Education

Carson-Newman University is a four-year liberal arts institution located in Jefferson City. It traces its roots to the founding of the Mossy Creek Baptist Seminary, which opened its doors for the first session in September 1851. Reverend William Rogers served…

The Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at East Tennessee State University is a Distinguished Center of Excellence, established in 1984 during the administration of Governor Lamar Alexander. The center’s mission is to document and showcase Appalachia’s past, celebrate its…

In 1984 the Tennessee General Assembly and Governor Lamar Alexander, as part of a comprehensive statewide education reform program, proposed a special project to recognize Tennessee's national leadership in higher education through a competition to create specialized research centers involving…

The Center for Popular Music was established at Middle Tennessee State University in 1985. Its mission is to foster research and scholarship in American popular music and to promote an awareness of and appreciation for America's diverse musical culture. The…

In 1864 the Brothers of the Christian Schools applied to begin a school "of higher education" in Memphis, but yellow fever epidemics in Galveston and New Orleans killed several Brothers, and they canceled the project. Another attempt in 1871 succeeded,…

Philander P. Claxton, the "Crusader for Public Education in the South," was born in a log cabin in rural Bedford County in 1862. He attended several "cabin" schools and received a secondary education at a backwoods academy, where, at age…

Robert E. Clay, a pioneer of rural education for African Americans in Tennessee, helped to build hundreds of rural, county, and city schools. Clay was born on June 25, 1875, in Bristol, Virginia, to Harry and Frances Clay. He married…

A series of events from 1947 to 1958 placed the Civil Rights story of Clinton, the seat of Anderson County, on the national stage as one of the starting points in the modern Civil Rights movement. With the end of…

The Commonwealth Fund has played an important part in the development of public health and medical education in Tennessee since the 1920s. Anna Richardson Harkness created the Commonwealth Fund in 1918 as a philanthropic outlet for the fortune amassed by…

Tennessee's system of community colleges traces its origins to the 1955-57 study Public Higher Education in Tennessee undertaken by the legislative council of the Tennessee General Assembly and directed by Truman Pierce and A. D. Albright. The study outlined fundamental…

Established as Cumberland College at Lebanon in 1842 under the patronage of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Cumberland University received a charter as a university in 1843. Except for the period from 1962 to 1982, when the name was officially Cumberland…

The "Lebanon Law School" opened its first term in October 1847 as the first school of law in the Old Southwest. Professor Abraham Caruthers was soon joined by state Supreme Court Justice Nathan Green Sr., his son Nathan Jr., and…

Charles W. Dabney Jr., proponent of New South scientific agriculture and respected president of the University of Tennessee from 1887 to 1899, was born in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia, to Robert Lewis and Lavinia Morrison Dabney. Dabney received his early education from…

Minister and pioneer Samuel Doak founded the earliest schools and many of the Presbyterian churches of East Tennessee. The son of Irish immigrants, Doak was born August 1, 1749, in Augusta County, Virginia. He grew up on a frontier farm…

Nathan W. Dougherty, engineer, educator, and athlete, was born on March 23, 1886, at Hales Mill, Virginia, the son of Samuel and Mary Ellen Vernon Dougherty. When he was twelve years old, young Dougherty and his family moved to Knox…

Aaron Douglas, African American artist and professor at Fisk University, was born in small-town eastern Kansas and displayed an early aptitude for drawing. His mother recognized his talent and supported his pursuit of an art career. Douglas attended high school…

W. E. B. Du Bois was a prolific writer and profoundly original thinker who was influenced by his years in Tennessee as a student at Fisk University and by his public school teaching in rural Tennessee communities. Du Bois in…

Located in Johnson City, East Tennessee State University evolved from East Tennessee State Normal School, which enrolled the first students in October 1911. In 1900 Tennesseans found their public schools in poor condition. State law required a minimum of one…

From Tennessee's earliest beginnings, the state's inhabitants have expressed concern about the education of their children. In fact, even before Tennessee became a state, residents established private educational institutions. Despite these private efforts, however, the state's first constitution in 1796…

Andrew Nelson Eshman, minister, educator, author, and leader of the segment of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church that rejected the 1906 merger with the Presbyterians, USA, was born on June 1, 1865, in Mt. Pleasant and raised on a farm in…