Tennessee (TN).

• Region: South
• Population: 7,051,339 (ranked 15th) (2022 estimate)
• Capital: Nashville-Davidson (metropolitan government) (pop. 683,622) (2022 estimate)
• Largest city: Nashville-Davidson (metropolitan government) (pop. 683,622) (2022 estimate)
• Number of counties: 95
• State nickname: Volunteer State
• State motto: Agriculture and Commerce
• State flag: Red field with two vertical stripes of white and blue on the end, with a blue circle in the center containing three white stars

Tennessee became the sixteenth state to join the Union on June 1, 1796. Part of the Upper South, the state has been strongly influenced by its strategic location between the western frontier and the original thirteen states along the East Coast. Tennesseans are proud of what they call their state’s “three grand divisions” into East, Middle, and West Tennessee. The state borders North Carolina on the east and the Mississippi River on the west (across the river lie Arkansas and Missouri). Other neighboring states include Kentucky and Virginia on the north and Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi on the south. The state played a major role in the Civil War—more battles took place there than in any other state except Virginia. Like many other Southern states, after the Civil War, Tennessee industrialized its once heavily agricultural economy: the state is now a major producer of chemicals and transportation equipment. Tourism is also important. Each year, millions of tourists visit natural areas such as the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Millions more are attracted to Nashville, the nation’s country-music capital, and to Memphis, home of jazz and blues music.

State Name: The state’s name is a Cherokee word. No one is sure of the exact meaning, although it is believed to be named after the Cherokee village of Tenasie. Tennessee has been nicknamed the “Volunteer State” because it has provided so many volunteer troops for the nation’s wars.

Capital: Nashville has been the permanent capital of Tennessee since 1843. Three other cities have served as temporary capitals: Knoxville, Kingston, and Murfreesboro.

Flag: The Tennessee state flag features a red union, or background, on which appear three white stars in a blue circular field. The stars represent the state’s three main regions: East, Middle, and West. The blue field with its white band represents the unbreakable unity of the regions. Designed by Captain LeRoy Reeves of the Third Regiment, Tennessee Infantry, the flag was adopted by the State Legislature in 1905.

Official Symbols

• Flower: Iris
• Bird: Mockingbird
• Tree: Tulip poplar
• Animal: Raccoon
• Fish: Smallmouth bass
• Song: “The Tennessee Waltz” by Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King; “My Homeland, Tennessee” by Nell Grayson Taylor and Roy Lamont Smith; “Tennessee” by Vivian Rorie; “When It’s Iris Time in Tennessee” by Willa Waid Newman; “My Tennessee” by Frances Hannah Tranum; "Rocky Top," by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant; "The Pride of Tennessee," by Fred Congdon, Thomas Vaughn, and Carol Elliot; "Smoky Mountain Rain," by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan; “Tennessee” by John R. Bean.

State and National Historic Sites

• Alex Haley Museum and Interpretive Center (Henning)
• Andrew Johnson National Historic Site (Greeneville)
• Ducktown Basin Museum and Burra Burra Mine State Historic Site (Ducktown)
• Fort Donelson National Battlefield (Dover)
• James K. Polk Home State Historic Site (Columbia)
• Natchez Trace Parkway
• Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail
• Rocky Mount Log House State Historic Site (Piney Flats)
• Sam Houston Schoolhouse State Historic Site (Maryville)
• Shiloh National Military Park (Shiloh)
• Tipton-Haynes Home State Historic Site (Johnson City)

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Population: 7,051,339 (ranked 15th) (2022 estimate)
• Population density: 167.6/sq mi (2020 estimate)
• Urban population: 66.2% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 33.8% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 21.8% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 17.3% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 78.3% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 16.7% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 6.4% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 0.5% (2022 estimate)
• Asian alone: 2.1% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.1% (2022 estimate)
• Two or More Races: 2.2% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $32,908 (ranked 39th) (2021 estimate)
• Unemployment: 3.4% (2022 estimate)

American Indians: The Cherokee were the dominant tribe in Tennessee, as in other parts of the Southeastern United States, up until the eighteenth century. Another important tribe was the Chickasaw. American Indians in the region found themselves increasingly at odds with White settlers, who poured into Tennessee following British victory in the Seven Years’ War. In the late 1830s, President Andrew Jackson forced American Indians to leave Tennessee and move westward; their path became known as the Trail of Tears, because of the harshness of their long journey and the fact that thousands of American Indians died as a result. Many Cherokees now live in Oklahoma.

ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

• Total area: 42,144 sq mi (ranked 36th)
• Land area: 41,235 sq mi (97.8% of total area)
• Water area: 909 sq mi (2.2% of total area)
• National parks: 13
• Highest point: Clingmans Dome (6,643 feet)
• Lowest point: Mississippi River (178 feet)
• Highest temperature: 113° F (Perryville, July 29, 1930; August 9, 1930)
• Lowest temperature: -32° F (Mountain City, December 30, 1917)

Topography: Tennessee is divided into three regions: east, middle, and west. These are known to Tennesseans as the “three grand divisions,” each of which has a distinct and unique identity. The eastern region is mountainous, including the Great Smoky Mountains and Appalachian foothills, running northeast-southwest. The Smokey Mountain’s peaks range from 4,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level. The middle region, a plateau, is slightly hilly. The eastern region is part of the Mississippi River plain, with many small rivers as well as swampy land.

Major Lakes

• Barkley Lake
• Center Hill Lake
• Cherokee Lake
• Chickamauga Lake
• Douglas Lake
• Kentucky Lake
• Nickajack Lake
• Norris Lake
• Tellico Lake

Major Rivers

• Buffalo River
• Clinch River
• Collins River
• Conasauga River
• Cumberland River
• French Broad River
• Hatchie River
• Hiwassee River
• Mississippi River
• Nolichucky River
• Ococee River
• Roaring River
• Tellico River
• Tennessee River

State and National Parks: Tennessee has thirteen national parks (several of which span multiple states) and dozens of state parks. The National Park Service also operates the Natchez Trace Parkway, the route of a historic American Indian trail running from Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi. Significant state-run sites relating to Tennessee frontier heritage include the David Crockett Birthplace State Park and the Natchez Trace State Park. Many other state parks are recreational areas noted for scenic beauty, such as Cedars of Lebanon State Park in the town of Lebanon.

Natural Resources: Tennessee’s natural resources include numerous minerals, such as marble, zinc, and pyrite. Zinc production is one of the largest in the country. In the 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority began constructing immense reservoirs to provide hydroelectric power—an immense help to the state’s industrial development. Tennessee also has many agricultural resources, including tobacco, cotton, food crops, dairy, and livestock. The state’s vast woodlands include Cherokee National Forest.

Plants and Animals: Tennessee’s large tracts of forested parkland provide home to many wild species, including deer and black bear. Elk, common in colonial times, became extremely rare but were reintroduced to an extent later. Other rare mammals include the red wolf and the northern river otter. Rare birds include the bobolink and the American woodcock.

Pest insects include the Southern pine beetle, which infest and kill pine trees in large parts of the state, including Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Climate: Tennessee has a generally temperate climate, with four distinct seasons. Mountainous East Tennessee tends to be cooler than the Middle Tennessee plateau or the West Tennessee delta. The state typically does not receive much snow, except in the Great Smoky Mountains. The state’s average annual temperature ranges from approximately 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. On average, annual summer temperatures range between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Winters tend to be mild, except in the mountains.

The east receives the most snowfall—around 10 inches a year. The southern and western parts of the state receive between 4 to 6 inches a year. Rainfall is heaviest in Middle Tennessee, where precipitation ranges between 45 and 55 inches. East Tennessee’s rainfall varies depending on whether one is in the mountains or the valleys; the mountains themselves can receive up to 80 inches, while the Great Valley region receives between 40 and 50 inches. West Tennessee receives between 46 and 54 inches of rainfall, depending on proximity to the Mississippi River. The state experiences relatively few severe storms, though tornadoes and thunderstorms occasionally take place.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Major Colleges and Universities

