and bloodiest clashes

08/02/2024

https://tnhomeandfarm.com/agriculture/tennessee-sod-facts/

07/31/2024

148 Films / This aerial photograph of Moccasin Bend taken Feb. 6 shows the state mental hospital slated for replacement, foreground, along with the adjacent 13-acre Winston Building site, in the background, where a replacement hospital is proposed to be constructed. The archaeological study in progr...

07/27/2024

Great folks up atop Sewanee Mountain!

https://www.facebook.com/samhwerner

A facility to remember and honor our veterans and to teach history to our younger generations

07/17/2024

Someone was out and about yesterday. I left him/her an apple to enjoy. ;-)

07/02/2024

06/06/2024

Ridgedale branch of the Hamilton National Bank located at 1500 Dodds Avenue. Collection of negatives related to Chattanooga area banks. Images taken by Paul Hiener circa 1955.

06/04/2024

All dressed up and awaiting your arrival!

05/29/2024

The lynching of Ed Johnson resulted in the first criminal case ever tried before the US Supreme Court. Attorneys Mark Curriden and Leroy Philipps wrote about this landmark case in their book

Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching That Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism

In this nine minute video, Mark Curriden recounts the drama of this Chattanooga story that had lasting implications for America's Civil Rights struggle.

Small clip of Mark Curriden's C.L.E. Program Video Based on his best selling book, "Contempt of Court: The Turn Of-The-Century Lynching That Launched 100 Yea...

05/27/2024

04/16/2024

When our friends at Eastdale Rec Center requested our help to prepare their vegetable garden beds, we got 'er done!

04/06/2024

This morning at 10 a.m.!

Pleasant Garden Cemetery here in Chattanooga is one of the oldest historically Black cemeteries in Tennessee. On Saturday, Chattanooga Parks and Outdoors - and the African American Cemetery Preservation Fund - will host a “Hike Through History” at Pleasant Garden, starting at 10 AM.

04/03/2024

I would appreciate your participation tomorrow at Chatt Outdoor re: National Park City.

Call me foe details! 423 260 1402
Bob Edwards

NPC Workshop
Apr 4 • 5:30 – 6:30 PM • 200 River Street • View details & RSVP

02/16/2024

The architect of the Tennessee Aquarium/Ross's Landing James Wines has made Chattanooga a more liveable, enjoyable place.

James Wines’ career as an architect has involved the creation of decades’ worth of fantastical drawings—a trove of new ecological narratives that often run c...

02/03/2024

https://youtu.be/0N0ZGCTaM08

Taking a look at the historic Pleasant Gardens Cemetery in Chattanooga. Its been through a lot over the years but groups have been cleaning it and new genera...

01/31/2024

With two perfectly fine baseball stadiums in downtown Chattanooga, I'm wondering why city leaders are considering a third one that will inevitably tie up government funds away from where they can do more good. I would call your attention to the lands just east of Missionary Ridge to where there was once a town named Hornsville named in honor of their postmaster.

When Cameron Hill was demolished to make way for Olgiati Bridge, many displaced black residents moved east of Missionary Ridge to Foxwood Heights, Eastdale, Dalewood and other communities. No less than three formerly white churches now hold large black congregations. It seems to be the case that Chattanooga's black community has traditionally received scraps from the table of the white aristocracy.

Look at the front door of Chattanooga from the airport along Shallowford Road beyond where it separates from Wilcox Boulevard. Virtually no sidewalks can be found. Dalewood Middle School is separated by a wide ditch that could breed malaria or yellow fever mosquitos in the summer. There are third world vibes all around - and yet our city wants a new baseball stadium?
The treacherous ravines that line this entrance into Chattanooga suggest that wealthy interests DO NOT WELCOME cyclists or pedestrians in this area. It is time for Chattanooga to prioritize the quality of life in what we fondly call the North Brainerd area. See https://www.facebook.com/northbrainerdcouncil/

I often feel alone in advocating for a Missionary Ridge Community Center at the eastern foot of Missionary Ridge along both sides of Shallowford Road. Consider that when current land owners are accommodated, there will be over 20 acres of land in which anything is possible! No need for an aquarium, but the cascading effect of significant investment there would boost property values and raise hopes for everyone out to Highway 153 and beyond. There is an excellent location for an amphitheatre to bring together the Missionary Ridge, Ridgeside and North Brainerd communities for music, plays and festivals.

