CHARLOTTE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Inside a one-room schoolhouse in Charlotte, Tennessee lies a time in history many tend to forget. Unless you happen to be a woman named Serina Gilbert.
“I grew up being a part of the stories,” Gilbert said.
The photos, and artifacts inside the schoolhouse tell the story of a community called Promise Land.
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“They had their stores, they had churches, and of course, they had this school, the Promise Land school which was the hub of the community,” said Gilbert.
Shortly after the Civil War, freed slaves came to Charlotte where they established the first African American community in Dickson County called Promise Land.
“My great grandfather….he bought property here in 1868,” said Gilbert.
Gilbert comes from a family who settled, learned, and thrived in this community. “It’s just an amazing thing, and it gives you a special feeling to know that you are tied to the roots of the community.”
At its peak, nearly 100 African American families were living in Promise Land. That soon began to change in the early 1900s when droves of African Americans from the South began moving to the North and Midwest as part of the Great Migration.