Beck Cultural Exchange Center Presents
Cherished Institutions Project:
Digitizing the History of Education of the Black Community in Knoxville, Tennessee
On April 28, 2022, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) announced the 2021 recipients of their Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices grant program and we are proud to say that Beck Cultural Exchange Center was one of the 15 institutions chosen. Through the CLIR grant, Beck has received substantial funding that will support our digitization project titled Cherished Institutions Project: Digitizing the History of Education of the Black Community in Knoxville, Tennessee. During this three year project, spanning from May 2022 to April 2025, we have been working to rehouse, digitize, and open access to Beck’s collection of yearbooks, school newspapers, photographs, and other materials as we seek to tell the story of Black education in Knoxville’s history from the period of Emancipation through the Civil Rights Era.
The Cherished Institutions Project will be published on Beck's upcoming Digital Archive to be launched soon!
Coker, Jack. "Cherished Institutions: Beck center digitizes artifacts from Knoxville's Black schools." Knoxville News Sentinel, 22 Feb. 2024, https://www.knoxnews.com/story/shopper-news/north-knox/2024/02/22/beck-center-digitizes-artifacts-from-knoxvilles-black-schools/72615057007/. Press release.
Amplifying Our History
Launched in 2021, the Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices grant program is a national competition “designed to support efforts to digitize materials that deepen public understanding of the histories of people of color and other communities and populations whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or unattended.”
Beck Cultural Exchange Center is no stranger to “hidden” collections as most of our holdings speak to a history that has largely been overshadowed in Knoxville’s historical narrative. Since Beck’s establishment in 1975, much of our collection has been obtained through generous donations from generations of community residents and those who feel connected with the history here. They have entrusted us with their personal belongings in hopes that it will be protected and taught in order to deepen the understanding of Black history and culture.
The education collection is at the center of the Cherished Institutions Project and we are so grateful to be among the first Cohorts selected in the program.
Left: Knoxville College, Class of 1910. From Beck Cultural Exchange Center's Education Collection
Cherished Institutions Project
The name of the Cherished Institutions Project is a reclamation of the term leveraged by the courts in 1963 when Goss vs. Knoxville Board of Education ruled that the city should delay desegregation in order to protect their so-called “cherished institutions.” Beck Cultural Exchange Center strives to amplify the voices and memories of Knoxville’s Black men and women from the days of Emancipation through the Civil Rights era whose invaluable life stories and lasting contributions to history are the heart and soul of the project.
By digitizing an extensive education collection which consists of over a century’s worth of material entrusted to the archives by the community, Beck will highlight the achievements of Black schools and pioneering alumni such as Governor William H. Hastie, world-renowned artist Beauford Delaney, and poet Nikki Giovanni. Schools such as Austin High School, Knoxville Colored High School, Vine Junior High, and Eastport Elementary represent some of the historic Black schools in which few records exist outside of the Beck archives. Due to age and scarcity of such materials, digitization is crucial in efforts to prevent these unique pieces of cultural heritage from being lost. The legacy of these institutions and alumni have been integral sources of pride for Black people in Knoxville and surrounding communities.
OUR VISION
Beck’s vision for the Cherished Institutions Project (CIP) is for it to become a dependable online resource that cultivates a broad interest in the history of East Tennessee’s historically Black institutions. The nominated materials for digitization that will be published on this repository includes yearbooks, school newspapers, photographs, and other unique artifacts such as scrapbooks, alumni memorabilia, and audio/visual material. This will be the first publicly accessible digital repository of its kind to put forth content relative to this aspect of history. Beck looks forward to engaging with the local Black communities and those interested in researching the history of Black students and educators from the 19th-20th centuries.
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ButtonHeiskell School students with teacher Lula Enloe (Lacy), 1911.
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Our Address
1927 Dandridge Ave | Knoxville, TN | 37915 | (865)524-8461
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This project is being supported in whole or in part by federal award number 21.027 awarded to the
City of Knoxville by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Arts & Culture Alliance.
Beck acknowledges the generous support of Knox County Tennessee Defined Services Program for ongoing support of this important work.
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Beck is proud to be grant recipients of the following organizations whose tremendous support makes it possible for us to make local Black history and culture accessible to all:
