Learn how the African American Heritage Society is preserving and protecting historic places significant to the community. Discover their impact on African American history and culture.
It began with a summer project and became a mission when three Black retired educators, an author and the director of the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce were working together on an African American history project.
The retired educators, Mary Mills, Bazelia Harris and Louise Patton, teamed up with local historian and author Vance Little and Nancy Conway, then director of the Williamson County Chamber of Commerce. After going through hundreds of photos and notes with the photos Thelma Battle had spent years collecting from African Americans throughout the county, the group saw the need to preserve and protect the history of Williamson County’s African American communities.
Since the early 1960s, the Heritage Foundation was protecting the history of Franklin and Williamson County. At that moment, with photos and notes in hand, the small group saw another summer project.
“The African American history was being left out,” said Alma McLemore, director of the African American Heritage Society.
It was time to add it to add it to the story.
In 1992, with help from Mary Pearce, executive director of the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County at the time, and Rick Warwick, historian for the Heritage Foundation, the retired educators founded the African American Heritage Society, to “share the African American experience in the growth and development of Williamson County, Tennessee,” and a mission “to collect, preserve and interpret artifacts pertaining to Williamson County’s African American culture and increase understanding and appreciation of our heritage for future generations.”
In 1997 the AAHS became a charter organization, and two years later members had their first major historic preservation project. The McLemore House, located on 11th Avenue in the Hard Bargain section of Franklin, had been purchased by Habitat for Humanity with plans to take it down and build a couple Habitat homes on the site.
The AAHS members had other plans for the McLemore House they hoped to one day execute. Thelma Battle began the process by producing historic documentation proving the house was built by a former enslaved person, Harvey McLemore. Habitat and the Heritage Foundation made a deal — the 1880 Colonial Revival McLemore house was saved. In 1999 the Heritage Foundation deeded the house to the AAHS for $1, and the plans to make it an African American Museum began.
The first step was to put it on the National Registry of Historic Places. The next step was to renovate the old home. AAHS was too new an organization to have funds for a renovation, so “founders mortgaged their homes to renovate it,” McLemore said. “These were people who loved their community and saw how important [the McLemore House] was.”
The McLemore House Museum opened to the public in 2002, but it was evident a big fundraiser was needed to maintain it and future updates and renovations.
“Doris McMillan did the first Black Tie Affair to combine the opening of the McLemore Museum and Black History month,” McLemore said.
The first Black Tie Affair funded the McLemore House Museum’s first renovation, and the story of Harvey McLemore and the beginning of Black history in Williamson County was unveiled.
The Black Tie Affair was such a success it became an annual event held originally on the first Friday of February; it was soon moved to the first Saturday in February, a more convenient evening for most attendees.
Each year the event has grown ranging from a couple hundred at the first event to recent Black Tie Affairs reaching 750 people.
With one tradition started, in 2008 the AAHS resurrected Proc’s Amateur, a 1940s talent showcase started by the late Professor TJ Myers to spotlight the talent found at Franklin Training School and as a pre-Black Tie Affair party. Dozens of youngsters and even some area adults paraded their talents on stage entertaining the community.
“Robert People’s — his stage name was Robert Knight,” McLemore said. “He sang the (1967) song “Everlasting Love.” He came from [the original] Proc’s Amateur. When we picked it back up Robert came to sing that year.”
Proc’s Amateur took another hiatus when the corona virus hit and has yet to be resurrected, but there are plans to get it going again.
Fireside Chats — with no fire —- became Porch Talks. Each month from March to October guest speakers such as Thelma Battle, local historian; Joann McClellan; Roy Brown, retired Franklin Police Officer; Georgia Harris with the Rosenwald School; Donnell Lane, a member of the Class of 1967, the last class to graduate from Natchez High School; Paulette Johnson, who talked about Soul Food; Bridgette Jones; Belle Meade manager Bill Radcliff, a reenactor with the Civil War United States Colored Troops; and more tell their stories to those who drop by to listen.
Since 2004 the AAHS has held the Juneteenth celebration at the McLemore House with traditional Juneteenth programs such as old timers telling stories, kids drinking strawberry soda and plenty of music, games, fun and fellowship.
“Juneteenth celebrates our freedom,” said McLemore. “Harvey McLemore was a Freedman. Having Juneteenth on his lawn is very fitting.”
AAHS is currently saving to complete another historical project — the 264 Natchez St. Merrill-Williams House in the historic Natchez community, an area that was once a vibrant Black city within the city of Franklin. The land on which the house sits was deeded to Moses Merrill, who was a freedman, by his former owner. Merrill didn’t build a house; instead, he sold the land to Todd Williams, the son of A.N.C. Williams, the only Black person who ever owned property in downtown Franklin.
A.N.C. was a free man in the 1800s with a business downtown,” said McLemore. “The city [recently] dedicated a street to his name.”
The house remained in the Williams family until Cassandra Williams Taylor, who grew up in the house, decided to put it up for sale since she and her husband lived in Memphis. The AAHS approached her and on May 1, 2021 she agreed to a one-year option to purchase the house for $610,000. Less than two months later, on June 18, as she was leaving for the Juneteenth celebration, McLemore answered her phone and heard Emily Magid say she was donating $500,000 for the purchase of the house. Later that morning, while sitting with Magid in her
lawyer’s office, Magid increased her donation to $1 million.
“We’re continuing to fundraise — it’ll take a million dollars to preserve [the house],” McLemore said. “It’s going to be an historic cultural center, a place to maintain our culture and heritage and continue to tell those stories. We call it the house the community saved. We can’t share the Fuller story; we have to tell the complete story.”
To become a member or donate to the AAHS go to help save historic African American places, go to www.aahswc.org.
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