Who wouldn't want to learn more about the most significant battle in Tennessee history via a scale model of Missionary Ridge and an Interpretive Center? Today, Missionary Ridge is seen as an obstacle getting to and from downtown. Few stop to consider that EVERYTHING we now know as Chattanooga happened as a result of the battle that took place there on November 25, 1863 - Chattanooga's Finest Hour. Any returning veteran - were he still alive - would surely cry tears of disappointment at the lack of any public facility marking the momentous battle along the 7 miles of Crest Road. There's not even a public restroom to accommodate the many visitors who come from around the world to enjoy the best views in the United States and the site where the Confederacy and the institution of slavery bit the dust.

Before the City of Chattanooga funds another enormous downtown project, it would be nice if city planners would look beyond the physical and mental barrier that is Missionary Ridge to reveal and invigorate a long-neglected region of our fair city. I'm happy to put our 3.45 acre farm and church site on the table to see what city leaders can come up with.

Our goal is to improve the standard of living, through support, guidance, and assistance to residents

10/21/2023

Next Pleasant Garden Cemetery cleanup will be second Saturday in November. Today's weather was beautiful and darn near perfect.

09/07/2023

In Loving Memory of our friend Ms. Jessie Igou. She could always be counted upon to attend Eastdale meetings and help with events. I'll miss seeing her walking through the neighborhood. Rest in Peace.

09/01/2023

https://www.chattanoogan.com/2023/8/30/474025/Jerry-Summers-Whos-Responsible.aspx

07/19/2023

https://www.hccoalition.org/post/join-us-for-on-friday-july-21-2023-for-the-senior-health-fair-shred-event-and-rx-drug-take-back

06/20/2023

If you'd like to enlist the support of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to recognize the proud history of Missionary Ridge Baptist Church n the elementary school that preceded it, please my tweet a like and hope Governor Bill Lee hears it!

And thank you! Link in comments.

06/12/2023

Just a few miles down Missionary Ridge in Rossville, Georgia business is picking up!

A pizza restaurant has turned in their plans to build at the old Rossville Furniture property. Be Caffeinated should be breaking ground...

05/02/2023

Chattanooga's Civil Rights history:

Brothers John and Valitus Edwards speak to Elijah Cameron about growing up in the Civil Rights Movement, their father's involvement in the movement, and how ...

03/31/2023

Headstone Cleaning Workshop and Workday

03/19/2023

Big Announcement: Blind Boys singer Jimmy "Jimster" Carter is now entering his well-earned retirement. He earned 5 GRAMMYs and a Gospel Hall of Fame induction with the Blind Boys of Alabama. While he will no longer tour, he is featured on the next Blind Boys album, coming out later this year. The group will continue to carry on the legacy through songs, recordings, and performances including with longtime members Ricky McKinnie and Joey Williams.

"It's been among the greatest joys of my life to be able to perform for and connect with our fans throughout the world over the years. I want to thank everyone who helped make that dream come true, including my brothers of the Blind Boys, our team, and fans. I hope I will occasionally go out and reconnect with them." - Jimster

Photo by Michael Weintrob

03/18/2023

Carter Godwin Woodson
Carter Godwin Woodson (19 December 1875–03 April 1950), historian, was born in New Canton, Virginia, the son of James Henry Woodson, a sharecropper, and Anne Eliza Riddle. Woodson, the “Father of Negro History,” was the first and only black American born of former slaves to earn a Ph.D. in history. His grandfather and father, who were skilled carpenters, were forced into sharecropping after the Civil War. The family eventually purchased land and eked out a meager living in the late 1870s and 1880s.

