2023 Research Topic Currently in Progress:
KING IRON: The Untold Story of Enslaved Furnace Workers in Tennessee
Members of TAAHG have begun researching the enslaved workers at iron furnaces throughout the Western Highland Rim in Tennessee prior the Civil War. President Frederick Murphy, a descendant of enslaved iron workers, has a personal connection to this history and has been able to provide artifacts and photos pertaining to the project.
TAAHG’s findings will then be brought to communities throughout Tennessee by Mr. Murphy and historian, Tracy Jepson, in the form of presentations, a traveling impermanent exhibit, informative articles for local publications, as well as a short documentary.
*1850 Slave Schedule listing Robert Baxter, ironmaster of Louisa Furnace in Montgomery County, Tennessee.
The history of the iron industry has typically been shared from the perspective of ironmasters such as Anthony Vanleer, Robert Baxter, Montgomery Bell, Samuel Stacker, Daniel Hillman, and Robert Baxter. Their lives have been celebrated as successful entrepreneurs within the industrial antebellum South. This project will instead share the perspective of enslaved workers, the conditions of their daily lives, their attempts to find freedom, the talents of their skilled labor, and their subsequent lives after emancipation.
Please help us fund markers, research, and presentations for these important events in Tennessee’s African American history.
Want to help with a donation? Please click here!
