logo
From slavery to civil rights then disrepair: Rebirth nears for Lebanon's Pickett Chapel

From slavery to civil rights then disrepair: Rebirth nears for Lebanon's Pickett Chapel

Yahoo23-02-2025

History's fingerprints are literally visible on a Lebanon church that was originally built by skilled slaves and free Black people for a white congregation in 1827.
But Pickett Chapel at 209 East Market Street is more than an ongoing restoration project with a future as a museum and small events venue.
There is a new life coming, and the rebirth is near.
The church is a symbol for hard lessons learned. It's a teacher with hands-on experience in slavery that can still be seen today. The fingerprints of the slaves who built Pickett Chapel are permanently etched into many of the reddish-brown bricks that make up the building's exterior.
More than 100 years after the prints were left behind, Pickett Chapel became a community venue in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. That included a particularly violent disturbance one evening in downtown Lebanon that targeted activists – some of whom regularly attended the church.
Now and many generations later, Pickett Chapel continues to shake loose from disrepair as old gives way to a gleam like white hair on the aged.
The simple-styled building's perseverance is personalized by Harry and Mary Harris, a Lebanon couple married for 68 years who mortgaged their home in tandem with other co-signers to bring the Chapel back.
'We're all equal in the sight of God,' Mary Harris said, 'and (from) slavery to where we are now, it has taken people who have felt that in their hearts … to treat each other like brothers and sisters. And to be treated with respect.
'That's why this museum is so important to us, to get it finished and let people know the truth. History is the truth and that's what we want to share.'
Harry Harris, 88, and Mary Harris, 86, put their home 'on the chopping block,' with several cosigners on the Wilson County Black History Committee in order to buy Pickett Chapel in 2007. The Harrises attended Pickett Chapel as kids.
The purchase was similar to how a group of freed slaves bought the church in 1866 for a reported $1,500 – 10 years after the white congregants built a new church on East Main in Lebanon and moved.
'Scary,' Mary Harris said softly about the financial investment and risk they took to buy Pickett Chapel. The Wilson County Commission approved a $25,000 donation in July 2017 for the restoration, which allowed the Black History Committee to pay off the remaining portion of the initial loan, she said.
There were about 8,000 enslaved people in Wilson County out of a total population of 26,000 when Pickett Chapel was built, according to Gratia Strother, archivist for the Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church.
The enslaved could be often rented for big projects during the time-period, Strother said. And it's likely the white Methodists who commissioned the church in 1827 assigned some of the workers they enslaved to work on Pickett Chapel.
'It is much more likely than unlikely that enslaved workers also made the brick used in Pickett Chapel,' Strother said. 'The most emotionally powerful moment for me was finding a child's fingerprints on the East wall. Four little fingers imprinted into the soft brick as it was being removed from the molds.
'Brickmaking was incredibly hard work."
Molds typically held several bricks and were very heavy as a result, Strother explained, noting it was likely that an adult worker slammed the mold on the ground and lifted it back up, leaving the bricks in the dirt.
The United Methodist Church 'is committed to acknowledging the injustice of all oppression,' and is committed to the work of anti-racism, Strother said.
'A small, enslaved child working in the brickyard would likely have been assigned to pick up each brick and stack them on a wagon for transport to the construction site," she added. "That child would have done this hard work, likely for about twelve hours a day for days on end.'
Once the church opened in 1829, white people and the enslaved likely worshipped there.
'They were gifted enough to do all this work,' said Harry Harris, who played center field for the Lebanon Clowns Negro League baseball team. 'It's important to know how it came about, that the slaves built it by hand and how it was used.'
Harry and Mary Harris met in grade school, They both attended Pickett Chapel's youth group and continued attending into adulthood.
The Harrises have three children and raised them in Pickett Chapel.
