CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – From discovering a mixed-race farmer who worked well into his 100s to exploring the “Black Wall Street” of Montgomery County, a group of students from Austin Peay State University has uncovered some new history of Black life in Clarksville during the early 1900s.

With the guidance of Jessica Blake, APSU assistant professor of history, 15 students dove into the Census records from 1910 and spent days poring over their research; research that revealed some lost family history and reconnected families.

From left to right, Darryus Shaw, Ciera Taylor, and Ifunanya Ejimofor, APSU students, go through research of the 1910 census under the guidance of Sarah Fry, Director of the Montgomery County Archives, Dec. 8, 2023. (Dr. Jessica Blake contributed)

African American Legacy Trail teams up with APSU

Shana Thornton, founder of the Clarksville chapter of the African American Legacy Trail, and Terry Morris, director, had been toying with the idea of getting the local academic community involved in research and discoveries for the trail. Morris reached out to the APSU History Department. When Blake found out, she was more than ready to get her history graduate students on board.

“Basically, we wanted to scratch away and tap into all these organizations at Austin Peay,” Morris said. “A, to introduce the project, B, to get support for the project, and C, to open it up to a younger demographic that, perhaps, are geared and ready to do research like this.”

Thorton told Clarksville Now that all they did was plant a seed at APSU, they didn’t tell the students what to research. With Blake on board, the students figured out the topic of their research on their own and steered the ship toward their findings.

103-year-old farmer

Each student was assigned a district to research and document all of the Black and mixed-race families, specifically those 18 years and older. The purpose was to see what jobs they held at the time.

Derryus Shaw, a student in Blake’s class, noticed a pattern among Black and mixed-race male farmers. Many of them were working well past the age of 50.

APSU students Darryus Shaw, left, and Ciera Taylor, right, go through research of the 1910 census, Dec. 8, 2023. (Dr. Jessica Blake contributed)

“When looking at the Census, one thing that shocked me, was a 103-year-old mixed race male who still worked as a farmer, and his name is Ned Phelps,” said Shaw. “I was fascinated. It’s 1910, he’s 103 years old, and he’s still working as a farmer.”

Phelps had seen a lot in his lifetime, including the U.S. growing from 17 states to 46, the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Civil War and the Spanish American War. Yet, by 1910 and well into his 100s, Phelps was still working.

A map of 1910 share cropping in Montgomery County where two notable men, Lafayette Sander, 70, and Ned Phelps, 103, worked late into their lives. (Dr. Jessica Blake contributed)

“When looking at Ned Phelps, it goes to show and illustrate the poor quality of life that Black and mixed-race families endured during the 1910s,” Shaw said. “Most people had to continue to work their entire lives, regardless of their age. They had to do what was necessary to help provide for their families and to keep their household afloat.”

Reconnecting lost families and discovering family history

Like the other students in Blake’s class, Breon Crennel was going through the records for the district he was assigned. But when he turned the page, a particular name jumped out at him.

“I came across a name on the second page, and the last name looked familiar to me,” Crennel said. “It was the same last name as one of my friends.”

A picture of the corner of Franklin and First Street from the 1930s. (Sarah Fry/Montgomery County Archives contributed)

Curious, he reached out to his friend.

“I said, ‘Hey, I came across a name, and it’s the same last name as yours. I just wondered; do you know of this person?'” Crennel said.

His friend said he didn’t know but wanted to do some research. The friend contacted his great-grandmother, who actually did know the person from the Census and confirmed that it was one of his distant family members.

A post card of Franklin Street from the 1920s. (Sarah Fry/Montgomery County Archives contributed)

The friend is a Clarksville native, and Crennel later found out he had managed to trace the family tree all the way back to the present, and many people that he knew were actually lost, extended family, and he was able to reconnect with them.

“I thought it was very coincidental that I just happened to get that page,” Crennel said. “Dr. Blake gave out 10 to 15 pages to 10 to 15 students. It just so happened that I had that one page and that one page had a name that I said, ‘Let me go ask this guy if he knows this person.’ And it just so happened that it was part of his family.”

Other interesting facts uncovered

  • Marion Street would have been considered the “Black Wall Street” of Montgomery County, the heart of skilled, well-paid mixed-race residents working as potters, plasterers and engineers.
  • Women’s work was largely under-documented. Most women categorized as “wives” and “mothers” were not recorded as wage-earners. Select women broke the norms and supported families. Often, they were childless.
  • Marion Street had a concentration of mixed-race garment makers. This would have been one of the most profitable trades.
  • Many African Americans lived in defiance of the implemented social codes. From observing the Daniel, Davis, Dabney, Handy, Martin, and Edmond families, it is apparent that these residences harbored some of the wealthier families in the area.
  • Black women were less accessible to Census collectors since many of them worked on the outskirts of Clarksville or in other people’s households.

To find out more information about the African American Legacy Trail and keep up with their research and discoveries, you can check out their website or visit Mt Olive Cemetery Historical Preservation Society’s website, a partner of AALT.