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Tennessee Cold Case Office opens at Cordell Hull to investigate civil rights crimes

Photo by Sam Stockard/Tennessee Lookout / A wall at the new cold case office in the Cordell Hull Building features photos of civil rights activists, including Rosa Parks. Photo by Sam Stockard/Tennessee Lookout / A wall at the new cold case office in the Cordell Hull Building features photos of civil rights activists, including Rosa Parks.

By Sam Stockard / Tennessee Lookout April 12, 2022 4 min read

Four years after the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation creating a cold case office to delve into decades-old civil rights crimes, the office opened its doors in the Cordell Hull Building.

Legislation signed by former Gov. Bill Haslam in May 2018 created the Tennessee Civil Rights Crimes, Information, Reconciliation and Research Center, in addition to mandating a statewide survey of civil rights crime cold cases and directing cases for prosecution.

The center will act as a clearinghouse for information, depending largely on the U.S. Department of Justice, district attorneys general and people who make requests for cold cases to be reopened.

The office is filled with photos and quotes from infamous cases such as Emmett Till’s murder, Martin Luther King’s assassination, Rosa Parks’ civil rights case and more.