The Historic Franklin Masonic Hall in Franklin, Tennessee, will host the lecture series Race and Reconciliation: A Conversation for Consideration, on Wednesday, November 16, 2016, at 6 o’clock. Three local historians and community activists will come together to converse and candidly discuss the issues surrounding race and reconciliation from the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement.
The Historic Franklin Masonic Hall cordially invites the community to attend. Along with Rachael Finch, Preservation Consultant for the Historic Franklin Masonic Hall and Principal of Engage Preservation Consulting, guest speakers will include Ms. Pearl Bransford, Alderman At Large for the City of Franklin and Community Activist and Ms. Tina Cahalan Jones, lawyer, historian and blogger, specializing in the research on former slaves who joined the United States Colored Troops from Williamson County, Tennessee. The conversation will focus on Franklin and Williamson County’s significant ties to difficult history, speak frankly on its history and discuss new methodologies for educating the public on the under-served and often misunderstood parts of our history.
Prior to the lecture, coffee and light refreshments will be served beginning at 6pm and the discussion will follow promptly at 6:30pm. The speakers will welcome questions from the audience attendees. The lecture series is free and open to the public.
UPDATE!
We had a great response to our lecture and both the Tennessean and the Williamson Herald covered our program --
WILLIAMSON HERALD
Local historians tell the stories of Williamson County slaves who became soldiers
By Susannah Marley • Staff Writer | Posted: Thursday, November 17, 2016 4:52 pm
Slave to Soldier
Preservation Consultant for the Historic Franklin Masonic Hall Rachael Finch, Franklin Alderman-At-Large Pearl Bransford, and historian Tina Calahan Jones answer audience questions after their presentation.
Community members were treated to a free lecture from historians and community activists on the experience of the African American soldier during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods on Wednesday evening at the Historic Franklin Masonic Hall.
Franklin Alderman-At-Large Pearl Bransford, Preservation Consultant for the Historic Franklin Masonic Hall and Principal of Engage Preservation Consulting Rachael Finch, and blogger, historian, and lawyer Tina Calahan Jones told attendees of how more than 300 slaves from Williamson County joined the Confederate and Federal troops on the battlefields of the Civil War.
According to Finch, there were more than 12,000 slaves in Williamson County before the Civil War and more than 275,000 in Tennessee.
“As we start to examine the Civil War with new eyes, especially after passing the 150th commemoration…it’s important to start moving beyond [asking] who was the architect of the Masonic Hall or St. Paul’s [Episcopal Church] and really start to focus on who were the builders? Who actually built these buildings for the public use?” Finch said.
According to Jones, who specializes in research of former slaves who joined the United States Colored Troops from Williamson County, the Emancipation Proclamation provided African American men with the opportunity to become soldiers in the United States armed services. 284 men from Williamson County were among the thousands of former slaves who entered the United States military during the war. 271 entered the infantry, artillery, cavalry units, and 13 served in the Navy.
Jones said she had a much harder time researching African American men from Williamson County in the Confederate Army. So far, she has found 38 men who were “body servants” during the war.
“These were not soldiers,” Jones said.
“They were taken to the war by their owners. They were not armed, they were cooks, they cleaned clothes, and they took care of the horses. There are no real records about these men, they don’t really appear in the military records.”
Jones thanked the “magic of the Internet” for helping her track down these men.
Jones told the stories of Osborn Cunningham, a body servant in the Confederate Army. After his owner surrendered at the end of the war, Cunningham returned to Williamson County. Jones said she lost track of him for a time because he did not show up on the 1870 census, the first census where African Americans were listed as citizens, not property. Jones finally found record of him filing a marriage certificate in the Franklin Courthouse, as well as in the 1880 census where he and his wife were listed as domestic servants and living in Franklin.
Jones also told the story of Freeman Thomas who joined the United States Colored Infantry. Thomas was a former slave and Civil War soldier who was interviewed by Fisk University students. He told his interviewers a story of fighting in the Battle of Nashville. On his furlough, he went to see his mistress, Mrs. Carothers, in Williamson County. Carothers, though glad to see Thomas, reminded him of the time when he was a sick child and how she took him into her house and nursed him back to health.