• Aquinas College (Nashville)
• Austin Peay State University (Clarksville)
• Belmont University (Nashville)
• Bethel University (McKenzie)
• Christian Brothers University (Memphis)
• Cumberland University (Lebanon)
• East Tennessee State University (Johnson City)
• Fisk University (Nashville)
• King University (Bristol)
• Lane College (Jackson)
• Lee University (Cleveland)
• Lincoln Memorial University (Harrogate)
• Maryville College (Maryville)
• Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro)
• Rhodes College (Memphis)
• Southern Adventist University (Collegedale)
• Tennessee State University (Nashville)
• Tennessee Technological University (Cookeville)
• Tennessee Wesleyan University (Athens)
• Union University (Jackson)
• University of Memphis (Memphis)
• University of Tennessee (Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin)
• University of the South (Sewanee)
• Vanderbilt University (Nashville)

Major Museums

• Adventure Science Center (Nashville)
• American Museum of Science and Energy (Oak Ridge)
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (Nashville)
• Frank H. McClung Museum, University of Tennessee (Knoxville)
• Hunter Museum of American Art (Chattanooga)
• Knoxville Museum of Art (Knoxville)
• Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (Memphis)
• Museum of Appalachia (Norris)
• National Civil Rights Museum (Memphis)
• Tennessee State Museum (Nashville)
• Thruston Collection, Vanderbilt University (Nashville)

Major Libraries

• Memphis Public Library (Memphis)
• School of Medicine Library, Vanderbilt University (Nashville)
• Tennessee State Library and Archives (Nashville)
• Tennessee Valley Authority Technical Library (Knoxville)
• University of Tennessee Library (Knoxville)
• Vanderbilt University Library (Nashville)

Media: Tennessee is a major news media market, with numerous daily and weekly newspapers as well as many TV and radio stations. Major dailies in the state capital include the Nashville Post and the Tennessean. Other important newspapers include the Memphis Daily News, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and the Knoxville News Sentinel. Nashville is also the center of the country-music recording industry, while Memphis has traditionally been another important music industry hub.

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 475,755.1 (ranked 16th) (2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: 4.3%

Major Industries: Tennessee was historically a largely agricultural state, until the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in the early 1930s. The TVA created huge reservoirs and hydroelectric power plants to provide energy for industrial development. Since then, Tennessee has manufactured chemical and petrochemical products, computing and electronic products, heavy machinery, and other products. By the twenty-first century, the financial and service industries, as well as government and education and health care, had become major contributors to the state's GDP. Agriculture remains important, however, and the state produces large quantities of soybeans, tobacco, and cotton. Tourism is another major industry: many visitors come to experience country-music capital Nashville and honor the memory of late rock-and-roll king Elvis Presley, who died in 1977.

Tourism: Tennessee has a well-developed tourism industry, one of great importance to many local economies. The state's natural beauty is a prime draw, including locations such as Cherokee National Forest and the 500,000-acre Great Smoky Mountains National Park. College and professional sports are another draw, as is the presence of Nashville as a center of the country-music industry. The Grand Ole Opry, the world's longest running live-radio program, began broadcasting from Nashville in 1925. Another popular attraction is Graceland, the Memphis mansion of Elvis Presley.

Energy Production: Most of Tennessee's overall energy production and electricity production comes from nuclear power and hydroelectric power. The state has two dual-unit nuclear power plants: Sequoyah, near Chattanooga, and Watts Bar, between Chattanooga and Knoxville. Both are owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, and together accounted for 45 percent of the state's electricity production in 2022. Tennessee is also one of the biggest producers of hydroelectric power in the eastern United States, with various plants contributing 12 percent of the state's total power generation in 2022. Natural gas and coal are also important sources of electric power generation.

Agriculture: Tennessee has largely shifted its economy toward industry and services, but agriculture remains important. Soybeans are one of the most important crops, along with hay, corn, cotton, tobacco, and wheat. Tennessee farmers also raise livestock, including broiler chickens, beef cattle, hogs, and goats.

Airports: Tennessee has a large number of public airports and heliports. Many of these are small municipal or county facilities. Larger airports include Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, Memphis International Airport, McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, and Nashville International Airport.

