As you read the Chattanooga News Chronicle, many, if not most, know John Edwards, III, the founder and publisher of the region’s only printed and online source of news which has an audience that transcends race and ethnicity that comes with no firewall or subscription.

But do you really know John L. Edwards, III? Do you know he is a highly, decorated veteran of the war in Vietnam? Did you know his family’s home was firebombed?  Do you know of his work with his dad, J. Loyd Edwards, Jr. to serve as a second-generation guardian of so much rich history in Chattanooga?

Let’s meet and appreciate John L. Edwards, III a bit more during 2023’s Black History Month.

CNC:  John, you and your family chose to live in Chattanooga after your dad worked with prominent Civil Rights Leaders in Nashville, such as C.T. Vivian, US Congressman John Lewis, and Diane Nash, just to name a few, in marches and most notably in organizing the Nashville “Sit-ins.” While most see you as one who publishes the news, your dad, Reverend J. Loyd Edwards, Jr. who pastored the Cosmopolitan Community Church on East Third Street, and your family actually made the news and addressed current issues for the Black Community during the 60s and 70s. Give readers a few examples of news-making moments involving your family.

JOHN E:  In December 1969, I was serving our country in the Army in Vietnam. One of my brothers, a student at Tennessee State University, just happened to be back in Chattanooga for an unscheduled visit. His presence likely saved the lives of my mom and two other siblings.

Dad wasn’t home that evening and our home located on Fortwood Street, between UTC’s Campus and Central Avenue, was firebombed! The intended effect of the bomb failed!

Rev. J. Loyd Edwards was not one to shrink in fear. He’d already established an organization for the poor and underserved in Chattanooga named H.E.L.P – Health, Equal Opportunity, Legal Assistance and Political Education. His leadership opened doors for hundreds, especially in housing and medical services.

Attacks on our family only spurred him to do more. His next endeavor came, literally, from the inspiration of seeing a news story printed just below the news article that covered the bombing crime against our family.

The Chattanooga News-Free Press daily paper had featured the bombing of our home on the front page of the paper, dated December 1, 1969. The story printed immediately below the news about our family was about the death of Mary Hardway Walker, who died the same day our home was bombed. Mary Walker was the woman born as a slave, lived, served others in Chattanooga, and learned to read by age 117.

Instead of focusing on the horrors of our family being victimized, Dad was immediately inspired to action upon reading about the death of the 121-year-old icon. My dad submerged himself in the Mary Walker story and realized how powerful her life story was to inspire our youth at a time when the reading levels of children were at their lowest point in America.

CNC:  So, out of that which was meant for evil, good was born?

JOHN E.: God works that way! It gets even better.

At HELP, Inc, my dad shared an office with Allen White, a record producer. Dad did not realize Mr. White had interviewed Mary Walker years earlier and had even recorded her in hopes to produce an audio record to inform and motivate others of America’s Oldest Student. White eventually left Chattanooga;  however, he allowed Dad to use his Oak Street home as a temporary residence for individuals needing housing assistance. By this time, I was home from Vietnam, and was processing the hidden scars of war.

Dad asked me to live at the Oak Street house and manage the program. And, as a preacher does, Dad routinely came by to check on me and the residents. One evening as we sat at an older desk that remained in the house belonging to Mr. White, Dad randomly opened drawers in curiosity and, after working to get the bottom drawer loose, pulled out a tin cylinder. It contained the audio recording of the interview with Mary Walker from years earlier.!

Using extreme dedication, a few days later, Dad found the equipment needed and began playing the interview and recording of Mary Walker’s voice as she described her years as a slave!  He listened…..over and over and over again!

Weeks later, one night Dad was late getting home.  Mother, after growing concerned as the time became later, sent me to check on Dad. I found Dad at church listening to the Mary Walker recording. Dad convinced me to sit down and listen. He had already committed to creating the Mary Walker Historical and Educational Foundation to capture amazing stories like hers as well as many others from African Americans.

