The Beck Cultural Exchange Center celebrates its 25th anniversary as Knoxville's Museum of Black History and Culture in the year 2000.  Founded by a group of community people interested in culture, art, and history, BCEC was named for James and Ethel Beck, who lived on the property and bequeathed funds to establish the Center.

     BCEC has provided in-school presentations to more than 50,000 students, slide presentations to hundreds of church and civic groups, and tours for thousands of Center visitors.

     BCEC's library has more than 1,500 Black history-related books.  More than 50 of these were written by Black Knoxvillians.  University and high school students use this facility for research.

     The resource center has various copies of studies on the Black community done by University of Tennessee students working on advanced degrees.  It has scores of oral histories recorded by senior citizens and others who give important insights into the past.

     Some of the church histories are very interesting and revealing.  There are newsletters and bulletins that chronicle the progress of the church and the involvement of their pastors in civic activities.  The Mount Zionite, a publication of Mount Zion Baptist Church, was a full-fledged newspaper, which published news items ignored by the daily newspapers.  Issues of this newspaper from 1945 to 1954 included articles protesting the fact that Black youngsters confined to the state training school at Pikeville were forced to work in the coal mines.

     BCEC is fortunate to have the William H. Hastie collection.  Born in Knoxville in 1904, he became the first Black governor of the Virgin Islands in 1946 and the first Black federal judge in 1950.  This collection, donated by his son, W. H. Hastie, III, and daughter, Karen H. Williams, contains a large number of official and personal photographs, scrapbooks, plaques, scrolls, and honorary degrees.  It features his personal library and letters from presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, who appointed him to certain posts.

     The Beck Center archives has a number of old scrapbooks, which were kept by individuals over the years.  Some are very personal and highlight the activities of the people who kept them.  Others are pasted with community items of interest.  Some of these scrapbooks deal largely with those who got into trouble with the law.  Others boast of the achievements in the community.  Still others feature death notices and social activities.

      One scrapbook was made by Mrs. Anna Liliston Draper, a teacher at Fairview Elementary School on Dora Street before 1900.  It has marvelous photographs of various individuals she knew, including James C. Moore, an Austin High School teacher, her husband, H. B. Draper, Sr., a teacher, and a friend, Susie Williams.  Most of the photographs were made about 1890.  The scrapbook was a gift of Mrs. Virginia Montgomery, who thought it should be preserved and shared with the general public.

     The scrapbook of Dewey Roberts, Sr., is also a part of the Beck Center collection.  Donated by his family, it features local and national articles about his successful fight to equalized Black and White teacher salaries in the city of Knoxville.  In that scrapbook is a copy of the minutes of the Knoxville Negro Teachers League of January 18, 1933, when a committee was appointed to make plans to ensure the equalization.  The effort took almost seven years to accomplish.  Mr. Roberts was president of the league and led the fight when salaries were finally equalized in 1939.

     Perhaps the most well-rounded scrapbook was the property of Mr. James L. Alexander.  He meticulously clipped items from daily and weekly newspapers from the 1930's and 1940's.  The volume of clippings shows his diligent in keeping up with life in the Black community.  He captured all the crime, church news, YMCA membership drives, fire tragedies, elections, and death notices.  One of the articles describes 100-year-old Henry Moore, of 702 Water Street, who was born a slave and claimed to be about "26 years old during the Civil War."  He said he planned "to vote straight Republican" in the 1938 elections.

     Another scrapbook of the 1920's highlights the activities of the leaders of Black Knoxville.  There is a 1922 photo of Cal Johnson during the dedication of the park in his honor.  There are two full pages of photos of the prominent members of Shiloh Presbyterian Church.  There are group pictures from other churches as well.

     These scrapbooks help to fill in the gaps in Black Knoxville's history.  Beck Center encourages people to share their scrapbooks.  BCEC will accept the original or will make copies and return the original.