May
22
1996 - Governor Don Sundquist
signed SB 3176 consolidating all
state services to children,
formerly provided by multiple
departments, into the Tennessee
Department of Childrens Services.
The stated mission of the
department is to work in
cooperation with juvenile courts,
local communities, schools, and
families to provide timely,
appropriate, and cost effective
services for children in state
custody and at risk of custody so
these children can strive to
reach for their full potential as
productive, competent, and
healthy adults. Visit the TDCS
web site. http://www.state.tn.us/youth/
May 23
1985 - Tennessee ratified the
27th Amendment to the United
States Constitution that bars
Congress from granting its
members pay raises in the middle
of terms. The amendment was first
proposed by James Madison in 1789
and passed by Congress on
September 25, 1789. But it was
not made law until May 7, 1992,
after Michigan became the 38th
state to ratify the amendment
"No law, varying the
compensation for the services of
the Senators and Representatives,
shall take effect until an
election of Representatives shall
have intervened."
May 24
1887 - A post office opened in
Agreeable, Tennessee, (Grainger
County). The Agreeable Post
Office was short-lived as it
closed October 31, 1901.
2000 - Two injuries were reported
and 20,000 homes lost power when
tornadoes ripped through central
Tennessee. A number of storms
near the Tennessee / Arkansas
border caused flash flooding and
wind damage.
May 25
1919 - "The voice of college
football" Lindsey Nelson was
born in Pulaski, Tennessee. The
four-time sportscaster of the
year worked as play-by-play
announcer for NCAA college
football on network television
and was the voice of the Cotton
Bowl for a quarter century. He
broadcast New York Mets games
from 1962 to 1978 and also
announced for the San Francisco
Giants. In 1991, Nelson received
a Lifetime Achievement Emmy
Award. He passed away on June 10,
1995.
1925 - A grand jury handed down
an indictment against Dayton,
Tennessee, high school biology
teacher John T. Scopes who stood
accused of teaching the theory of
evolution to students in a public
high school in violation of the
new Butler Law passed earlier
that year. A July 10 date was set
for what would come to be known
as the "Scopes Monkey
Trial" that would pit
Williams Jennings Bryan for the
prosecution against Clarance
Darrow for the defense.
1939 - Actress Dixie Carter,
noted for her role as Julia
Sugarbaker on the television show
"Designing Women," was
born in McLemoresville,
Tennessee. Carter now stars in
the CBS Monday night drama
"Family Law."
May 26
1790 - Congress passed a bill for
the government of "The
Territory of the United States
South of the Ohio River," an
area that included Tennessee.
William Blount was appointed
governor of the territory and
Rogersville was made its first
capital. David Campbell was named
judge of the superior court; John
Sevier, brigadier general of
Washington District (East
Tennessee); and James Robertson,
brigadier general of Miro
District (Middle Tennessee). The
North Carolina Legislature named
the Middle District, at the
request of Robertson, for Don
Estevan Miro, the Spanish
governor at New Orleans, as the
two exercised diplomatic
relations. Spain wanted the
Tennessee and Kentucky areas to
form new governments and become
part of the its empire in
America. Robertson sought
security for settlers in his
district and greater use of the
Mississippi River. North Carolina
had proven it could not assist in
those goals. So it was in
February, 1790, that North
Carolina ceded Tennessee, for the
second time, to the government of
the United States.
May 27
1902 - The first train over
Tennessee Central tracks arrived
in Nashville. Today the Tennessee
Central Railway Museum in
Nashville is dedicated to the
preservation and operation of
railroad equipment in Tennessee.
Visit the museum web site at http://home.hiwaay.net/~bgaddes/tcrm/
May 28
1830 - In a move that would
forever change the ethnic face of
the hills of Tennessee, President
Andrew Jackson signed the
"Indians Removal Act."
The vote in support of Indian
removal in the U.S. Senate was
28-19 and in the House of
Representatives, 102-97. By the
end of that decade almost all the
members of the five
"civilized" tribes in
the Southeast had been relocated
to "Indian Territory"
in what is now the state of
Oklahoma. "The Trail of
Tears" is the name given to
the relocation of the Cherokee
Nation during which they were
forcibly removed at gunpoint from
their homes by soldiers of the
United States of America,
imprisoned in stockades under
deplorable conditions, and fed a
European diet which their systems
could not withstand, before the
forced wintertime march. An
estimated 4,000 Cherokee,
one-quarter of the Nation, died
during the journey to the
Darkening Land. The name of the
march comes from the reaction of
onlookers who crowded roadsides
along the route and cried as they
watched the deplorable spectacle
of humans being herded through
their communities.