Seaports: Tennessee has four international ports—Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville. Memphis is the state’s largest port thanks to its position on the Mississippi River, and also has a special port facility for Federal Express traffic.

GOVERNMENT

• Governor: Bill Lee (Republican)
• Present constitution date: 1870 (amended 1953, 1960, 1966, 1972, 1978, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2014)
• Electoral votes: 11
• Number of counties: 95
• Violent crime rate: 672.7 (per 100,000 residents)
• Death penalty: Yes

Constitution: Tennessee’s current state constitution was adopted in 1870. As originally written, the 1870 constitution sought to undo the Reconstruction policies of the Radical Republicans. This included limiting the voting rights of Black Americans and giving the vote back to former Confederates. This constitution was amended five times between 1953 and 1978. The state had two previous constitutions: the one adopted at statehood (1796), and one adopted in 1834.

Branches of Government

Executive: The state’s chief executive officer is the governor, who is elected to a four-year term and may serve up to two consecutive terms. Duties include proposing, approving, and vetoing legislation; overseeing the executive departments; and serving as commander in chief of the state’s military forces. The governor also fills vacancies in the court system, and can grant pardons. The lieutenant governor, who also serves the role of speaker of the Tennessee State Senate, has the right of succession in case of the governor’s disability, removal, or death.

Other constitutional officers include the secretary of state, the state treasurer, the comptroller of the Treasury, and the attorney general.

Legislative: The Tennessee General Assembly has two houses. The upper house, or State Senate, has thirty-three members. The lower house, or House of Representatives, has ninety-nine members. As noted above, the speaker of the State Senate becomes governor in case of the incumbent’s disability, removal, or death.

Judicial: Tennessee has three levels of appellate courts: the State Supreme Court, and the two intermediate appellate courts (the Court of Appeals, and the Court of Criminal Appeals). The five-member Supreme Court, the highest court and court of last resort, also handles constitutional issues. Judges at all three appellate levels are initially appointed by the governor, from a candidate list prepared by the Judicial Selection Commission. The appointee serves until the next general election, at which time he or she must be voted on by the general public. Judges run for reelection every eight years.

Beneath the appellate courts are the state’s trial courts, whose judges are elected by the general public within their districts. These include the criminal courts, the probate courts, the circuit courts, and the chancery courts.

There are also “courts of limited jurisdiction,” funded by their counties. These include juvenile courts, general sessions courts, and municipal courts.

HISTORY

1540 Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto travels through the region of present-day Tennessee. He meets many tribes, including the Cherokee, Creek, Shawnee, and Chickasaw.

c. 1682 French explorer Robert Cavalier, sieur de la Salle, establishes Fort Prudhomme in western Tennessee, on the shores of the Mississippi River. This fort is possibly located on the site of present-day Memphis.

1763 The French and Indian War ends in British victory. The Treaty of Paris cedes to Britain all French lands west of the Mississippi. This opens the way for settlement from the English seaboard colonies. Many settlers soon arrive from Virginia and North Carolina.

1772–75 Communities in what is now eastern Tennessee form the Watauga Association, a government with a written constitution and court system. The constitution is based on the laws of the Iroquois Federation. This association marks one of the first attempts by American settlers to establish their own government. The association lasts until 1775, when it reorganizes as Washington District. In 1776, it joins itself to North Carolina, becoming part of the short-lived State of Franklin in the 1780s, and then becoming part of the state of Tennessee in 1796.

1775–83 The American Revolution. During this period, the region later known as Tennessee is claimed by North Carolina.

1784–1788 Settlers in western North Carolina, in what is now East Tennessee, establish an independent government known as the State of Franklin. The inhabitants of Washington, Sullivan, and Greene Counties are angry that North Carolina has ceded (June 1784) its western lands to the United States government without first asking them. In 1785, the settlers establish a constitution and legislature and elect John Sevier as governor for a three-year term. Congress refuses, however, to recognize the new state. Also, North Carolina repeals the act of cession six months later, in December 1784. The region returns to North Carolina’s control after Sevier’s administration completes its term of office. Sevier escapes arrest by the North Carolina government.

