December 7, 1941

The USS Tennessee at Pearl Harbor

By Kenneth Fieth, Metropolitan Nashville Archivist

"There were so many of them flying together that they looked like one. They came through the valley very close to the ground and I could clearly see the rising sun on the end of each wing. Not a few minutes later, the rumbling sounds of multiple explosions rolled through the pineapple field." The missionary's son whose jet-black hair is now gray waved his hand in a dive as he recalled the first time he ever saw a Japanese warplane. His first lesson occurred on Sunday morning, December 7th, 1941.

The men of the USS Tennessee, moored on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor, had a far more harrowing experience. The following excerpt is from the official after-action report filed by the Commanding Officer of the Tennessee on December 11, 1941.

"On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the USS Tennessee was moored starboard side to quay Fox 6 [in Naval terms that is a berth for the ship lettered as "F 6"] with two hausers and seven manila lines. The USS [West] Virginia was moored alongside to port. Boiler #1 was steaming for auxillary purposes....This ship was the flagship of Commander Battleship Division Two....the USS Arizona was moored about 75 yards ahead and astern of the Tennessee.

At about 7:55, planes, observed to be Japanese by their markings, were seen dropping bombs on Ford Island. [Ford Island is in the center of Pearl Harbor and was used for mooring the ships of "Battleship Row"]. This ship [Tennessee] went to general quarters....Immediately, after the bombing of Ford Island, planes began torpeoding and bombing the battleships and other ships in the Harbor. This ship opened fire with .50 caliber and 5" caliber guns about five minutes after the attack.

To continue reading: Click Here.

Note: The article, as can be seen in the excerpt above, initially misidentifies the USS West Virginia as the USS Virginia but gets it correct thereafter.

David Crockett

Born not on a mountaintop but in East Tennessee, Davy Crockett's Birthplace has been preserved by the State of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation as an historic site within the state park system. The site consists of 105 partially wooded acres of land along the Nolichucky River in Greene County, Tennessee.

To visit the state park's web site: Click Here.

It is probably a tossup as to whether Davy Crockett or Andrew Jackson is the most illustrious son of Tennessee.

For an overview of his life: Click Here.

Crockett truly was a legend in his own time; however, the real person, a three term congressman and an ardent political opponent of Andrew Jackson and his Indian Removal Act, was both a good deal more human and a good deal more interesting than the legend. For an excellent in depth account of Crockett's life, consult: Three Roads to the Alamo by William C. Davis, (ISBN 0-06-017334-3), which tells of the life of not only of David Crockett but of William Barret Travis and Jim Bowie as well. Of the three, Crockett was easily the most admirable.

MountainStories.net

Stories, Old Ragged Verse, Letters to and from mountain cousins by Storyteller and Appalachian Humorist Stephen Hollen. Enjoy the humor and bittersweet memories of Eastern Kentucky and a place where the mist crawls down the mountainside ''like molasses on a cold plate''

To view this entertaining and eclectic Appalachian blog: Click Here.

Family Portraits: Virginia Indians

At the Turn of the 20th Century

This is an online photographic exhibit produced by Sweet Briar College showing the faces of just a few of the actual people, they and their children and grandchildren, that Walter Plecker tried to erase from history. It is worth looking at these pictures with that thought in mind.

To view: Click Here.

The Black and White World of Walter Plecker

By Warren Fiske
Published in Style Weekly
September 22, 2004

This link, the last in the current series of three MHS Blog entries dealing with Dr. Walter Plecker, Registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics from 1912 to 1946, is to an article reviewing the life, character and motivations of this truly evil man.

To read the article: Click Here.

Plecker Letters Pertaining to Melungeons

This is the second of a three-part series on the infamous Dr. Walter Plecker, Registrar of the Virginia Bureau of Vital Statistics from 1912 to 1946. During the course of his documentary war on Virginia's Indians and on those whites he deemed not white enough to satisfy his racist ideals, the Melungeons and those of Melungeon descent did not escape his malevolent notice. The link below presents a number of his letters touching on the subject, including his list of "mongrel" surnames. Of particular interest, however, is his exchange of letters with the Tennessee State Archivist and Librarian specifically asking about the Melungeons and their origins. Note that he did not like the answer he received and made it clear he would ignore it.

To read Plecker's letters: Click Here.

The Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924

This begins a three-part series on the infamous Dr. Walter Plecker, Registrar of Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics from 1912 to 1946, who for decades conducted a racial inquisition in Virginia which resulted in all Virginia residents previously classified as being Indian and some previously classified as being white being reclassified, against their will, as "colored." Plecker's reign of documentary terror, which brought untold anguish and suffering to its victims, was buttressed and expanded by passage of the equally infamous Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924, an act largely inspired by Pecker himself, the full text of which follows below.

The next article in the series will deal with Plecker's efforts to ferret out and reclassify as "colored" Melungeon families in Virginia (along with many other families he regarded as "passing for white") and include his notorious list of "mongrel" surnames. For now it is worth mentioning that the activities of Dr. Plecker and the Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924 were cited at the Nuremberg war crimes trials in defense of Nazi racial laws and activities.

The Virginia Racial Integrity Act was declared unconstitutional in 1967 by the U.S. Supreme Court in an unanimous decision, Loving v. Virginia, and was formally repealed by the Virginia legislature in 1975.

To read the Virginia Racial Integrity Act: Click Here.

Note: This begins a re-blogging of a series of three important MHS Blog entries originally made over a year ago.