Woodson’s parents instilled in him high morality and strong character through religious teachings and a thirst for education. One of nine children, Woodson purportedly was his mother’s favorite, and was sheltered. As a small child he worked on the family farm, and as a teenager he worked as an agricultural day laborer. In the late 1880s the Woodsons moved to Fayette County, West Virginia, where his father worked in railroad construction, and where he himself found work as a coal miner. In 1895, at the age of twenty, he enrolled in Frederick Douglass High School where, possibly because he was an older student and felt the need to catch up, Woodson completed four years of course work in two years and graduated in 1897. Desiring additional education, Woodson enrolled in Berea College in Kentucky, which had been founded by abolitionists in the 1850s for the education of ex-slaves. Although he briefly attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, Woodson graduated from Berea in 1903, just a year before Kentucky passed the “Day Law,” prohibiting in*******al education. After college, Woodson taught at Frederick Douglass High School in West Virginia. Believing in the uplifting power of education, and desiring the opportunity to travel to another country to observe and experience the culture firsthand, he decided to accept a teaching post in the Philippines, teaching at all grade levels, and remained there from 1903 to 1907.

Woodson’s world view and ideas about how education could transform society, improve race relations, and benefit the lower classes, were shaped by his experiences as a college student and as a teacher. Woodson took correspondence courses through the University of Chicago because he was determined to obtain additional education. He was enrolled at the University of Chicago in 1907 as a full-time student and earned a bachelor’s degree, and a master’s degree in European history, submitting a thesis on French diplomatic policy toward Germany in the eighteenth century. Woodson then attended Harvard University on scholarships, matriculating in 1909 and studying with Edward Channing, Albert Bushnell Hart, and Frederick Jackson Turner. In 1912 Woodson earned his Ph.D. in history, completing a dissertation on the events leading to the creation of the state of West Virginia after the Civil War broke out. Unfortunately, he never published the dissertation. He taught at the Armstrong and Dunbar/M Street high schools in Washington from 1909 to 1919, and then moved on to Howard University, where he served as dean of arts and sciences, professor of history, and head of the graduate program in history in 1919–1920. From 1920 to 1922 he taught at the West Virginia Collegiate Institute. In 1922 he returned to Washington to direct the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History full time.

Woodson began the work that sustained him for the rest of his career, and for which he is best known, when he founded the association in Chicago in the summer of 1915. Woodson had always been interested in African-American history and believed that education in the subject at all levels of the curriculum could inculcate racial pride and foster better race relations. Under the auspices of the association, Woodson founded the Journal of Negro History, which began publication in 1916, and established Associated Publishers in 1921, to publish works in black history. He launched the annual celebration of Negro History Week in February 1926, and had achieved a distinguished publishing career as a scholar of African-American history by 1937, when he began publishing the Negro History Bulletin.

The Journal of Negro History, which Woodson edited until his death, served as the centerpiece of his research program, not only providing black scholars with a medium in which to publish their research but also serving as an outlet for the publication of articles written by white scholars, when their interpretations of such subjects as slavery and black culture differed from mainstream historians. Woodson formulated an editorial policy that was inclusive. Topically, the Journal provided coverage in various aspects of the black experience: slavery, the slave trade, black culture, the family, religion, and antislavery and abolitionism, and included biographical articles on prominent African Americans. Chronologically, articles covered the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. Scholars, as well as interested amateurs, published important historical articles in the Journal, and Woodson kept a balance between professional and nonspecialist contributors.

Woodson began the annual February celebration of “Negro History Week” which became “Black History Month” in 1976 to increase awareness of and interest in black history among both blacks and whites. He chose the second week of February to commemorate the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Each year he sent promotional brochures and pamphlets to state boards of education, elementary and secondary schools, colleges, women’s clubs, black newspapers and periodicals, and white scholarly journals suggesting ways to celebrate. The association also produced bibliographies, photographs, books, pamphlets, and other promotional literature to assist the black community in the commemoration. Negro History Week celebrations often included parades of costumed characters depicting the lives of famous blacks, breakfasts, banquets, lectures, poetry readings, speeches, exhibits, and other special presentations. During Woodson’s lifetime, the celebration reached every state and several foreign countries.

