The Flag of Tennessee
Tennessee ( TEN -iss-EE , TEN -iss-ee ), officially the State of Tennessee , is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States . It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina to the east, Georgia , Alabama , and Mississippi to the south, Arkansas to the southwest, and Missouri to the northwest. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. Tennessee is geographically, culturally, and legally divided into three Grand Divisions of East , Middle , and West Tennessee . Nashville is the state's capital and largest city, and anchors its largest metropolitan area. Other major cities include Memphis , Knoxville , Chattanooga , and Clarksville . Tennessee's population as of the 2020 United States census is approximately 6.9 million.
Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association , a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachian Mountains . Its name derives from Tanasi (ᏔᎾᏏ ), a Cherokee town in the eastern part of the state that existed before the first European American settlement. Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, and later the Southwest Territory , before its admission to the Union as the 16th state on June 1, 1796. It earned the nickname "The Volunteer State" early in its history due to a strong tradition of military service. A slave state until the American Civil War , Tennessee was politically divided, with its western and middle parts supporting the Confederacy and the eastern region harboring pro -Union sentiment. As a result, Tennessee was the last state to secede and the first readmitted to the Union after the war.
During the 20th century, Tennessee transitioned from a predominantly agrarian society to a more diversified economy. This was aided in part by massive federal investment in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and the city of Oak Ridge , which was established during World War II to house the Manhattan Project 's uranium enrichment facilities for the construction of the world's first atomic bombs . After the war, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory became a key center of scientific research. In 2016, the element tennessine was named for the state, largely in recognition of the roles played by Oak Ridge, Vanderbilt University , and the University of Tennessee in its discovery. Tennessee has also played a major role in the development of many forms of popular music , including country , blues , rock and roll , soul , and gospel . (Full article... )
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Bomar ("the Blonde Bear") at Vanderbilt around 1922
Robert Lynn Bomar (January 21, 1901 – June 11, 1964) was an American football end in the National Football League (NFL). Bomar played college football , basketball and baseball for Vanderbilt University , following coach Wallace Wade and classmate Hek Wakefield there from prep school , and was a unanimous 1922 All-Southern selection and a consensus 1923 All-American selection in football. The latter season included a first-team All-American selection by Walter Camp , rare for a player in the South . A paralyzing injury ended Bomar's college career, but he quickly recovered and sat on the bench for all of his team's games. He played for the New York Giants in 1925 and 1926, retiring abruptly after a separate injury. Bomar was nicknamed "the Blonde Bear".
He had a later career in law enforcement. In his position as
Tennessee 's Commissioner of Public Safety and Patrol chief, Bomar supervised the ransacking of black households during the
1946 Columbia race riot . He was the
warden of
Tennessee State Prison from 1955 until his death, and oversaw several executions. In 1956, Bomar was the first
Vanderbilt football player elected to the
College Football Hall of Fame . (
Full article... )
List of recognized articles
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA ) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States . TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee , portions of Alabama , Mississippi , and Kentucky , and small areas of Georgia , North Carolina , and Virginia . While owned by the federal government , TVA receives no taxpayer funding and operates similarly to a private for-profit company. It is headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee , and is the sixth-largest power supplier and largest public utility in the country.