1787 Andrew Jackson, who would later become president of the United States, passes the North Carolina bar exam. He is soon appointed solicitor to the state’s western district, now Tennessee. In 1788, Jackson moves to Nashville and becomes a prominent lawyer and real-estate speculator.

1789 North Carolina reenacts the cession of its western lands to the federal government.

1790 Congress creates the “Territory South of the Ohio River” (or “Southwest Territory”) out of ceded western lands south of the Ohio River. This area includes present-day Tennessee. William Blount is appointed territorial governor and resides for the next two years at “Rocky Mount,” the log home of the William Cobb family (located in present-day Piney Flats).

John Sevier, formerly governor of the State of Franklin, is appointed a member of the territorial legislative council in 1794.

1791 Knoxville is founded. Located in a valley between the Cumberland and Great Smoky Mountains, the city lies at the convergence of the French Broad, Holston, and Tennessee Rivers.

1794 What later becomes the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is chartered by the territorial legislature as Blount College. The school is named in honor of Territorial Governor William Blount. In 1807, the school becomes known as East Tennessee College. In 1840, the name is again changed, to East Tennessee University.

1796 On June 1, Tennessee enters the Union as the sixteenth state, with John Sevier as the first governor and Andrew Jackson as the state’s only member in the US House of Representatives. Sevier serves as governor from 1796 until 1801 and again from 1803 until 1809. The state constitution provides for universal male suffrage, meaning that free Black citizens have the right to vote.

1797 William Blount, the former territorial governor, is expelled from the US Senate. Andrew Jackson resigns from the House of Representatives and successfully runs for Blount’s vacated seat. Jackson resigns a year later, however, to serve on the Tennessee Superior Court.

1812–15War of 1812. Tennessee joins the “War Hawk” party in Congress, which sees the war with Britain as an opportunity to subdue the American Indians and open up new lands to White settlement. Tennessee Governor Blount calls up a force of 2,500 volunteers, to be commanded by Andrew Jackson. “Old Hickory” leads his troops in 1813 to 1814 against the Creek Indians. Jackson is so successful in the Creek War that he comes to national attention and is commissioned a major general in the US Army in charge of the Southern military district. His victory at the Battle of New Orleans, in January 1815, makes him a national hero and a strong presidential contender.

1819 The city of Memphis is platted, or laid out. The first steamboat makes its way up to Nashville.

1824 General Andrew Jackson, hero of the War of 1812, runs for the presidency but loses to John Quincy Adams when the election is thrown into the House of Representatives.

1828 Andrew Jackson is elected president of the United States. He serves until 1837, retiring afterward to his plantation, the Hermitage.

1838 President Jackson, a strong opponent of American Indians, forces the Cherokee and Chickasaw tribes out of Tennessee and toward westward reservations. Their route westward becomes known as the “Trail of Tears.”

1861–65 The Civil War. Tennessee seceded from the Union on May 7, 1861, making it the last state to join the Confederacy. Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, a Democrat and staunch Union supporter, is the only Southerner to remain in the US Senate after his state secedes. Because of Johnson’s support, President Abraham Lincoln makes him the state’s military governor in 1862. The Tennessean’s loyalty brings him the vice presidential nomination two years later, when the Republicans choose him as Lincoln’s running mate on the “National Union Party” ticket. Upon Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, Johnson becomes president.

The state is strategically located between North and South, making it a major battlefield. About 2,900 military engagements took place there, more than in any state other than Virginia. Total battle casualties are 122,854, with Confederate deaths at 64,333 and Union deaths at 58,521.

1866 The Ku Klux Klan, a White supremacy group, is organized in Pulaski, Tennessee. Organized by former Confederates, the group attempts to oppose the Radical Republicans’ Reconstruction policy. In particular, the Klansmen want to prohibit Black citizens from exercising their civil rights. In 1867, at a gathering in Nashville, local groups organize nationally and elect former Confederate cavalryman General Nathan Bedford Forrest as “grand wizard.” Forrest disbands the national organization and resigns two years later, due to his concerns about local leaders’ excesses. The local groups continue existence for many decades.