Among the major objectives of Woodson’s research and the programs he sponsored through the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History (the name was changed in the 1970s to reflect the changing times) was to counteract the racism promoted in works published by white scholars. With several young black assistants—Rayford W. Logan, Charles H. Wesley, Lorenzo J. Greene, and A. A. Taylor—Woodson pioneered in writing the social history of black Americans, using new sources and methods, such as census data, slave testimony, and oral history. These scholars moved away from interpreting blacks solely as victims of white oppression and racism toward a view of them as major actors in American history. Recognizing Woodson’s major achievements, the NAACP presented him its highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, in June 1926. At the award ceremony, John Haynes Holmes, the minister and in*******al activist, cited Woodson’s tireless labors to promote the truth about Negro history.

During the 1920s Woodson funded the research and outreach programs of the association with substantial grants from white foundations such as the Carnegie Foundation, the General Education Board, and the Laura Spellman Rockefeller Foundation. Wealthy whites, such as Julius Rosenwald, also made contributions. White philanthropists cut Woodson’s funding in the early 1930s, however, after he refused to affiliate the association with a black college. During and after the depression, Woodson depended on the black community for his sole source of support.

Woodson began his career as a publishing scholar in the field of African-American history in 1915 with the publication of The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. By 1947, when the ninth edition of his textbook The Negro in Our History appeared, Woodson had published four monographs, five textbooks, five edited collections of source materials, and thirteen articles, as well as five collaborative sociological studies. Covering a wide range of topics, he relied on an interdisciplinary method, combining anthropology, archaeology, sociology, and history.

Among the first scholars to investigate slavery from the slaves’ point of view, Woodson studied it comparatively as institutions in the United States and Latin America. His work prefigured the concerns of later scholars of slavery by several decades, as he examined slaves’ resistance to bo***ge, the internal slave trade and the breakup of slave families, miscegenation, and blacks’ achievements despite the adversity of slavery.

Woodson focused mainly on slavery in the antebellum period, examining the relationships between owners and slaves and the impact of slavery upon the organization of land, labor, agriculture, industry, education, religion, politics, and culture. Woodson also noted the African cultural influences on African-American culture. In The Negro Wage Earner (1930) and The Negro Professional Man and the Community (1934) Woodson described class and occupational stratification within the black community. Using a sample of 25,000 doctors, dentists, nurses, lawyers, writers, and journalists, he examined income, education, family background, marital status, religious affiliation, club and professional memberships, and the literary tastes of black professionals. He hoped that his work on Africa would “invite attention to the vastness of Africa and the complex problems of conflicting cultures.”

Woodson also pioneered in the study of black religious history. A Baptist who attended church regularly, he was drawn to an examination of black religion because the church functioned as an educational, political, and social institution in the black community and served as the foundation for the rise of an independent black culture. Black churches, he noted, established kindergartens, women’s clubs, training schools, and burial and fraternal societies, from which independent black businesses developed. As meeting places for kin and neighbors, black churches strengthened the political and economic base of the black community and promoted racial solidarity. Woodson believed that the “impetus for the uplift of the race must come from its ministry,” and he predicted that black ministers would have a central role in the modern civil rights movement.

Woodson never married or had children, and he died at his Washington home; he had directed the association until his death. For thirty-five years he had dedicated his life to the exploration and study of the African-American past. Woodson made an immeasurable and enduring contribution to the advancement of black history through his own scholarship and the programs he launched through the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.

02/25/2023

Voting shouldn't be easy as Sunday morning, but it shouldn't be difficult either for American citizens. Let Lionel Richie's voice be heard!