The TVA was created by
Congress in 1933 as part of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt 's
New Deal . Its initial purpose was to provide
navigation ,
flood control ,
electricity generation ,
fertilizer manufacturing,
regional planning , and
economic development to the
Tennessee Valley , a region that had suffered from lack of infrastructure and even more extensive poverty during the
Great Depression than other regions of the nation. TVA was envisioned both as a power supplier and a regional economic development agency that would work to help modernize the region's economy and society. It later evolved primarily into an electric utility. It was the first large regional planning agency of the U.S. federal government, and remains the largest. (
Full article... )
List of selected articles
History of Tennessee List of Tennessee state symbols Nashville, Tennessee List of governors of Tennessee Governor of Tennessee East Tennessee Middle Tennessee West Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee Tennessee River Memphis, Tennessee Chattanooga, Tennessee Clarksville, Tennessee Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Cleveland, Tennessee Dolly Parton Tennessee State Guard University of Memphis Toqua (Tennessee) Great Smoky Mountains Great Smoky Mountains Interstate 40 in Tennessee Old Crow Medicine Show Swaggerty Blockhouse Unicoi Mountains Old City, Knoxville Nashville Americans Valerie June Battle of Fort Donelson Battle of Fort Henry Collierville, Tennessee Vanderbilt University Tennessee whiskey Jack Daniel's Grand Ole Opry Battle of Nashville Nashville Superspeedway Johnny Cash Carl Perkins Tennessee Waltz Morristown, Tennessee Fainting goat Bessie Smith Cookeville, Tennessee Murfreesboro, Tennessee Bob Corker Edgar Evins State Park Graceland Bledsoe Creek State Park Dollywood Black Patch Tobacco Wars Great Smoky Mountains National Park
The following are images from various Tennessee-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 1861 Bank of Tennessee 1 dollar banknote (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 2 Fall Creek Falls , the tallest waterfall in the eastern United States, is located on the Cumberland Plateau (from
Tennessee )
Image 4 Mount Le Conte in the
Great Smoky Mountains is the tallest mountain in eastern North America, measured from base to summit (from
Tennessee )
Image 6 Memphis became known as the "Cotton Capital of the World" in the years following the Civil War (from
Tennessee )
Image 9 Memphis International Airport , the hub of
FedEx Corporation , is the busiest cargo airport in the world (from
Tennessee )
Image 10 The
Ocoee River was home to the
1996 Summer Olympics whitewater slalom events, the only Olympic sporting event ever held in the state. (from
Tennessee )
Image 11 Interstate 40 traverses Tennessee from east to west, and serves the state's three largest cities. (from
Tennessee )
Image 12 Interstate 40 traverses Tennessee from east to west, and serves the state's three largest cities. (from
Tennessee )
Image 14 in 1946 the U.S. Post Office issued a
commemorative stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of Tennessee statehood. (from
Tennessee )
Image 15 Köppen climate types of Tennessee, using 1991-2020
climate normals . (from
Tennessee )
Image 16 A geomap showing the counties of Tennessee colored by the relative range of that county's median income. (from
Tennessee )
Image 17 Fall Creek Falls , the tallest waterfall in the eastern United States, is located on the Cumberland Plateau (from
Tennessee )
Image 18 The Tennessee at Chattanooga , 1872, by
Harry Fenn (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 19 Köppen climate types of Tennessee, using 1991-2020
climate normals . (from
Tennessee )
Image 22 The Southwest Territory in 1790 (from
Tennessee )
Image 24 in 1946 the U.S. Post Office issued a
commemorative stamp celebrating the 150th anniversary of Tennessee statehood. (from
Tennessee )
Image 25 Offices of
The Tennessean in Nashville (from
Tennessee )
Image 26 Cedar glades are an ecosystem that is found in regions of Middle Tennessee where limestone bedrock is close to the surface (from
Tennessee )
Image 27 Workers at the
Norris Dam construction camp site in 1933 (from
Tennessee )
Image 28 The Southwest Territory in 1790 (from
Tennessee )
Image 30 Nashville's replica of the
Parthenon (built 1897) (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 31 A
Nissan Leaf , one of six models manufactured at the
Nissan Smyrna Assembly Plant , the largest automotive assembly plant in North America (from
Tennessee )
Image 32 Established in 1942,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the largest national laboratory in the Department of Energy system (from
Tennessee )
Image 33 Calutron operators at the
Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge during the
