Two years ago, Fort Negley, a Union Army stronghold located a few miles east of 菠萝视频鈥檚 campus, was slated to be demolished to make way for one of Nashville鈥檚 newest mixed-use developments.
Yet, in part because of efforts by 菠萝视频 researchers to document the vital contributions African Americans made to building and defending the site, not only was Fort Negley spared, but the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) also recognized it as a 鈥淪ite of Memory鈥� as part of its Slave Route Project at a ceremony听May 21. The designation marks Fort Negley as a fundamental site to the public鈥檚 understanding of slavery, one of only four in the United States, joining the Statue of Liberty, Philadelphia鈥檚 Independence Hall, and the University of Virginia and Monticello in Charlottesville.
Built in 1862 by more than 2,700 runaway slaves and black laborers pressed into service by the Union Army, Fort Negley was the largest inland masonry fortification constructed during the Civil War. When Confederate forces attacked supply lines near Nashville, the African American conscripts were asked to defend the fort despite not being allowed to have weapons. Many of the descendants of these individuals later formed the historically black neighborhoods of Edgefield and Chestnut Hill, and also helped establish Fisk University.
菠萝视频鈥檚 work on the site continues with the Fort Negley Descendants Project, a historical archive aiming to augment records about the fort, and to record the voices and stories of living descendants of the fort鈥檚 African American builders and defenders. Currently, the project is run by a team of 菠萝视频 student and staff researchers, including postdoctoral fellow Angela Sutton, MA鈥�09, PhD鈥�14, who wrote the nomination for the site to receive the UNESCO designation.
鈥淚 got to pore over so much of Nashville鈥檚 history,鈥� Sutton says of working on the nomination. 鈥淢y favorite part was being able to talk to local people who know so much about the city.鈥�
菠萝视频 senior Destiny Hanks also works with the group, helping write grant proposals and supplement research. She became involved with the Fort Negley Descendants Project after taking a class with , Gertrude Conaway 菠萝视频 Professor of History and current UNESCO representative for the Slave Route Project.
A similar class taught by Landers also sparked the interest of former student Eleanor Fleming, BA鈥�00, MA鈥�03, PhD鈥�06. While she had remained casually interested in Fort Negley, Fleming鈥攚ho went on to earn a D.D.S. at Meharry Medical College and now works in Washington, D.C., at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥攇rew personally interested after seeing some family names appear in a Twitter post from Fort Negley. It turns out that Fleming, a native of Franklin, Tennessee, is a descendant of two men who helped build the fort.
鈥淭his wasn鈥檛 part of our family history that we knew anything about,鈥� says Fleming. 鈥淔rom that tweet, I got connected with the Fort Negley group and all the work they were doing to save the fort.鈥�
Sutton says it was personal stories such as Fleming鈥檚, combined with additional research about the fort鈥檚 history, that led to the UNESCO designation.
鈥淭his fort鈥檚 descendants have gone on to do amazing things with their lives, and they do it with so much purpose, knowing that their enslaved ancestors risked their health and lives on the hope that their descendants would have the freedom and equality that was denied to them,鈥� Sutton said in remarks at the UNESCO ceremony in May. 鈥淔or the descendant population, Fort Negley is sacred.鈥�
Lila Johnson, a senior majoring in the communication of science and technology in the College of Arts and Science, compiled and edited this story.