That same year, Fisk University is founded in Nashville to educate formerly enslaved people. The school’s Jubilee Singers choral group, founded in 1871, plays a major role in making African American spirituals known to the general public.

1868 The Radical Republican Congress, angry over President Johnson’s refusal to impose harsh Reconstruction on the South, impeaches him for allegedly violating the Tenure of Office Act. The Republicans argue that the president violated the act by failing to gain Senate approval for his dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Johnson survives removal by one vote, and leaves office in March 1869. He is reelected as US senator from Tennessee in 1875, but dies a few months afterward.

1869 The Legislature designates East Tennessee University as the state’s land-grant university, under provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act.

1870s–80s Reconstruction ends, giving power back to Tennessee’s Democrats. Despite occasional Republican victories, the Democrats solidly control state politics until after World War II.

1879 East Tennessee University in Knoxville is renamed the University of Tennessee.

1887 The state legislature passes a measure which creates the Tennessee National Guard.

1909 Despite a veto by the governor, the State Legislature passes legislation to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages. The measure splits the state Democratic Party and helps elect a Republican governor in 1910. The legislation is repealed in 1939.

1912 The General Assembly establishes the Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial College in Nashville, a land-grant school for African American students.

1920s Country music, originally called “hillbilly music,” emerges as a distinct genre. Nashville emerges as a center for the musical style.

1925 The Scopes Trial, held in Dayton, Tennessee, focuses attention on the teaching of evolution in public schools. John T. Scopes, a biology teacher at the local high school, is tried and convicted for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Earlier that year, the State Legislature had passed a statute to prohibit teaching theories that contradicted the view of biblical creation. The case brings in some of the nation’s best-known lawyers and orators. Famed lawyer Clarence Darrow serves as one of Scopes’s attorneys and argues that the case violates academic freedom and the separation of church and state. Former presidential candidate and orator William Jennings Bryan assists the prosecution, and argues in favor of a literal interpretation of the Bible. Scopes is convicted but later released by the State Supreme Court. The law is not repealed, however, until 1967.

That same year, the Grand Ole Opry radio program begins broadcasting from Nashville, on station WSM. It became the world’s longest-running live radio show.

1933 The US government establishes the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a New Deal initiative to produce inexpensive hydroelectric power for large parts of the South. Senator George Norris of Nebraska becomes known as the “Father of TVA.” The agency, which eventually expands its programs into other economic development projects, helps transform Tennessee from an agricultural to an industrial state. The TVA now provides power to seven states in the Tennessee River Valley.

1941–45 World War II. The TVA helps provide the power required by the US war effort by constructing numerous hydroelectric plants. By 1942, the agency is building twelve hydroelectric facilities and a steam plant and employing 28,000 construction workers. The federal government builds Oak Ridge, a secret city in the east Tennessee mountains, as a facility for building the atomic bomb.

1948 The veteran vote helps end the statewide political power of Edward H. Crump, a prominent Democratic political figure who was aligned with Democratic Senator Kenneth McKellar. US Representative Estes Kefauver of Chattanooga, a Democratic liberal, beats the Crump candidate for the Senate election.

1949 The federal government publicizes the existence of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

1952 A Federal District Court requires the admission of Black students to the University of Tennessee’s graduate and law schools. The first African American undergraduates enter UT in 1961.

1962 The US Supreme Court, in the case of Baker v. Carr, orders Tennessee to redistrict its legislative boundaries— something the state had failed to do since 1901.

1966 Howard Baker Jr., a native of East Tennessee, is elected the state’s first Republican US senator since the Reconstruction era. This is the beginning of the Republican Party’s resurgence in Tennessee politics.

1968 African American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated on April 4 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. James Earl Ray, a White man, is arrested for the murder, but doubts linger as to whether he was acting alone or as part of a conspiracy. The incident touches off race riots around the country. Years later, the motel later becomes the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.

That same year, the University of Tennessee is reorganized as the University of Tennessee System, with Knoxville as the flagship campus and administrative headquarters. The formerly private University of Chattanooga joins the state system in 1969.