The church had congregants involved in the Martin Luther King Jr.-led Civil Rights movement, and Pickett Chapel was a meeting place for the Wilson County Chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality under then Pastor D.W. Simmons, which involved many from the area including those from outside the church, Mary Harris said.
On March 13, 1962, a group of activists went to the Capitol Theatre just off the square for a non-violent demonstration. The attendees had lighter fluid tossed around them and eggs thrown at them with injuries and bloodshed, according to news reports.
After working at a local bank, Harry Harris went home and accompanied a friend back to the square to support the activists. The windows of his 1951 Ford were smashed in and Harry Harris remembers returning home to his wife roughly a mile away with glass in his hair.
Sisters Maggie Benson and Sally Palmer, both cousins of Mary Harris, participated in the demonstration from Pickett Chapel, Mary Harris said.
'It was scary," she said. She was at home with the children that night. 'We didn't know what might happen to people in the Black neighborhood.'
Afterward, then Lebanon Mayor Charles D. Lloyd appointed a biracial committee to address racial inequality in the city.
'Restoring Pickett Chapel is important to remember the past, but also to help us move into the future,' Lebanon Mayor and City Historian Rick Bell said. 'From a historian's perspective, this building represents generations who were enslaved and their descendants who fought for equality. It is also an important part of our religious history and the birthplace of churches that continue in our community.
'As mayor, I believe that a restored Pickett Chapel will be the centerpiece of a revived Market Street and further commercial growth in our Historic Downtown.'
Pickett Chapel's congregation moved to a new building on Glover Street in 1973 because of growth and became known as Pickett-Rucker United Methodist Church, which is still operating today.
The original church building continued to be used as a community theater for years. However, by the early 2000s, Pickett Chapel was vacant, in disrepair and condemned, Mary Harris said.
The craftsmanship and materials used to build Pickett Chapel ― lumber and bricks ― are still in use almost 200 years later and its direct historical connection to slavery, two churches and Civil Rights are all part of Pickett Chapel's history, Committee Board Member Bill Moss said.
Hopes are that area schools and the community will utilize Pickett Chapel, which has already gathered items for the Roy Bailey African American Museum and History Center that Mary Harris hopes to open there.
'We want the true story of history and the interactions of that church and how important it was to this community,' Moss said.
About $300,000 has been raised in the last five years by the Wilson County Black History Committee through grants, fundraisers and donations to restore Pickett Chapel. About $550,000 is estimated to complete the entire project. Already done are structural repairs, new heat and air-conditioning and new electrical systems. A portion of the barrel ceiling is also finished.
Bob Black, who now owns the Capitol Theatre with his wife, has been on the Wilson County Black History Committee board and has been a financial supporter of the Pickett Chapel restoration.
'We must keep alive the history of the Civil Rights movement in assuring there are places to keep the dream alive,' Black said. 'Pickett Chapel will allow us educate the children who are no longer being enlightened in our education system.'
The Wilson County Black History Committee has applied for a 'Preserving Black Churches' grant that Mary Harris hopes can complete the work – perhaps by the end of the year. The chapel has already been used for small community events.
'It will mean everything. It has been such a journey,' Mary Harris said of the project nearing completion. 'There is a connection with a lot of citizens here, and we want to represent who we are and to be inclusive.
'We don't have a lot for our youth, so one of the hopes for the future of this project is that it will continue and there will be enough interest to hold on to it for generations.'
The church will celebrate the 159th anniversary of Pickett Chapel and Pickett-Rucker UMC since the freed slaves purchased the building in 1866 during the weekend of March 15-16.
The pre-anniversary celebration will be from noon-3 p.m. on March 15 at Pickett Chapel.
Pickett-Rucker UMC will hold regular morning worship at 10:45 a.m. that Sunday with lunch served afterward.
Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Slaves, civil rights, disrepair: Lebanon's Pickett Chapel nears return

