African American History

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Steve Wylie

Wilma Rudolph

Burt Cobb Elementary School

Clarence Cameron White

African American History The Rev. John Caliborne, a visiting missionary, came to Clarksville in 1865 and organized Montgomery County's first African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1866.  The organizational meeting was held in the home of Rev. Napoleon Merry, who became the church's first pastor.  He had previously organized Tennessee's first African Methodist Episcopal Church in Nashville in 1863.  He was a musician and ad educator, having established Clarksville's first school for African-American children, and he remained the pastor for three years.  The church originally worshipped in a frame structure on South Second Street, near the L&N Railroad.  By 1879 two elementary schools opened, one for white students and one for African-American students.  The segregated school, later to be known as the Bailey Cobb Elementary School, was located at the intersection of Franklin and Tenth Streets.  Later a segregated high school, named for Dr. Robert T. Burt, was constructed.  There are numerous famous individuals born in Clarksville such as Wilma Rudolph (Three-time Olympic Gold Medal Winner), Steve Wylie (Baseball Player), Clarence Cameron White (composer and violinist), and Harry Galbreath (Football Player, Green Bay Packers).  Wilma Rudolph (June 23, 1940 – 1994) Born in Clarksville.   At an early age, she suffered from polio that crippled her left leg and foot.  Through treatment in Nashville and physical therapy performed by her loving family, she eventually overcame her disability to become an Olympic track star.  During the 1960 Olympics Games in Rome, Rudolph won three gold medals and became the world's most famous black woman athlete.  She died in 1994 and is buried in Clarksville.  Harry Galbreath was born in Clarksville in 1965.  He played football for the University of Tennessee from 1983 to 1988, then for the Miami Dolphins, 1988-1992; for the Green Bay Packers 1992-1996; and the New York jets, 1996-1997.  He then retired from professional football and in 2000, he began coaching football at Tennessee State University in Nashville.  Steve Wylie (May 7, 1911 – October 23, 1993).  Born in Clarksville, he was the first black professional baseball player from Clarksville, playing as a pitcher in America's black baseball leagues, with such notables as Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson.  His career, which spanned three decades, started in his teen-age years with the semi-professional Clarksville Stars from 1927-30.  He played seven seasons with the Kansas City Monarchs, one of the premier teams of the black baseball leagues.  Before and after his years at Kansas City, he played for teams in the United States and particularly in Canada as Canadian baseball leagues were integrated long before the American major leagues.  Surviving black league players were honored in 1990 at the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, Ohio.  Wylie died in Clarksville on October 23, 1993 and is buried in Foston Memorial Gardens, Clarksville.  Clarence Cameron White (August 10, 1880 – June 30, 1960) was an African American neoromantic composer and concert violinist. Dramatic works by the composer were his best-known, such as the incidental music for the play Tambour and the opera Ouanga.  During the first decades of the twentieth century, White was considered the foremost violinist of his race.  Born in Clarksville, Tennessee to James W. White, a doctor and school principal, and Jennie Scott White, a violinist who studied at Oberlin Conservatory of music.  His father died when he was only two years old.    He played concerts widely during the 1912-1923 period, after which he devoted his career to teaching.  His early compositions were conventional salon pieces, but he later turned to African-American folk music as a source of inspiration.  His last teaching position was as director of music at Hampton Institute from 1931-1935.  White remained active in concerts, composing and arranging music from his home and studio in New York until his death.