1976 Al Gore Jr., the twenty-eight-year-old son of Senator Al Gore, wins a seat in the US House of Representatives, representing a district in Middle Tennessee. The younger Gore eventually goes into the US Senate and then the vice presidency.

1977 Rock-and-roll legend Elvis Presley dies at Graceland, his Memphis mansion, after years of drug abuse. The house is opened to the public in 1982, and soon is receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

1978 Lamar Alexander, a Republican moderate, is elected governor. He is reelected in 1982 and serves until 1987.

1981 Senator Howard Baker becomes US Senate majority leader.

1985 The state opens the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, a canal connecting the Tennessee and Tombigbee Rivers. This shortens by hundreds of miles the route which waterborne traffic must take to the Gulf of Mexico.

1991 President George H. W. Bush appoints former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander as US secretary of education.

1992 Tennessee senator Al Gore Jr., son of former Senator Al Gore, resigns from the Senate to become Arkansas governor Bill Clinton’s running mate in the 1992 presidential election.

1994 Republican candidate Fred Thompson, a lawyer turned actor, runs for the unexpired two years of Al Gore’s Senate term. He is reelected to a full term two years later. Upon completion of his term in 2003, he retires and joins the cast of TV series Law and Order.

2007 Philip Workman, who was convicted of killing Memphis police officer Lt. Ronald Oliver, is executed by lethal injection. It is only the fourth execution in the state since 1960. Workman’s attorneys argue that the state’s death penalty protocol constituted cruel and unusual punishment but are not granted a stay of execution.

Toward the end of 2006 and into 2007, Tennessee and other southeastern states begin to suffer one of the worst droughts in regional history. Meteorologists said that 2007 is the driest in over 113 years. Watering bans and water rationing initiatives are instituted in Tennessee and other states. In addition, states begin using emergency water supplies and importing water from neighboring regions.

2008 An accidental discharge of coal ash at a Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired power plant near Kingston, Tennessee, become the biggest industrial waste spill in US history. Cleanup continues into 2015 and costs over $1 billion.

2011 Record flooding along the Mississippi River forces the evacuation of more than 1,300 homes in Memphis in May.

2017 Memphis controversially sells two city parks containing statues of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest and Confederate president Jefferson Davis to a nonprofit organization, which then removes and stores the statues. The city's move comes amid a broader regional and national debate regarding whether Confederate monuments should be displayed in public spaces because they preserve history or be removed because they honor defenders of slavery.

2019 For the first time in the history of the pageant, a Black woman is named Miss Tennessee.

2020 Like other states, Tennessee is disrupted by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

2021Heavy August rainfall across Midwestern Tennessee leads to catastrophic flooding that results in twenty deaths and more than $100 million in damages.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

James Agee, 1909–55 (Knoxville) , Writer.

Lamar Alexander, 1940– (Maryville) , US senator; governor; former cabinet official.

Chet Atkins, 1924–2001 (Lutrell) , Guitarist; recording executive.

Howard Baker Jr., 1925–2014 (Huntsville) , US senator.

John Bell, 1797–1869 (near Nashville) , US senator; presidential candidate in 1860 on Constitutional Union ticket.

Markus "Mookie" Betts, 1992– (Brentwood) , Professional baseball player.

Julian Bond, 1940–2015 (Nashville) , African American civil-rights activist; Georgia legislator.

Hattie Wyatt Caraway, 1878–1950 (Bakersville) , First woman elected to US Senate.

Davy Crockett, 1786–1836 (Hawkings County) , Frontiersman; politician.

Miley Cyrus, 1992– (Franklin) , Singer-songwriter; actor.

Morgan Freeman, 1937– (Memphis) , Actor.

David G. Farragut, 1801–70 (Knoxville) , First admiral in US Navy.

Abe Fortas, 1910–82 (Memphis) , US Supreme Court justice.

Aretha Franklin, 1942–2018 (Memphis) , Singer.

Nikki Giovanni, 1943– (Knoxville) , Poet and activist.

Albert A. Gore Sr., 1907–98 (Jackson County) , US senator; father of former vice president.

