Knoxville occupies a unique place in the American South. Following the Civil War, residents felt it was one of the few racially tolerant cities in the region. Unlike most cities in the South, African Americans in Knoxville could vote, hold public office, serve as police officers, and sit on juries. Despite this, racial tensions...
Current Exhibits
History speaks through the Museum of East Tennessee History's permanent and changing exhibits! At the heart of the museum is the award-winning signature exhibit, Voices of the Land: The People of East Tennessee, a moving, artifact-rich journey through more than 300 years of life in East Tennessee. Popular, too, is the East Tennessee Streetscape, a true step back in time, wherein visitors can peruse the Corner Drug Store or climb aboard Island Home-bound Streetcar No. 416. Several times a year, changing exhibits installed in the Rogers-Claussen Feature Gallery highlight special stories from East Tennessee's past.
So, come explore the region's history and heritage! The following exhibits are currently on display:
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Knoxville in the Jim Crow EraFebruary 14, 2020 to June 14, 2020Introduction
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Section 2: The Land BeckonsThe Land Beckons Their vallies are of the richest soil…. Should this country once come into the hands of the Europeans, they may with propriety call it the American Canaan. —J. W. Gerard DeBrahm, Fort Loudoun engineer, 1756 The great God of Nature has placed us in different situations…. He has given each their land…he has stocked yours... -
Section 3: A Land DividedA Land Divided East and west Tennessee will, in the end … form two separate states … by the limits which nature herself has formed … in separating them by the high mountains of Cumberland, and … by the total difference in their commercial relations. —F. A. Michaux, M. D., traveling botanist, 1805 With the frontier behind them,...