I sat down and listened. I was transformed by what I heard.  We knew we had a responsibility to share her story and others like hers with the world.  

CNC:  John, is it safe to say that Mary Walker’s own voice helped inspire you to get more involved in the robust history of African Americans in Chattanooga and the region?

JOHN E.:  Absolutely! That very night Dad and I agreed we would study everything we could obtain pertaining to slavery, the antebellum period, and the Civil War.  We collected artifacts at numerous outlets and wherever we traveled.  Also, we began encouraging officials at the Chattanooga/Chickamauga Battlefield to display more history on African Americans in the Civil War.  Ultimately, that resulted in the Mary Walker Foundation’s first exhibit displaying African American Soldiers in the Civil War; the exhibit has also been on display at both the Battlefield and Chattanooga State Community College.

The Mary Walker Historical and Educational Foundation has displayed exhibits featuring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at Tennessee’s Capitol.  And, one of the most popular collections is “Bright Ideas” showcasing African American Inventions.   That popular and educational exhibit has been featured at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, EPB, The Chattanooga Choo Choo, Chattanooga State, The Bessie Smith Cultural Center, and numerous high schools, and community centers throughout Tennessee and Georgia. 

CNC: The Mary Walker story is set to be published in a March 2023 release entitled, “The Amazing Mary Walker: America’s Oldest Student.”  And, Reverend  J. Loyd Edwards, Jr. wrote, “Ex-Slave Extra: The Mary Walker Story” years ago before his death. What are your words to encourage readers to get to know the story of this amazing Chattanooga woman and to be inspired to become a lifelong learner, just as she proved to be?

JOHN E.: Mary Walker lived during the lives of American icons: Abraham Lincoln, Harriett Tubman, Booker T. Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as an ex-slave, a wife, mom, worker, and finally, a student.  Her hunger for learning came from wanting to be a better Christian and she felt she could only accomplish that goal by learning to READ the Bible.  Mrs. Walker‘s ability to READ exposed her to opportunities and options she had never known.

Who shouldn’t be inspired by such a woman?! 

Enjoy reading today’s news in the Chattanooga News Chronicle? Appreciate more amazing history by reading and engaging with the Mary Walker Foundation at marywalkerfoundation.org.

As a groundbreaking and outspoken activist for racial equality, the Rev. Dr. Alvin H. Smith Sr. has added his name to the storied pages of Tennessee’s Black History.

Dr. Smith, a Black minister who had served on the staff of the United Methodist Center in Chattanooga, was in June of 1981 appointed associate pastor at the predominately white Edgehill United Methodist Church, located in the Scarritt-Peabody-Vanderbilt area of Nashville. 

With Dr. Smith’s historic appointment, Edgehill became the first church in the United Methodist Tennessee Conference to receive an appointment across racial lines since the abolishment in 1968 of the denomination’s all-Black Central Jurisdiction, and one of Nashville’s first intentionally integrated churches.

The Central Jurisdiction was created in the Methodist Church merger of 1939 in order to segregate African American Methodists within the predominantly white denomination.

“Edgehill was a church that accepted homosexuals and had all kinds of ministries,” the 86-year-old Dr. Smith recalled. “I guess they wanted to start some kind of programs for Blacks as well. At that time, I was known as a community activist and my name got out there.”

When the predominately white Edgehill United Methodist Church was organized in 1966, a white minister–the deceased Rev. Bill Barnes–was appointed as its leader. Known as “the conscience of Nashville” for his civil rights, homelessness and LGBTQ+ advocacy, Rev. Barnes set out to create a racially integrated church in a city ripped apart by segregation. Rev. Barnes wanted Edgehill to have two full-time ministers–one Black and one white.