Mary Styles Harris, 1949– (Nashville) , Geneticist and health researcher.

Cordell Hull, 1871–1955 (Overton County) , US secretary of state.

Leslie Jones, 1967– (Memphis) , Comedian and actor.

Estes Kefauver, 1903–63 (Monroe County) , US senator.

Elise Neal, 1966– (Memphis) , Actor.

Dolly Parton, 1946– (Locust Ridge) , Country-music singer and songwriter; actress.

Usher Terry Raymond IV, "Usher," 1978– (Chattanooga) , Rhythm-and-blues singer and actor.

Grantland Rice, 1880–1954 (Murfreesboro) , Sportswriter.

Carl Rowan, 1925–2000 (Ravenscroft) , Journalist.

Wilma Rudolph, 1940–94 (St. Bethlehem) , Runner; Olympic gold medalist.

Dinah Shore, 1917–1994 (Winchester) , Actress; singer.

Bessie Smith, c. 1890s–1937 (Chattanooga) , Blues and jazz singer

Sequoyah, c. 1770–1843 (eastern Tennessee) , Inventor and teacher of written Cherokee language.

Tina Turner, 1939–2023 (Nutbush) , Actor and singer.

Alvin York, 1887–1964 (Pall Mall) , Soldier; hero in World War I.

TRIVIA

• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), founded in 1933, is the largest public-power utility in the United States. In addition to Tennessee, it provides power to six Southern states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Virginia.
• Sequoyah, a member of the Cherokee tribe, single-handedly created an alphabet for his Indigenous language. The giant California trees known as Sequoias are named for him.
• Author Alex Haley, who wrote the 1976 bestselling book Roots, grew up in Henning, Tennessee. The book, which became a popular miniseries, is based loosely on the stories his grandmother and aunts told him about their family's lives under slavery.
• The Jubilee Singers of Fisk University, a historically Black college founded in Nashville just after the Civil War, have been touring since the early 1870s. Their tours have been instrumental in making African American spirituals known to the general public.
• Country-music performer Dolly Parton built a theme park, called Dollywood, near her hometown in Sevier County.
• Tennessee has given the nation three US presidents, but all three originally hailed from the Carolinas. Andrew Jackson, the seventh president (1829–37), was born in the Waxhaw region on the North Carolina-South Carolina border. James K. Polk, the eleventh president (1845–49), was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Andrew Johnson, the seventeenth president (1865–69), was born in Raleigh, North Carolina.
• Musician and composer W. C. Handy, known as the Father of the Blues, lived for a time in Memphis and wrote the song "Memphis Blues."
• Throughout each summer and autumn, Tennessee hosts a number of agricultural festivals celebrating various crops, from cotton to cowpeas to sweet corn to grains. In 2015, a new festival was launched in Ooltewah in honor of melons.
• Similar to other states, Tennessee passed a law banning anyone from holding a cell phone while driving; it went into effect in 2019.

Bibliography

Bergeron, Paul H., et al. Tennesseans and Their History. U of Tennessee P, 1999.

"BEARFACTS." Bureau of Economic Analysis, US Department of Commerce, 31 Mar. 2023, apps.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/. Accessed 21 Sept. 2023.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer." Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2022, crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/home. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.

Summerlin, Cathy, and Vernon Summerlin. Traveling Tennessee: A Complete Tour Guide to the Volunteer State from the Highlands of the Smoky Mountains to the Banks of the Mississippi River. Rutledge Hill, 1999.

"Tennessee." Quick Facts, US Census Bureau, 2022, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/TN/PST045222. Accessed 21 Sept. 2023.

"Tennessee: State Profile and Energy Estimates." US Energy Information Administration, 21 Sept. 2023, www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TN. Accessed 21 Sept. 2023.

"Tennessee: 2020 Census." United States Census Bureau, 25 Aug. 2021, www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/tennessee-population-change-between-census-decade.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2022.

"2019 State Agriculture Overview: Tennessee." US Department of Agriculture, www.nass.usda.gov/Quick‗Stats/Ag‗Overview/stateOverview.php?state=TENNESSEE. Accessed 27 July 2020.

Eric Badertscher