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Leaders discuss past, future of Chattanooga’s Black neighborhoods

Staff photo by Ellen Gerst / Nation of Islam leader Brother Kevin Muhammad moderates a discussion on Chattanooga's Black neighborhoods on Thursday. Pastor Anthony Taylor, of the Greater Community Church of Chattanooga, state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, and Bushtown Neighborhood Association President Mary Morris sat on the panel.
Staff photo by Ellen Gerst / Nation of Islam leader Brother Kevin Muhammad moderates a discussion on Chattanooga's Black neighborhoods on Thursday. Pastor Anthony Taylor, of the Greater Community Church of Chattanooga, state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, D-Chattanooga, and Bushtown Neighborhood Association President Mary Morris sat on the panel.

By Ellen Gerst 6 min read

Where Miller Park now sits in downtown Chattanooga once sat a Black-owned hotel with a dance hall, restaurants, saloons and a casino.

Where Erlanger’s downtown hospital is once was the Black neighborhood of Lincoln Park. Its pool and park drew Black visitors from as far as Birmingham and Huntsville, Brother Kevin Muhammad said at a Thursday night event.

Where thousands of Black residents settled on Cameron Hill now stands the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee campus. When dirt was removed from the hill to construct highways through Chattanooga in the mid-1900s, it displaced around 1,100 families, Muhammad said.


“There’s a rich, rich history in Chattanooga when it comes to Black neighborhoods,” Muhammad said at Bushtown’s Community Haven on Thursday.