Sections

Louis Hughes, author and businessman, was born a slave in Virginia in 1832. Hughes remained in bondage over thirty years and spent most of that time in Tennessee. While still in slavery, Hughes secretly learned to read and write and…

As congressman, U.S. secretary of state, and Nobel Laureate, Cordell Hull had a remarkable career. Born to a poor family in the isolated "Mountain Section" of upper Middle Tennessee, he was educated first at home, then free schools, and, as…

Situated next to the Tennessee River on the western edge of Middle Tennessee, Humphreys County has a history intimately linked to its location and natural resources. It contains fertile agricultural land along its major waterways--the Tennessee, Duck, and Buffalo Rivers--and…

West Humphreys was a jurist whose sympathy for and relationship with the Confederacy led to impeachment. He was born in Montgomery County on August 5, 1806. His father, Parry W. Humphreys, was a state judge and a representative to the…

Located on Memphis's historic Beale Street and called the city's "best kept secret," this restored Greek Revival house opened to public tours in the mid-1990s. Completed in 1832 by George Wyatt, the house featured several architectural flourishes, including an escape…

Rueben H. Hunt was the principal-in-charge of one of the South's most prominent regional architectural practices in the period from the 1880s through the 1930s. His career reflected in microcosm the changes in architectural practice during the late nineteenth and…

Built on a ninety-foot limestone bluff overlooking the Tennessee River and housed within a 1904 Classical Revival mansion and contemporary-style 1975 structure, the Hunter Museum of American Art features one of the finest collections of American art in the Southeast.…

Chattanooga businessman and philanthropist George Thomas Hunter was the nephew of pioneer Coca-Cola bottler Benjamin Franklin Thomas. A native of Maysville, Kentucky, Hunter joined his childless uncle and aunt in Chattanooga in 1904, becoming a surrogate son and business heir.…

Tennessee's early white settlers found bountiful supplies of wildlife, including deer, bear, elk, bison, and wild turkey; however, continued westward expansion rapidly depleted these populations. The last two reports of bison were recorded near Nashville in 1795; the last known…

Europeans brought hunting dogs when they began their exploration of the North American continent. Mountain Curs and American coonhounds were the most prominent imported breeds. With the exception of the Plott, all breeds of coonhounds have a common ancestry deeply…

Adam R. Huntsman, attorney and congressman, was born in Charlotte County, Virginia, February 11, 1786, to Jacob and Mary Devine Huntsman. Huntsman attended schools in Virginia before migrating to Knoxville around 1807. There he studied law and was admitted to…

Fielding Hurst, a staunch southern Unionist during the Civil War, led the Sixth Tennessee Cavalry (USA) and proved to be one of the war’s most polarizing figures. An East Tennessee native, Hurst and his wife, Melocky, moved to McNairy County…

Styles L. Hutchins, noted African American attorney in turn-of-the-century Chattanooga, was born November 21, 1852, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. He attended Atlanta University and after completing his studies, taught in local schools until 1871. In that year he became principal of…

In 1902 Mary Grimes Hutchison established a place of learning that today is known as Hutchison School. The Old Love Place on Union Avenue was the site of Miss Hutchison's School for Girls from 1916 until 1925, when increased enrollment…

J. R. “Pitt” Hyde III started the operation that became AutoZone in 1979 as part of Malone & Hyde, a company founded by his grandfather. In 2004, Hyde was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame—an achievement that the institution…

From 1978 to 1997, the annual Memphis in May Festival culminated with vocalist James Hyter's performance at the Sunset Symphony. Each year, audiences sang along with Hyter's rendition of the show tune "Ol' Man River" and repeatedly called for encores.…

The Immortal Thirteen were the Democratic members of the state Senate in the 1841-42 session of the general assembly. These thirteen Democrats maintained a one-seat majority in the Senate, but the rival Whig Party's majority in the House of Representatives…

The popular image of Tennessee is dominated by country music, Opryland, Elvis, the Smokies, Jack Daniel's, and other icons of mass culture. The essence of the Volunteer State, however, is found in its history of hard working people tilling the…

The most serious outbreak of influenza (also known as grippe, grip, or flu) in Tennessee history, with 7,721 recorded deaths from the disease, was the influenza pandemic of 1918-19. What happened in Tennessee was part of an international pandemic, or…

Bronson Ingram was Tennessee's only billionaire when he died of cancer at the age of sixty-three on June 15, 1995, in his Nashville home. His net worth was estimated at $1.3 billion. In 1994 Forbes national business magazine placed Ingram…