Rev. Barnes’ plans of black and white co-pastors were initially quashed by unexpected funding cuts, but the church moved forward anyway with a modest budget, surviving because of partnerships forged with Scarritt College, Vanderbilt University divinity students and a committed congregation. It took 15 long years, but in 1981, Rev. Barnes finally saw his dream become a reality with the appointment of Dr. Smith.

After being named Edgehill’s first full-time Black minister, Dr. Smith said he can recall only one problem he had with the congregation of the predominately white church.

“The first time they asked me to pray, you know how we Black folks pray and we always say ‘our Father,”‘ he explained. “Well, when I got through praying, they jumped me. They told me, ‘You can’t say father unless you say mother, too.'”

“Boy, that was a dilemma,” he said with a laugh.

Dr. Smith was born on Nov. 19, 1936, in Chattanooga. 

“All generations of my family were Baptists,” he said. “I attended Orchard Knob Baptist Church from the time I was a baby, all the way until I finished high school.”

Dr. Smith graduated from Howard High School in 1955. He attended Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tenn. on a full scholarship, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education and Health in 1960.

From 1960-1962, he served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, where he was responsible for the care of approximately 200 soldiers.

Dr. Smith earned a Master of Divinity Degree from Gammon Theological Seminary in Atlanta in 1980, and a Doctorate of Ministry from Covington Theological Seminary in 1998.

Dr. Smith was a physical education teacher to special education students at Burton School in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1968-1971, and worked in that city’s recreation department. 

He was employed as a guidance counselor at Chattanooga State Technical Community College from 1971-1978. During that time, he owned and operated A&M Discount Furniture & Things on Germantown Road in Chattanooga.

Dr. Smith was first ordained as a Baptist minister at Orchard Knob in Chattanooga. An opportunity to attend a United Methodist seminary led him to switch denominations, from Baptist to United Methodist. 

After completing seminary, Dr. Smith served as pastor of Hurst Memorial United Methodist Church in Chattanooga from 1979-1980, before his historic appointment to Edgehill United Methodist Church in Nashville in 1981.

In 1983, Dr. Smith moved to Cookeville, Tenn. to pastor the Wright’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Cookeville, Burton’s Chapel in Algood, Tenn. and Kynett United Methodist Church in Sparta, Tenn.

Dr. Smith’s reputation as a vocal and involved community activist and beacon for inclusion gained momentum in 1983, catapulting him into the heart of one of the city’s most contentious issues at the time–a demand for businesses and individuals in the Cookeville area to hire Black workers.

“It’s economic castration, this is control of the population by economic measures,” Dr. Smith was quoted in an April 11, 1983 Cookeville newspaper article, where he urged the local business community to deal with the situation. “The solution is in the people. No one can force anyone to give someone a job. But if their consciousness is raised, maybe we can get a response to this.”

Dr. Smith lived in Bluefield, West Virginia from 1984-1989, where he served as pastor of the John Stewart United Methodist Church. While in Bluefield, he became active in the Mercer County Chapter of the NAACP, and was named a Mercer County Economic Opportunity Corporation Board member.

In 1985, he unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for a seat on the Bluefield City Board of Directors.

Dr. Smith was quoted in a May 29, 1989 Bluefield newspaper article as saying that he would never stop advocating for change.

“I’ll always continue to do that whatever community I go to–affect some kind of change,” he said. “I can’t turn over all the stones. But I feel if I can turn over one stone, and someone else can turn over another stone, eventually something will happen.” 

In May of 1989, Dr. Smith moved back to Chattanooga to pastor Stanley United Methodist Church on Dodson Avenue. A few years later, he was appointed to lead Lennon-Seney United Methodist Church in Knoxville.

In 1998, Dr. Smith retired from Lennon-Seney. He and his wife of 25 years, Johnnie, currently live in Knoxville.

As he reflected on his long and trailblazing career of ministry and amplifying the voices of those not equally heard, Dr. Smith summed up his legacy in a simple and humble statement.

“Everywhere I went, I did alright,” he said.