Robert Booker: Names of theaters could get dramatic
Recently I was being worked over by a New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle and came across the word “strand.” For me that word usually connotes a fiber or thread, or when used as a verb, to be in...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Schools report shows inequalities in 1914-15
The Forty-Fourth Annual City Schools Report of 1914-1915 gives a great view of how our schools were faring during that period. It reports on activities at the 11 white schools and four black schools....
View ArticleRobert Booker: Report gives details about black schools in 1883-84
Last week I shared information that I found in the Knoxville school system’s report of 1914-1915. I decided to go back 31 years earlier to see what comparison I could make from that time. The...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Street names can be vexing at times
One of these days I hope someone will do a history of some of our most interesting streets.
View ArticleRobert Booker: Farragut Hotel's future brings memories of its past
The announcement that the old Farragut Hotel building may one day be used as a hotel again got me all excited. I didn’t think of why I reacted in such a way until the next morning, when I recalled my...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Childhood winters didn't seem as cold
For the past two months we have experienced some very cold weather and a few days of snow and ice. We watched as schools closed and we took note of consumers as they stripped supermarkets of bread and...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Night school, escape from jail news in 1915
While perusing the pages of the Oct. 27, 1915, issue of the Knoxville Sentinel, I noticed several items of interest about local governments, schools, the business community and other things. There were...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Karaoke event will showcase area's best
On at least two occasions I have written about karaoke, which allows nonprofessional singers to get before a microphone and pretend to be their favorite singers. For more than six years I have...
View ArticleRobert Booker: History told through posters, programs
The Beck Cultural Exchange Center has an amazing variety of posters, playbills, announcements and printed programs that presented and promoted important events of the past. While most of these are in...
View ArticleRobert Booker: East Knoxville's story includes water, roads
Hot off the press is my new booklet, “The Story of East Knoxville,” which chronicles the history of that section of the city from the beginning in 1791. It includes the forming of governments in Park...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Gettysburg Address book is fascinating
I read a lot of newspapers and a few books for information. It is not often that I am completely fascinated with a history book, but I just finished one that mesmerized me. The book by General Sessions...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Black students took to Scouting eagerly
The Great Smoky Mountain Council, Boy Scouts of America held its fourth annual Whitney M. Young Jr. Service Award Banquet at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center on April 3. One award this year went to...
View ArticleRobert Booker: South Central drew good, bad and ugly
Before we got into urban sprawl and before the advent of urban renewal, South Central Street was, indeed, the Old City, the Bowery and Cripple Creek all in one. It was the location of dozens of...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Old laws reason to mark 50th anniversary of Civil Rights Act
This year I have participated in several programs to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I remember those days of not long ago when I had to drink from a...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Beck program to look at 'Amos 'n' Andy'
As part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the Beck Cultural Exchange Center will show three episodes of the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” television show at 2 p.m. Thursday,...
View ArticleRobert Booker: 1884 City Directory treasury of details
An extremely rare official document is the 1884 Knoxville City Directory. One still in existence was owned by photographers Lloyd Branson and Frank B. McCrary, who had an office at 130 S. Gay St. It...
View ArticleRobert Booker: 135th anniversary of school momentous
On July 5, hundreds of Austin High School and Austin-East High School graduates, friends and relatives will gather at the Knoxville Convention Center to celebrate the school’s 135th anniversary. They...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Independence Day rang hollow for some
Tomorrow we will celebrate the Fourth of July, the day of our independence from the heavy-handedness of Great Britain. Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776. It was...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Hangings in public usually drew crowds
The News Sentinel story and the picture of “Old Sparky” the electric chair evoked stories of the times when agonizing death sentences were a matter of course. Few people cared about how the convicted...
View ArticleRobert Booker: Seeking heroic black Confederate soldiers
Recently I began some research on blacks who served the Confederacy during the Civil War. I found it frustrating. I guess I wanted to find accounts of glorious battles or outstanding heroics, but I...
View Article