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Nigerian immigrant graduates with honors from Anderson High School
Nigerian immigrant graduates with honors from Anderson High School

Yahoo

time4 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Nigerian immigrant graduates with honors from Anderson High School

ANDERSON — Wuorola Olorunfemi thought she could fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor and living in a mansion in her home country of Nigeria. Life and God had other plans. Her mother was accepted into Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. Olorunfemi was nine years old. "I found myself facing changes I hadn't anticipated,' she said Saturday during a speech to her fellow graduates at Anderson High School. 'We boarded a plane and left behind everything I'd ever known to move thousands of miles." She described an array of challenges, including bitterly cold winters and stereotypes that made building friendships difficult. "I was asked questions like, 'Why is your hair always in braids?' 'Did you live in a hut in Africa?' 'Did you guys hunt lions and zebras?' "Those moments were uncomfortable and jarring, but I adapted." She planned to attend Clarkson like her mother, but in 2020, the family moved to Anderson. "I wasn't thrilled, but Anderson gave me something unexpected: More diversity, more opportunities and the space to truly grow," said Olorunfemi, one of 307 seniors to graduate from AHS on Saturday. Olorunfemi, the senior class president, ranked 21st in the graduating class. "Wuoraola is a very lively, independent and bold,' said her mother, Mosun. 'She's a go-getter. She goes for whatever she sets her mind to." Mosun said she and her husband, Felix, also taught their daughter to value education. "We focus strongly on academics,' Felix said. 'I know that in this country, if you pursue your education, you can make something out of life." A love of reading, along with an attitude of self-discipline, he added, augmented his daughter's academic prowess. "Do your homework, no TV during the week, no video games,' he said. 'If she's not reading academic books, she was reading books from the library. We go to the library every Sunday." Olorunfemi will enroll in the nursing program at Indiana University. Felix said that, having spent the past two summers taking college-level courses, his daughter will have a leg up. "For the past two years, she has been going to summer school at Purdue and IU," he said. "Every holiday, she goes to summer school. I think she's more than ready for college.' Olorunfemi sees IU as a steppingstone on her journey, one which she hopes includes becoming a neurosurgeon and, perhaps someday, " living in a pretty pink mansion." She hopes to inspire others, especially young Black women, to pursue their goals. "You don't have to be on top to be great,' she said. 'You don't have to be perfect to be great and do great things," Olorunfemi said. "Make your life what you want it to be."

Replica 1738 fort in Florida a tribute to first free Black community
Replica 1738 fort in Florida a tribute to first free Black community

Yahoo

time5 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Replica 1738 fort in Florida a tribute to first free Black community

