Descendants & Archaeology of Bass Street: Nashville's First Free Black Neighborhood at Fort Negley
Channel: Fort Negley Descendants Project
Date: 04/02/2022

The Fort Negley Descendants Project (FNDP) is an oral history digital archive aimed at preserving the voices and stories of the descendants of the African-American laborers and soldiers who built and defended Fort Negley. 

About the ceremony: 

After the Civil War, many of the formerly enslaved and free Black builders and defenders of Nashville settled at the foot of Fort Negley to begin their lives as free Black Americans in what became known as the Bass Street Community. The Bass Street Church, one of Nashville's first Free Black churches, was established there, built by the formerly enslaved using handmade bricks and salvaged materials. The residents and their descendants lived at Bass Street until the 1950s, when urban renewal and the building of Interstate-65 forced them out of the neighborhood.  

On October 23, 2021, the descendant community visited a dig of the Bass Street neighborhood supervised by Archaeologists of Middle Tennessee State University. This video is a recording of the descendants' ceremony, including an opening by Ms. Jeneene Blackman, CEO of the African American Cultural Alliance and descendant of the Bass Street Neighborhood through her grandmother, a prayer by Pastor Daryl Thompson, the senior pastor of the enduring Bass Street church, descendant testimony from Mr. Philip Minter and Mr. Vernon Scruggs who lived in the community in the 1940s, an audience Q&A, and then a libations ceremony where Ms. Fathiyah S. Suso of the World AfriCultural Community Project read the names of Bass Street residents from the 1900 Census as Ms. Jeneene Blackman poured libations for them. Ashe!

Topics covered: Civil War History, Fort Negley, United States Colored Troops (USCT), segregated schools, the Black church, Christmas, recreation, the Rock Garden, labor and employment, disability, music, urban renewal, forced relocation, and the importance of oral history. 

Intro: 0:00 - 1:55
Pastor Thompson: 1:55 - 2:45
Mr. Minter: 2:45 - 4:54
Mr. Scruggs: 4:54 - 9:54
Q&A: 9:55 - 15:06
Libations: 15:06 - 20:38

Sound recorded by Khalil Ekulona of This Is Nashville with WPLN Nashville October 23, 2021. We thank them for generously allowing the use of the audio for this video. All rights to the sound remain theirs. 
Website: https://wpln.org/
Khalil Ekulona Twitter: @khalilekulona

Photos not credited onscreen are by Angela Sutton and Jessica Fletcher, Vanderbilt University.

Video edited by Angela Sutton, Vanderbilt University
Angela Sutton Twitter: @DrAngelaSutton

Connect with us!
Website: www.buildersanddefenders.org/descendants
Twitter: @fortnegleydesc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fortnegleydescendantsproject/