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Chattanooga’s Bessie Smith Cultural Center-- a showcase of black culture and history

KCBX | By Tom Wilmer
Published February 20, 2017 at 1:08 AM PST
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correspondent Tom Wilmer with Doinne Jennings President of the Bessie Smith Center in Chattanooga
KCBX
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African roots are showcased at the museum
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Especially poignant for the school kids who visit the museum are the historical images of another time in Chattanooga's history
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Powerful images of baseball stars who started their careers playing on the Negro League teams in Chattanooga. There were three
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Pennants from the variouse Negro League baseball teams around the country
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The Negro Baseball exhibit will be up through July 2016
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Insightful Negro League Baseball ephemara tells a poignant tale of a time in America
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Bessie Smith Cultural Center Chattanooga, Tennessee
Credit Thomas Wilmer
Bessie Smith Cultural Center Chattanooga, Tennessee

Willy Mays, Jackie Robinson, Bessie Smith—"The Empress of the Blues", Dr. Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta, Samuel L. Jackson, Dr. Emma Wheeler, and pro football player Reggie White—they all have one thing in common, and that’s their connection with the Tennessee town of Chattanooga.

Join correspondent Tom Wilmer for a discovery of the history and story of Chattanooga’s African American cultural experience with Dionne Jennings, President of the Bessie Smith Cultural Center.  

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Travel ChattanoogaTennessee Black historyDionne JenningsBlack History MonthBessie Smith
Tom Wilmer
Tom Wilmer produces on-air content for Issues & Ideas airing over KCBX and is producer and host of the six-time Lowell Thomas award-winning NPR podcast Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer. Recorded live on-location across America and around the world, the podcasts feature the arts, culture, music, nature, history, science, wine & spirits, brewpubs, and the culinary arts--everything from baseball to exploring South Pacific atolls to interviewing the real Santa Claus in the Arctic.
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