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May 19, 2026

Why Nashville Needs a Civil Rights Museum

City Cast Nashville

Why Nashville Needs a Civil Rights Museum

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Some local lawmakers are calling Tennessee’s recent statewide redistricting “a return to Jim Crow,” so we’re diving into the role Nashville played in shaping the Civil Rights Movement and wondering why our city doesn’t have a Civil Rights museum. Author and local historian Betsy Phillips joins Marie Cecile Anderson to talk about the 1960 Nashville lunch counter sit-ins, the everyday Nashvillians whose stories risk being forgotten, and why we’re running out of time to preserve their history.

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Andrew Jackson's Hermitage

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