The Beck Cultural Exchange Center is continuing the fight for justice for Maurice Mays by asking the Governor to exonerate him of the first-degree murder charge from 1919 that led to his execution.
East Tennessee has many stories of how African Americans made improvements within its region. Here is the journey through East Tennessee's Black history.
In 1922, Maurice F. Mays was executed after authorities said he robbed and killed a woman in North Knoxville. He maintained his innocence until he died.
When you think of Knoxville’s history, you might automatically jump to the 1982 World’s Fair that earned the city its “scruffy” label. Maybe you think of James White who settled
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As the nation corrects the hidden history of the Tulsa Race Riot on its 100th anniversary, the massacre mirrors the devastating violence and destruction of a deep-rooted Black community in Knoxville s Red Summer of 1919.
Tulsa’s predominately Black Greenwood neighborhood in 1921 suffered the single worst incident of racial violence in American history in what is now called the Black Wall Street Massacre. Dozens were killed and hundreds were injured. But the destruction didn t stop at the decimation of bodies. Thousands were left homeless, property owners saw millions in damage and Black businesses were destroyed.
It s eerily similar to Knoxville’s Red Summer, where white mobs and the National Guard opened fire on Black neighbors with an untold number of deaths.