Mount
Olive Cemetery Historical Preservations SocietyBlack History of Clarksville
Black History Month
Mount Olive Cemetery Historical Preservation Society Celebrates Black History Month
February 25, 2007--Bert Cobb Community Center
Franklin Street
Door will open at 1 PM -- Refreshment will be served
Program to Start at 2:30
CASA-Start will present the achievement of Local Black Pioneers of Clarksville
Featuring two song of famed African American who was born in Clarksville Composer Clarence Cameron White
Performed By Soprano Gail Robinson-Oturo, Chairperson of APSU Music Department and Imogene Burnett, Accompanist
Little Miss and Junior Miss Black Clarksville Scholarship participates will display their special talents.
Little Miss (5-10 Years Old)
Jasmine Fitzgerald
Mikayla West
Miracle Powell
Toni Marshall
Junior Miss (11-16 Years Old)
Chertique Hargrove
Jeanetta' Garland
Akara Ramey
Brittani Winters
Trenisha Maeweathers
Following Information is provided by:
"It's a Black Thing! A Compilation of Historical Facts about Clarksville-Montgomery County Citizens of African-American Descent
Published By: "Kids In Control" of Clarksville, TN
Religion:
The Early Negro Church
(Prepared by--The National Baptist Convention U.S.A., Inc)
Slaves were not usually permitted to have churches of their own. Prior to the Civil war a few churches were established by free Blacks. However, the roots of the Black Church, as we know it today, can be found in the religious life of slaves and privileges granted them by their owners.
In some areas of the South it was unlawful for slaves to meet as a body unless Whites were present and written permission was given by their owners. Most slave owners hired men to patrol areas. These patrols worked for late in the day until just before dawn, watching slaves and checking on their activities. By observing the activities of the patrols, slaves soon found that the patrols for the most part, turned in just before dawn and would sleep most of the day. Armed with this knowledge they came upon the idea of meeting just before dawn in groups and were able to hold their meeting unmolested and without any whites being present. This practice gave rise to the "Before Day Prayer Meetings." which have been passed by tradition and remained common practice among Black Baptist churches until recent times. These prayer meetings were the first all-Black meetings that many slaves or free Blacks knew.
When Blacks were permitted to conduct their services in their "own way," there was some freedom of expression. Their church services were also characterized by "shouting" and other ecstatic forms of religious behavior. More importantly, these meetings afforded an opportunity for preachers to arise among them who expressed the feelings and attitudes of slaves. In the cities of the South, this "invisible institution" was able to grow even more than in rural areas.
Walker Brooks in his book, "Evolution of the Negro Baptist Church," states that freedom and local democracy allowed Negroes participation in the early Baptist Churches of America" and "social distinction in religious worship was practically ignored." According to Carter Woodson, in "The History of the Negro Church," "Negroes in certain parts were accepted at first in the congregation with the Whites and accorded equal privileges." This was not the case everywhere. As in some areas, Blacks were given the privilege of voter participation in church affairs only when they were being considered for membership. The time soon came when men ceased to think so much of individual and natural rights and thought more frequently of measures for centralized government. Blacks, the element of government farthest down socially, were soon forgotten and ignored by churches. This atmosphere, along with the token attempt on the part of Whites to instruct Blacks, soon taught them that they could maintain little interest in a cause or movement with which they had almost nothing to do. The experiences, which had given Blacks the opportunity to enjoy of some tine freedom in the church, certainly made him loathe giving up such a liberty.
Negroes in White churches, with the assistance of White ministers who licensed and ordained many Negroes to the ministry, did not cease to devote personal interest to the welfare of the Negro churches. The new churches went along quite well showed encouraging signs of wholesome growth. Many Whites would worship in some of these new churches and several were converted under Negro preachers. A few Negro preachers served as pastors of White churches in the South during the latter part of the eighteenth and the first of the nineteenth centuries.
Ther gap gradually widened in the mixed worship, and the separation of the white and Black worshipers followed as a general pattern over the country. At first, services for Negroes were held in the same edifices on Sunday afternoons. The Whites pastors would generally attend and lead; sometimes a Colored minister would have charge; and in some cases some brother, or brothers, would speak or exhort form the floor. Some Negro churches arose without aid fro the white pastors or churches. There were churches in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and other Mid-Atlantic states. These churches were admitted to the White Baptist associations of their respective area.
The church has always played a pivotal role in the Black community. It was perhaps the first organization were Blacks exercised a measure of control over their own destiny. It has also served as the foundation for our schools, anchor for our civic organizations, and as our political voice. The following church history extracts biograph the inception, growth and continuing development of Black churches throughout the Clarksville-Montgomery County region.
