Browse by Cemetery: Greenwood Cemetery

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• Bailey, DeFord    b. December 14, 1899  d. July 2, 1982
  Musician and Country Music Hall of Fame Member. A grandson of slaves, he was not just the first African American to appear on the Grand Ole Opry, he was the first star to appear. The show was originally named the WSM Barn Dance, but when it became a part of the NBC network in 1927 it was renamed The Grand Ole Opry and George D Hay, the announcer, introduced one of the Barn Dance's most frequent and popular performers as the "Harmonica Wizard" – DeFord Bailey. Bailey did his classic train song, "...[Read More] (Bio by: Tom Todd)
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
   
• Bontemps, Arna Wendell    b. October 13, 1902  d. June 4, 1973
  Arna Bontemps was a key figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He was a poet (PERSONALS), novelist (BLACK THUNDER), editor (THE POETRY OF THE NEGRO), author of children's books (SAD-FACED BOY). He ended his remarkable career as a teacher and librarian at Fisk University, University of Illinois (Chicago Circle), and Yale. His birthplace in Alexandria is now the Arna Bontemps African American Museum and Cultural Arts Center. (Bio by: Daniel Dyer)
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
  Plot: Grave 497
   
• Cheatham, Adolphus Anthony 'Doc'    b. June 13, 1905  d. June 2, 1997
  Jazz Musician. A trumpeter, he started his career in the early 1920s, playind and recorded with people such as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Albert Wynn, Wilbur deParis, Chick Webb, Sam Wooding, Cab Calloway, Teddy Wilson, Benny Carter, Teddy Hill, Eddie Heywood, Machito, Perez Prado, Sammy Price, Herbie Mann, Nicholas Payton, and on one occasion substituted for Louis Armstrong. (Bio by: Hank from Metairie, LA)
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
   
• Coleman, Mattie Eliza   b. July 3, 1870  d. July, 1942
  Missionary, Suffragist. Born in Tennessee, in 1870, she was one of the first African American women to become a physician graduating from Meharry Medical College. Active in religious rights and freedoms, she married R.J. Coleman, a CME minister in the Tennessee Conference in the early 1900s. She organized a women's bible forum and was the first president of the Women's Missionary Council, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, serving 1918 to 1939. She died in 1942. Note: Dr. Coleman's grave has...[Read More] (Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith)
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
   
• Gilliam, Joseph   b. December 29, 1950  d. December 25, 2000
  Football Star. As a collegian at Tennessee State University, Gilliam's skills, #12, and demeanor were reminiscient of pro star "Broadway Joe" Namath. Gilliam became "Jefferson Street Joe" in honor of a street near campus. As a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Gilliam became one of the first black quarterbacks to start an NFL game and had a winning record as a starting quarterback, but his career was tragically impaired and shortened by personal problems, including chemical substance addiction...[Read More] (Bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
   
• Keeble, Marshall    b. December 7, 1878  d. April, 1968
  Religious Leader. Popular gospel preacher. Well known for many years as a preacher among the black and white Church of Christ congreations. A book about his life, is called "Roll Jordon Roll."
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
   
• Lewis I., Rev. Felix Early    b. January 22, 1892  d. September 13, 1968
  Religious Figure. He was co-founder, with Mary Lena Tate and Walter Curtis Lewis, of the internationally recognized religious organization known as The Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc. in 1903. He was Chief Overseer of the organization from 1931 until his death in 1968. He established the New and Living Way Publishing Company in Nashville, Tennessee in 1923. (Bio by: Meharry Lewis)
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
  Plot: Cemetery Entry
   
• Merritt, John Ayers    b. January 26, 1926  d. December 15, 1983
  Member, College Football Hall of Fame. The ninth all-time most winning collegiate football coach with an overall record of 232-65-11. Best remembered as head coach at Tennessee State University, where his teams compiled a record of 172-33-7 between 1963 and 1983. Prior to coaching at Tennessee State, he coached for ten years at Jackson State University where his teams had a cumulative 60-32-4 record. Ed "Too Tall" Jones, Eldridge Dickey, Richard Dent, Waymond Bryant, Joe "747" Adams, Cleveland...[Read More]
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
  Plot: Taylor Circle, Lot 5-A, Grave 2
   
• Tate, Rev. Mary Lena    b. January 5, 1871  d. December 28, 1930
  Religious Figure. She founded the religious organization known as the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of the Truth, Inc. in 1903. She is the first matriarch known to have been elevated to the ecclesiastical rank of bishop in a internationally recognized religious body. The church is a Christian (Pentecostal) church of the Holiness doctrine and polity. (Bio by: Meharry Lewis)
  Greenwood Cemetery, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA
  Plot: Cemetery Entry
   

9 records found