OLLI0218 - Race, Faith, and History at Christ Church Nashville
Course Description
Mondays. July 14 - August 18
Time: 2 - 3:30 p.m.
Christ Church Cathedral, 900 Broadway
A Window on Race, Faith, and Tennessee History: 1829 to the Present
Step into nearly two centuries of Tennessee history through the lens of one of its most storied institutions—Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Nashville. Founded in 1829 during Andrew Jackson’s presidency, this Episcopal church has stood at the crossroads of race, religion, and power, offering a compelling window into the broader social struggles and moral reckonings that have shaped the South.
This course traces the Cathedral’s journey from its origins as a congregation supported by wealthy slaveholders to its role in the Civil War, Reconstruction, segregation, and ultimately the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. Along the way, we’ll explore how enslaved and free African Americans participated in church life, how congregants responded to the Union and Confederacy, and how evolving concepts of justice and faith played out within its walls.
Sessions will take place on-site at Christ Church Cathedral, a breathtaking example of 19th-century architecture and a living repository of Tennessee’s layered history. The building itself—its stained glass, memorials, and design—tells stories of both privilege and pain, unity and division.
More than a history of one church, this is a nuanced portrait of a community and a mirror of a state’s conscience, where race, faith, and identity have collided, intertwined, and evolved. This class is not recorded. Free parking provided.