Churches
Ebenezer A.M.E. Church
Fifth Ward Missionary Baptist Church
First Missionary Baptist Church
Greenhill Missionary Baptist Church
Little Walnut Grove Missionary Baptist Church
Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church
New Hope Baptist Church
Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church
St. John Missionary Baptist Church
St. Peter A.M.E. Church
Oldest Black Church in Montgomery County:
St. Peter A.M.E. Chruch
Established in 1866
by: Historic Clarksville, The Bicentennial Story 1784-1984
copyright 1983
Oldest Sunday School:
Fifth Ward Missionary Baptist Church
Established in Mid-1800?
We are told that just after the end of the Civil War two young men, Mr. Harry Martin and Mr. Daniel Merriweather, recognized the need for religious training among the youth and organized the first Sunday School in Clarksville.
The meetings were held in a little read brick building on Main Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets (this building was razed just a few years ago to make way for the Jenkins and Wynn parking lot). We are told that a white couple, Mr. and Mrs. Silas Stewart, who resided on the Northwest corner of Main and Fourth Streets watched the activities of the little group. They were so impressed by what they witnessed that they donated a plot of land, next to the little red brick building, to the group for the purpose of constructing a church building.
Baptizing
In The Cumberland River -- CA1900.
Early church baptisms were usually held outdoors in a creek or
river. This African-American baptismal service on the Cumberland
River has the L&N Railroad Bridge on Riverside Drive in the background.
Photo Courtesy of Williams MC#389
Medical: The First Hospital
The Burt Home Infirmary
The institution was founded by Dr. Robert T. Burt, March 2, 1906, beginning with three rooms, two beds and one nurse, Miss Rebecca J. Carter, a graduate of New York hospital. After one year's time more room was needed. A second story was added to the building. Miss Bessie Patton, a graduate of Mercy Hospital, was employed--being one of the pioneer Negro infirmaries of the South, many of the Race surgeons served as visiting surgeons from time to time. Among then Dr. George C. Hall Chicago, IL, making annual visits, holding surgical clinics, Dr. Daniel H. Williams, Chicago, IL, the late Dr. Robert F. Boyd, Nashville, Dr. J.T. Wilson, Memphis. At this time Miss Birdie L. Garrett, a graduate of Freedman's Hospital, of Washington, D.C., was employed.
In 1910, a second charge was made, a large solarium, new wards, new operating room and laboratory were added. In 1919, still another charge was made adding fifteen new rooms with another solarium, a very modern operating room, new nurse quarters, private rooms, a receiving ward overhauled and newly decorated throughout. The infirmary had thirty-two rooms equipped with all strictly modern conveniences. The institution was immeasurable blessing not only to suffering ones in the vicinity of Clarksville, but more than 3,000 patients, coming for Kentucky, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, North Dakota, New York, Ohio, Florida, and all parts of Tennessee, with a death rate of less than 1 1/2 percent. Very little is know about the work of the institution for the fact that management was interested in what they were doing than in broadcasting the news about it.
Education
The various history of Memorial DayThe exact origin of memorializing the dead is uncertain, but there are biblical references and several cultures throughout the centuries who have chosen specific days to recall the memory of the dead and to visit their last resting place. In the United States there occasions were called Remembrance Day, Decoration Day, Homecoming or Memorial Day and were celebrated regionally at various times throughout the country.
Faced with the mortalities of death during American Civil War, several communities began to hold ceremonies to honor their fallen soldiers in May. The most popularized first ceremonies included: Boaesburg, Pennsylvania's May 1864 memorial for Civil War soldiers; Waterloo, New York's May 5, 1866 ceremonies for Civil War dead; Belle Isle, Virginia teachers' offering prayers and placing flowers on the Union soldiers graves on May 30, 1866; and a May 1867 account of southern women holding ceremony and laying flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers in Columbus, Mississippi. By the 1868, the solemn occasion was organized by the Grand Army of the Republic's 1868 proclamation was established May 30th as the date to officially honor the American Civil War soldiers who died while in the service of their country.
Ceremonies honoring the dead often involved a church service and a processional to the cemetery. The procession included carts and wagons decorated with flowers and people on foot carrying sprigs of flower. People also carried fresh sprigs of rosemary to represent remembrance and love. Once at the cemetery, people cleaned off the graves and tombstones. The flowers used during the procession were then laid on all the graves. The rosemary was toss onto the graves to signify that the deceased would not be forgotten. The occasion also included picnicking in the park like atmosphere of the cemetery.