“Now you are fighting me,” Carothers said.
“I said ‘No, I ain’t fighting you, I’m fighting to get free,’” Thomas said.
Thomas survived the war, returned to Williamson County, where he lived and worked on Harlinsdale Farm, eventually building a house on Church Street.
Jones said that U.S. Colored Infantry soldiers were given equal pay to that of their white counterparts and that no U.S. Colored Infantry troops fought in the Battle of Franklin.
Of these 284 Union soldiers from Williamson County, Finch said five became prisoners of war, four were wounded, 10 were killed in action, 47 died of disease, and three died of other causes such as drowning. 50 percent of these men have unmarked graves.
“We want to realize the long road,” Finch said.
“These slaves knew what the cost of freedom was going to cost them.”
Finch also told the trials of slaves to ran to contraband camps as the war began.
“These camps were essentially refugee camps,” Jones said.
“These camps were dangerous, dirty, and disease ridden,” Finch said.
“Many of these slaves running away to these camps lost their lives in these camps due to camp diseases. Then they become soldiers. They’re given a new identity. There’s hope…they’re being recognized for who they are. They’re not just someone’s property, they are their own person.”
“Lincoln said it best in the Getty’sburg Address,” Finch said.
“272 words and he said so much, it was so powerful. The one phrase that stands out to me is when he says, ‘This is going to be a new birth of freedom.’ If you read the Gettysburg Address and you really digest the first sentence, ‘Fourscore and seven years ago, our founding fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation conceived in liberty,’ he is referencing the Declaration of Independence where all men are created equal. Towards the end, he says, ‘This country will birth a new freedom.’ That is the freedom of the end of slavery, the abolition, and of owning people as property as we know it.”
And from THE TENNESSEAN - Franklin series looks at race and reconciliation history
Jordan Buie , jbuie@tennessean.com 10:24 p.m. CST November 16, 2016
At the heart of the American Civil War was the institution of slavery, and in towns like Franklin, where plantations were abundant, so were slaves.
But oftentimes their stories are lost, buried in the background behind tales of battles, generals and wealthy plantation owners.
This is one reason three Franklin women came together to educate the public on “the other histories” that regularly go untold.
“We have decided to look beyond the buildings themselves and instead to who built the buildings,” said Rachael Finch, who along with Tina Calahan Jones and alderman-at-large Pearl Bransford will hold panel discussions in the historic Masonic Hall in Franklin.
The discussions will focus on the hard-fought battles for unity and equality among various groups that date back to treaties with the Chickasaw Indians.
The women have various backgrounds in history, politics and social action.
Wednesday night, about 40 Franklin residents heard the story of the Civil War through the census records and quotes of men and women who were born slaves and died free.
For many, the night had a particular significance because the walls themselves contributed to the history.
“Think just for a minute that men could have walked into this building as slaves and walked out as U.S. Army privates,” Finch said of the Masonic Hall. The building was used as a hospital during the Battle of Franklin and later as an enlistment spot.
Those gathered heard the stories of “contraband camps,” referring to the names for African-American refugees during the war.
“Forty percent of all Union troops fighting in Tennessee during the war were African-American,” Jones said.
Stories of those like Freeman Thompson reflected the complicated struggle between the races as the institution of slavery crumbled.
“No’m, I ain’t fighting you. I’m fighting to get free,” Thompson told his female owner.
Bransford said the series began because she, Finch and Jones realized they each had a piece of history they wanted to share.
Reach Jordan Buie on Twitter @jordanbuie.
But oftentimes their stories are lost, buried in the background behind tales of battles, generals and wealthy plantation owners.
This is one reason three Franklin women came together to educate the public on “the other histories” that regularly go untold.
“We have decided to look beyond the buildings themselves and instead to who built the buildings,” said Rachael Finch, who along with Tina Calahan Jones and alderman-at-large Pearl Bransford will hold panel discussions in the historic Masonic Hall in Franklin.
The discussions will focus on the hard-fought battles for unity and equality among various groups that date back to treaties with the Chickasaw Indians.
The women have various backgrounds in history, politics and social action.
Wednesday night, about 40 Franklin residents heard the story of the Civil War through the census records and quotes of men and women who were born slaves and died free.
