Arts

Tina Turner, one of Tennessee's most popular performers, gained international fame and attracted record-breaking audiences with her choreographed, fast-paced dancing, her musical blend of rhythm-n-blues and pop rock, and her electrifying stage show artistry. She has won seven Grammy Awards,…

In 1888 an enterprising student at Fisk University petitioned his fellow senior classmates to join with the fledgling Fisk Alumni Association (organized in 1884) to raise funds for a new multipurpose building for the school's campus. The unwavering dedication and…

In 1880, eighty-six-year-old Samuel Watkins--soldier, brick mason, brick manufacturer, and businessman--died. Reputedly the richest man in Nashville, Watkins left one hundred thousand dollars and a lot at the corner of High Street (Sixth Avenue) and Church in trust to the…

Enoch Tanner Wickham left an artistic legacy in the form of a permanent concrete sculpture park by the side of the road near Palmyra, Tennessee, across the Cumberland River from Clarksville. Wickham, a descendant of early settlers of Montgomery County,…

Born in Coal Creek (now Lake City), Tennessee, in 1879, Anna Catherine Wiley played an instrumental role within Knoxville's art community at the beginning of the twentieth century. Educated in the public school system of Knoxville, Wiley in 1895 enrolled…

Oprah Winfrey, one of the nation's most popular female entertainers, was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, 1954, to Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey. The racially segregated town offered few opportunities for African Americans, and the Winfreys migrated north,…

John W. Work III, a significant composer and director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers in the mid-twentieth century, was born in Tullahoma. His parents were John W. Work II and Agnes Haynes Work. His father was a professor at Fisk,…