Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Craigiri, I'm originally from Pulaski. Growing up, the building with the KKK plaque was a barber shop. This was the 1960's and 70's. Back then , nobody gave it a second glance.
Blacks likely gave it some thought. I would really think about what the Black population in Pulaski might have thought of it.
In fact, I think you should consider why no Black people in the South consider Forrest to be a hero, and why Blacks are the most likely to be happy with Confederate monuments coming down.
Craigiri, I'm originally from Pulaski. Growing up, the building with the KKK plaque was a barber shop. This was the 1960's and 70's. Back then , nobody gave it a second glance.
Do you remember the Stevens Shirt Factory? Big Mill Building?
I was involved with scraping the radiators and pipe when it was torn down. Small world.....this was about 1974 so the Plaque would have been up and celebrated with a KKK parade each year.
Do you remember the Stevens Shirt Factory? Big Mill Building?
I was involved with scraping the radiators and pipe when it was torn down. Small world.....this was about 1974 so the Plaque would have been up and celebrated with a KKK parade each year.
I was born in 1986, so I'm learning some things. It doesn't surprise me that the KKK would turn out to march in Pulaski on MLK day. The KKK hate everything that Dr. King stood for. Nathan Bedford Forrest was being celebrated as a way of saying "We hate Dr. King Day".
Do you remember the Stevens Shirt Factory? Big Mill Building?
I was involved with scraping the radiators and pipe when it was torn down. Small world.....this was about 1974 so the Plaque would have been up and celebrated with a KKK parade each year.
I vaguely remember the shirt factory (I was 14 in 1974). I left in 1978 to join the Air Force so I missed all the KKK marches. Back then I recall Pulaski as a fairly sleepy town where nothing terribly exciting ever happened. I still have relatives in Giles County.
Spent part of my childhood in Stella, Bethel, and Prospect (if you're familiar).
I vaguely remember the shirt factory (I was 14 in 1974). I left in 1978 to join the Air Force so I missed all the KKK marches. Back then I recall Pulaski as a fairly sleepy town where nothing terribly exciting ever happened. I still have relatives in Giles County.
Spent part of my childhood in Stella, Bethel, and Prospect (if you're familiar).
You missed the KKK marched. How many other people living in town saw it?
I think about it like this. I have never seen the KKK march where I live. I do know that there is a KKK unit not too far from where I live.
I can certainly confirm it was a fully segregated state as I have seen the signs still on the bathrooms there (in old gas stations).
We also lived near where the KKK was founded (Pulaski) and they were very proud of the plaque....I think at some point is was turned around so you can't see it......
"The State of Tennessee enacted 20 Jim Crow laws between 1866 and 1955, including six requiring school segregation, four which outlawed miscegenation, three which segregated railroads, two requiring segregation for public accommodations, and one which mandated segregation on streetcars. "
For certain you'd think it would be a place that would celebrate the historic nature of the Nashville Lunch Counter desegregation and the airport desegregation.
I wonder how many days there are designated for those heroes?
I fully agree that Tennessee had mass segregation. I am just disputing your claim that Tennessee wasn't officially a confederate state. Tennessee was officially a confederate state.
I was born in 1986, so I'm learning some things. It doesn't surprise me that the KKK would turn out to march in Pulaski on MLK day. The KKK hate everything that Dr. King stood for. Nathan Bedford Forrest was being celebrated as a way of saying "We hate Dr. King Day".
Even today, these people aren't exactly subtle. That's one good thing - it's always easy to flesh them out.
When I was a teenager in Pulaski, I would work a summer job as a dispatcher for a small taxi company. My boss had an actual card that said "United Klans Of America".
I fully agree that Tennessee had mass segregation. I am just disputing your claim that Tennessee wasn't officially a confederate state. Tennessee was officially a confederate state.
Tennessee was a Confederate state. However, it was the last state to join the Confederacy. It was the first to return to the Union. And Tennessee is an interesting state. Eastern TN is basically Appalachia. It didn't have much interest in being part of the Confederacy. It wasn't big on slavery. Central TN, with Nashville being there, had some slavery, but the biggest slaveholding areas of TN were the western part of the state. Memphis was basically a cotton and slavetrading market. Sadly fitting that the first large Confederate monuments started in western Tennessee.
I vaguely remember the shirt factory (I was 14 in 1974). I left in 1978 to join the Air Force so I missed all the KKK marches. Back then I recall Pulaski as a fairly sleepy town where nothing terribly exciting ever happened. I still have relatives in Giles County.
Spent part of my childhood in Stella, Bethel, and Prospect (if you're familiar).
We made friends with the Prez of the Bank there because he was in charge of getting rid of the Building (it was next to the bank)....
One thing I can say very honestly about my time in that area is that virtually everyone we met - black and white - were super-nice people.
It's just really strange with the progressive history in Nashville (the lunch counters, airport, etc.) that the Government there and much of the population seems bent on going backwards or poking many of their own residents in the eye.
Pulaski is definitely sleepy...I "drove" and flew through on Google and nothing new there. In fact, it's probably much less active due to those factories closing...these places had to have 400+ employees.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