For many, the night had a particular significance because the walls themselves contributed to the history.
“Think just for a minute that men could have walked into this building as slaves and walked out as U.S. Army privates,” Finch said of the Masonic Hall. The building was used as a hospital during the Battle of Franklin and later as an enlistment spot.
Those gathered heard the stories of “contraband camps,” referring to the names for African-American refugees during the war.
“Forty percent of all Union troops fighting in Tennessee during the war were African-American,” Jones said.
Stories of those like Freeman Thompson reflected the complicated struggle between the races as the institution of slavery crumbled.
“No’m, I ain’t fighting you. I’m fighting to get free,” Thompson told his female owner.
Bransford said the series began because she, Finch and Jones realized they each had a piece of history they wanted to share.
Reach Jordan Buie on Twitter @jordanbuie.
Also - while I'm at it -- my Veterans' Day post was covered by the Tennessean with a really nice feature article and I so appreciate that these brave men are getting some recognition!
A ‘rabbit hole of research’
RAY HOWZE
RHOWZE@TENNESSEAN.COM
At the beginning of the Civil War, there were as many as 12,000 slaves in Williamson County. Many went on to fight in the war but their connections to the county have not been thoroughly documented.
Christina Jones, a Franklin resident and co-chair of the Historic Committee for the local African-American Heritage Society, wants to change that.
Jones has been researching for months to try and chronicle where the slaves went during the war and which served for the Union or Confederacy. She’s looked through thousands of military records to determine who was born in Williamson County or which ones either fought here or ended up staying in the county.
On Friday, in conjunction with Veterans Day, Jones plans to release the names she’s discovered since she started the research earlier this year. The names are those of black slaves who served in the Civil War in some capacity and have a connection to Williamson County.
“I found this online and it mentioned that there were only three US Colored Troops and Navy veterans from Williamson County,” Jones said. “I thought that number seemed really low.
“I’ve been doing African-American genealogy research for six or seven years and I just completely fell down this rabbit hole of research.”
The US Army regiment from the Civil War consisting of mostly African-Americans was known as the United States Colored Troops.
Jones’ research started while working with her church outreach program that works with many low-income African- American senior citizens. Jones helped them trace their ancestry and someone finally asked her about any Civil War connections.
Jones publishes her research updates on her blog at usctwillcotn.blogspot.com , which is also where you can find the names. In total, she has found 284 names but knows there’s more out there. She hasn’t been able to go through all the records because they’re not all digitized andshe said she’d have to travel to Washington, D.C., or Atlanta to look at other records.
“If they were born in Williamson or served in Williamson, I put them in,” Jones said. “Or if I can find some other record that said they went to war with a unit and later lived here, I’ll include it.”
Eventually, Jones said she’d like to create a sponsorship program for people to donate pavers at the Veterans Park in downtown Franklin with each of their names. Some of the names she’s found were either killed in action or given unmarked graves. She hopes to raise about $26,000 for all the pavers. Each costs $65 to have their name engraved and installed. She’d also like to create a database online so the public can click on their records and see their connections for Franklin and the area.
“I feel like this is part of Franklin’s history,” Jones said. “It’s not that it’s forgotten but it’s never been known before and I feel like Franklin and Williamson County would love to know this.”
Jones will also be speaking Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Historic Masonic Hall at 115 2nd Ave. South along with Franklin Alderman Pearl Bransford and Rachel Finch, another historian with Engage Preservation Consulting, for a talk titled “Race and Reconciliation: A Conversation for Consideration.”
Reach Ray Howze at 615-664-2251 or on Twitter @rayhowze1.
Hi, my name is Pamela Bride-Bryant. I am an heir of Matthew and Teena, (Tina) Jones, and the records are in the South Carolina's Court System. I am pretty sure you are talking about my Great Great Great Grand father, Matthew Jones. My father's name is Matthew Author Bride SR. Matthew has been given throughout my family and is still strong within the family today. I want to learn more. So please contact me. I don't have a picture if him, but would love to recieve one. My contact number is 912-323-6714. Thanking you in advance. Hopefully we are talking about the same Matthew Jones.
ReplyDeletePamela.bryant@yahoo.com is my email address.
ReplyDelete