Social Science

Author Shane Simmons explores tales of bravery, lore and bizarre customs within the East Tennessee region.

The mountains of East Tennessee are chock full of unique folklore passed down through generations. Locals spin age-old yarns of legends like Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone and Dragging Canoe. Stories of snake-handling churches and the myths behind the death crown superstitions dot the landscape. The mysteries surrounding the Sensabaugh Tunnel still haunt residents.

Author Tony Kail traces Memphis's colorful Hoodoo heritage from the arrival of Africans in Shelby County to the growth of conjure culture in juke joints and Spiritual Churches.

Widely known for its musical influence, Beale Street was also once a hub for Hoodoo culture. Many blues icons, such as Big Memphis Ma Rainey and Sonny Boy Williamson, dabbled in the mysterious tradition. Its popularity in some African American communities throughout the past two centuries fueled racial tension - practitioners faced social stigma and blame for anything from natural disasters to violent crimes. However, necessity sometimes outweighed prejudice, and even those with the highest social status turned to Hoodoo for prosperity, love or retribution.

From Nashville's earliest days as a pioneer town in Middle Tennessee, it would be nothing without its African American community.

Like many cities of the Antebellum South, Nashville was built by enslaved people, as African Americans built the first successful water system, maintained the streets, cultivated crops, and bred livestock. For years, Nashville was considered one of the wealthiest Southern cities, but after the Civil War, it struggled to regain that status while its newly freed Black citizens struggled to survive the South's Reconstruction and subsequent Jim Crow laws. As the Civil Rights era brought long-needed reforms, the Black community of Nashville has persevered through their determination, spiritual strength, and the unique leadership fostered by the visionary city they call home.

Martha Cole Whaley recounts her 100 years of witnessing the evolution of Gatlinburg, TN.

Today, Gatlinburg is an idyllic mountain resort. But the Sugarlands Valley in the 1910s couldn't have been more different. Martha Cole Whaley began her life on the outskirts of the city and has witnessed firsthand the joy and struggle of more than one hundred years in the area. Her rich experiences include what it was like to eat onion tops for an after-school snack, bathe in a washtub behind the stove and see a zipper for the first time on the boots of the mailman. Join author Marie Maddox as she captures an amazing century of Martha's life in Gatlinburg through stories, interviews and even a few of her favorite recipes from now and then.

Author Brian Allison illustrates the darker shades of Nashville's colorful past.

Nashville is known for its bold, progressive flair, but few are aware of the city's malevolent past. A rowdy red-light district called Smoky Row spawned several fatal episodes. A murderous temptress with a penchant for poison once strolled the city streets. Legends range from Andrew Jackson's bar fight with Senator Thomas Hart Benton to the macabre 1938 Marrowbone Creek cabin murders. In 1938, a state penitentiary fugitive escape triggered a tragic gunfight.

Explore the rich history of Haywood County, one of only two remaining counties in Tennessee with a majority African-American population.

Surviving slavery, Reconstruction, poverty, and the Civil Rights tensions of the twentieth century, Haywood County's black community has done much to shape the identity of this historic West Tennessee county. This volume, containing over 200 black-and-white images, highlights the county's settlement, the early slave culture, the legacy of its many soulful and talented musicians, such as Anna Mae Bullock (better known as Tina Turner), the hard-fought strides in bringing education to African-American citizens, the importance of church in molding the social and spiritual elements of life, and some of the county's most recognizable faces and names.

Author and historian Sharon Norris has composed a wonderful tribute, in word and image, to the black experience of Haywood County, capturing life of yesteryear in Brownsville and some of the smaller communities, such as Nutbush and Stanton. A visual treasure, Haywood County serves as fitting testimony to a community that has persevered through much of the South's darkest moments and has created a truly special place, full of spirit, fellowship, and melody.

Experience the historic superflood that decimated the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys and the resilience displayed by the people of Memphis.

The greatest flood in United States history struck the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys in January 1937. Perhaps no single flood in the United States had caused as much damage, displayed as much brutal natural force and displaced as many people. Not even the calamitous flood of 1927, which has eclipsed the '37 flood in terms of historical coverage was as massive. Author and Memphis local Patrick O'Daniel illustrates how this national natural disaster affected Memphis, in particular, and how the politicians of the day, from national figures like FDR to local political bosses like Ed Crump, handled unprecedented infrastructural challenges. Yet beyond politics and policy, O'Daniel tells the story of this historic disaster through the eyes of everyday Memphians, their struggles, care for thousands of desperate refugees and the measures they took to save their city from this devastating flood.

It is the home of one of the most famous railways in American history, the site of a historically vital trade route along the Tennessee River and the gateway to the Deep South.

Chattanooga has a storied past, a past that still lives through the spirits that haunt the city. Whether it is the ghost of the Delta Queen still lingering from the days of the river trade, the porter who forever roams the grounds of the historic Terminal Station or the restless souls that haunt from beneath the city in its elaborate underground tunnel system, the specter of Chattanooga's past is everywhere. Join authors Jessica Penot and Amy Petulla as they survey the most historically haunted places in and around the Scenic City.

Author Laura Cunningham expertly blends fright with history and presents the ghostly legends of haunted Memphis.

Much like its muddy riverbanks, the mid-South is flooded with tales of shadowy spirits lurking among us. Beyond the rhythm of the blues and tapping of blue suede shoes is a history steeped in horror. From the restless souls of Elmwood Cemetery to the voodoo vices of Beale Street, phantom hymns of the Orpheum Theatre and Civil War soldiers still looking for a fight, peer beyond the shadows of the city's most historic sites. Author and lifelong resident Laura Cunningham expertly blends fright with history and presents the ghostly legends from Beale to Bartlett, Germantown to Collierville, in this one-of-a-kind volume no resident or visitor should be without.

Learn and discover how African-Americans have held a prominent place in the history of Chattanooga dating back to the 16th century.

Did you know that Chattanooga is the hometown of the first African-American appointed to lead counsel on a Supreme Court case? The home of the nation's oldest student, who learned to read at age 116? The home of the African-American blacksmith who put shackles on the "Andrew's Raiders" after the Great Locomotive Chase? The site of one of the first integrated police departments in the South? Author Rita Lorraine Hubbard chronicles the ways African-Americans have shaped Chattanooga, and presents inspirational achievements that have gone largely unheralded over the years - and so much more!