ORLANDO, Fla. — 'Viva Mose!' shouted the crowd of dignitaries, state park rangers and community members gathered at Fort Mose Historic State Park near St. Augustine on a sunny Friday in early May. The chant — translated as 'Long live Fort Mose!' — celebrated the ribbon cutting of a newly constructed replica of a 1738 fort that holds a special place in America's Black history. In 1738, the Spanish governor of Florida chartered the settlement of Fort Mose as a refuge for those fleeing slavery from English colonies in the Carolinas. Over several decades, an estimated 100 Africans made the first legally sanctioned free Black community in the pre-Constitution United States their home and safe haven from British rule. 'The reconstruction stands as a tribute to the courageous men and women who founded Fort Mose in 1738, ensuring their legacy lives on,' said Charles Ellis, the president of the Fort Mose Historical Society. 'By bringing this fort back to life, we enhance our ability to tell the story through on-site events, group tours, lectures and virtual seminars. Because of this, no longer will our fourth and fifth-grade students ask, 'Where is the fort?'' The reconstruction was made possible due to extensive research of the site that began in the 1970s and 1980s with efforts spearheaded by Dr. Kathleen Deagan, a University of Florida professor of archaeology, anthropology and history, and Dr. Jane Landers, a professor of history at Vanderbilt University. Financial support for the project came from public and private sources, including the Florida State Parks, St. Johns County, Florida Power and Light, Wells Fargo, the Jacksonville Jaguars Foundation, the Florida State Parks Foundation and more, who all fundraised a total of $3.2 million to turn this dream into reality. 'The reconstruction of the Fort Mose has been a labor of love, dedication and unwavering commitment which began in 2012,' Ellis said. 'When we broke ground on the reconstruction of Fort Mose, we didn't just build walls. We created a tribute to the resiliency and determination of freedom seekers who made the first legally sanctioned free Black settlement in North America possible.' In addition to exploring an indoor museum with a timeline of Fort Mose and St. Augustine history, visitors can now walk through a full-scale replica of the 39-foot-tall lookout tower that helped residents of the fort monitor for enemy attacks. Reenactors will help illuminate history and help visitors imagine what life was like in the 1730s during special events and tours complete with drills, pageantry and cannon firing. Construction on the replica fort began in January 2024, 30 years after the site was designated as a national historic landmark. Chuck Hatcher, director of the Florida State Parks, said collaboration is what made this project come to fruition. 'Archaeologists, CSOs, volunteers, park staff, division staff, artists and public officials have all worked together to make this project come to fruition,' he said. 'I would like to think if the people who were the original members of Fort Mose were here, they would be proud of what we've done and the representation of what they had.' While there is no blueprint for how to build a replica 1738 fort, the design was put together with the goal of being as authentic as possible while staying mindful of Florida's climate. The palisade walls and structural support beams that hold up the fort are made to look like wood but are constructed of concrete. Now, state park officials and volunteers who helped this project come together are celebrating the story of courage, resilience and freedom that the fort helps tell. 'Nearly 300 years after Fort Mose stood as a beacon to freedom seekers, it will stand again and be a testament to the power of freedom, bravery and the human spirit,' said Kathleen Brennan, president of the Florida State Parks Foundation. 'May this fort last 300 years and beyond to honor those who made their living here and to inspire visitors from all over the world, who will come here to experience what can only be found here at Fort Mose.' _________ Fort Mose Historic State Park Admission to park grounds is free. To enter the visitor center there is a $2 fee per adult. Children under 6 are admitted for free. Open every day from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Located at 15 Fort Mose Trail in St. Augustine; 904-823-2232; __________

Scholarship celebration honors Black college-bound seniors
Scholarship celebration honors Black college-bound seniors

Yahoo

time16 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Scholarship celebration honors Black college-bound seniors

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) — Hundreds gathered at a Bloomington church on Saturday to celebrate Black excellence in the classroom. The ceremony was held at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 7, at Mount Pisgah Baptist Church. It was sponsored by the Mentoring and Providing Scholarships Program, a local non-profit that mentors black students to learn etiquette, financial literacy and public speaking skills. More than $80,000 in scholarships were awarded to Black college-bound seniors for their academic achievements and community service. 'The annual Joint Scholarship Celebration plays an integral role in celebrating the successes of African American students,' Carla Campbell-Jackson, co-founder of MAPS, said. 'The MAPS Program is invaluable for students, and for our community, as we are developing 'real time' leaders and thought partners, who will continue to make a difference locally, and beyond.' Money for the scholarships was gathered with the help of African-American sororities, fraternities, and community-based organizations. MAPS looks to help students prepare for the professional world with important skills such as public speaking, said Shaun Harden, one of the students who received several scholarships. 'MAPS has been really great, especially for professional development. For instance, one of our previous sessions was about public speaking,' Harden said. 'We talked about how we were able to approach the stand and how we were able to address the audience properly, how to avoid filler words, a lot of different proper speaking things that you don't really get to learn other than through experience.' Local philanthropists also contributed to the scholarship fund, which helped raise more money for African American students looking to pursue higher education. Keynote speakers for the event included NAACP Image Award Winner and WMBD Summer Intern Bradley Ross Jackson and Teresa Haley, who shared some information and advice with the students. 'I learned that if you work hard, if you stay strong and determined, and continue to try to do your best and give back to the communities that have supported you, that you will eventually be rewarded in the end,' said Gabrielle Johnson, the president of the Bloomington-Normal NAACP Youth Council. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store