1923 - The central design that
was used for the flag of the
Tennessee governor, which is the
crest of the National Guard of
Tennessee, was described in a
letter from the U.S. secretary of
war: "...on a wreath argent
and gules, upon amount vert a
hickory tree properly charged
with three mullets one and two
argent, the description of which
is as follows: The state of
Andrew Jackson - "Old
Hickory" - Tennessee, was
the Sixteenth state admitted to
the union, the original 13 plus
3, and the state flag bears three
white stars. The predominant
original white population within
the state was of English origin,
and twists of the wreath are
accordingly white and red. This
design was placed upon a red
background in the corners of
which are placed a 5-pointed star
representing the fact that the
governor of the state by virtue
of his office automatically
becomes commander in chief of the
National Guard of that
state." The General Assembly
has never passed an act
establishing an official flag for
the governor, but in 1939, one
was designed by the U.S. War
Department at the request of the
adjutant general.
1977 - Richard M. "Pek"
Gunn was designated as the
official Tennessee Poet Laureate
for life by House Joint
Resolution 250 of the 90th
General Assembly. Gunn had been
named named Poet Laureate of
Tennessee by House Joint
Resolution 115 of the 87th
General Assembly.
May 29
1928 - Congress passed an act
authorizing and directing the
Secretary of Agriculture to
establish the Tennessee
Experiment Station, "a
dairying station for
investigations, experiments, and
demonstrations in the dairy
industry, and the problems
pertaining to the development of
such industry in the South and
for investigations,
demonstrations, assistance, and
service in dairy livestock
breeding, growing, and feeding,
and dairy products
manufacture." The sum of
$50,000 was appropriated "to
carry out the provisions of this
Act, including the construction
of buildings, the acquirement of
equipment and apparatus, the
purchase of livestock, and the
employment of necessary
persons...."
1865 - President Andrew Johnson
made clear his feelings about the
path that reconstruction in the
South should follow when he
granted, with few exceptions,
general amnesty for Confederates
and pardons to those who
participated in the
"rebellion." A U.S.
senator representing Tennessee
when the state seceded from the
Union, Johnson was the only
Southerner to keep his seat in
Congress throughout the war
between the states.
1999 - Brock Speer, a member of
the Singing Speer Family, the
"First Family of Southern
Gospel Music," died. Speer,
who was born December 28, 1920,
was buried at Woodlawn Memorial
Park in Nashville.
May 30
1806 - Infuriated at an insult
cast towards his wife, Rachel,
Andrew Jackson crossed the state
line into Kentucky, as dueling
was outlawed in Tennessee, and
killed Charles Dickinson in a
pistol duel at 24 feet. It is
speculated by some historians
that Jackson wore loose fitting
clothes in order to disguise his
body outline and gave his
opponent, known as a "dead
shot," the first shot.
Dickinson fired and hit Jackson
in the chest near his heart,
breaking ribs. Jackson would
carry the ball there for the rest
of his life. Middle Tennessee
oral history explains that as
Dickinson started to walk away,
Jackson assumed firing stance and
called, "On your mark,
sir." Dickinson stood there
in position as the hotheaded
Jackson took aim and attempted to
fire, but the pistol was only
half cocked and would not fire.
So Jackson re-cocked, took
deliberate aim, and shot
Dickinson, who died from the
wound a short time later.
1865 - John Catron, the first
Tennessee resident to serve on
the United States Supreme Court,
died in Nashville. Catron, who
had formerly served as chief
justice of the Tennessee Supreme
Court for six years, was
appointed to the high court by
President Andrew Jackson, also of
Tennessee. Notable for his
knowledge of land titles, Catron
was commissioned as an associate
justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
on March 8, 1837. Catron was born
in Pennsylvania in 1786 and sided
with the Union in the Civil War.
He left Nashville early in the
conflict and did not return until
the city was under Union
occupation. He served on the U.S.
Supreme Court until his death.
Catron is buried at Mount Olivet
Cemetery in Nashville.
1957 - "Frank G. Clement
Hall" was dedicated as a new
residence dormitory for men at
Tennessee State University. The
three-story brick structure on
Alameda Street was renovated in
1969 as a classroom and
laboratory building for the
Department of Dental Hygiene and
the University of Tennessee
School of Social Work.
"Frank G. Clement was
inaugurated as the 41st Governor
of Tennessee on January 15, 1953.
He served three terms as Governor
of TN: 1953-1955, 1955-1959 and
1963-1967. During his
administration as Governor he
ably administered the affairs of
the State of Tennessee so much so
that the citizens began to enjoy
a new high in prestige and
respect in the eyes of our sister
states. Because of his rare
qualities of leadership and
humanitarianism, and his
unselfish interest in the
progress of Tennessee A and I
State University, this building
was named in his honor."
--From the TSU web site http://www.tnstate.edu/library/bldgs/clement.htm
May 31
1873 - The Nashville and
Chattanooga Railroad acquired the
Nashville and Northwestern
Railroad and became the
Nashville, Chattanooga & St.
Louis Railroad. The NC&StL
never reached the new namesake
city, but it became an important
link in the transportation system
linking the north and south.
During World War II, it was the
NC&StL that transported
soldiers to and from Camp Forrest
Army Base in Tullahoma. Read more
about the history of the
Nashville and Chattanooga
Railroad at http://www.cafes.net/wayback/history.htm
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