Manhattan Project (from
Tennessee )
Image 34 The
Battle of Franklin , November 30, 1864 (from
Tennessee )
Image 35 The
1982 World's Fair in Knoxville (from
Tennessee )
Image 36 Map of counties in Tennessee by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census
Non-Hispanic White 50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90%+
Black or African American 50–60%
(from
Tennessee )
Image 37 A View of Memphis, Tennessee , 1871 (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 38 Vanderbilt University in Nashville is consistently ranked as one of the top research institutions in the nation (from
Tennessee )
Image 40 The
Grand Ole Opry , which was recorded in
Nashville 's
Ryman Auditorium from 1943 to 1974, is the longest-running
radio broadcast in US history. (from
Tennessee )
Image 41 John Bell (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 42 Reconstruction of
Fort Loudoun , the first British settlement in Tennessee (from
Tennessee )
Image 43 The
Ryman Auditorium , home of the "Grand Ole Opry" in Nashville (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 44 The
Battle of Franklin , November 30, 1864 (from
Tennessee )
Image 45 Map of counties in Tennessee by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census
Non-Hispanic White 50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90%+
Black or African American 50–60%
(from
Tennessee )
Image 46 Established in 1942,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the largest national laboratory in the Department of Energy system (from
Tennessee )
Image 47 Reconstruction of
Fort Loudoun , the first British settlement in Tennessee (from
Tennessee )
Image 48 The
Grand Ole Opry , which was recorded in
Nashville 's
Ryman Auditorium from 1943 to 1974, is the longest-running
radio broadcast in US history. (from
Tennessee )
Image 49 Conquistador Hernando de Soto , first European to visit Tennessee (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 50 The Hermitage , plantation home of President
Andrew Jackson , now a museum in
Davidson County (from
History of Tennessee )
Image 51 A
Nissan Leaf , one of six models manufactured at the
Nissan Smyrna Assembly Plant , the largest automotive assembly plant in North America (from
Tennessee )
Image 52 A geomap showing the counties of Tennessee colored by the relative range of that county's median income. (from
Tennessee )
Image 54 Al Gore served as a
United States Senator from Tennessee (1985–1993) and as
Vice President of the United States (1993–2001) (from
Tennessee )
Image 55 Surveyor
Daniel Smith's "Map of the Tennassee State" (1796) (from
Tennessee )
Image 56 Howard Baker served as
Senate Minority and Majority Leader from 1977 to 1985, and was known as "The Great Conciliator" (from
Tennessee )
Image 57 Al Gore served as a
United States Senator from Tennessee (1985–1993) and as
Vice President of the United States (1993–2001) (from
Tennessee )
Image 58 Calutron operators at the
Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge during the
Manhattan Project (from
Tennessee )
Image 60 Chart showing poverty in Tennessee, by age and gender (red = female) (from
Tennessee )
Image 61 The
1982 World's Fair in Knoxville (from
Tennessee )
Image 62 Mount Le Conte in the
Great Smoky Mountains is the tallest mountain in eastern North America, measured from base to summit (from
Tennessee )
Image 64 Memphis became known as the "Cotton Capital of the World" in the years following the Civil War (from
Tennessee )
Image 65 The
resort city of
Gatlinburg borders the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park , which is the most visited national park in the United States. (from
Tennessee )
Image 66 Howard Baker served as
Senate Minority and Majority Leader from 1977 to 1985, and was known as "The Great Conciliator" (from
Tennessee )
Image 67 Chart showing poverty in Tennessee, by age and gender (red = female) (from
Tennessee )
Image 68 The Hermitage , plantation home of President
Andrew Jackson in Nashville (from
Tennessee )
Image 69 Offices of
The Tennessean in Nashville (from
Tennessee )
Image 70 Vanderbilt University in Nashville is consistently ranked as one of the top research institutions in the nation (from
Tennessee )
Image 72 Workers at the
Norris Dam construction camp site in 1933 (from
Tennessee )
Image 73 Cedar glades are an ecosystem that is found in regions of Middle Tennessee where limestone bedrock is close to the surface (from
Tennessee )
Image 74 The
resort city of
Gatlinburg borders the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park , which is the most visited national park in the United States. (from
Tennessee )
Image 75 The Hermitage , plantation home of President
Andrew Jackson in Nashville (from
Tennessee )
Image 77 The
Ocoee River was home to the
1996 Summer Olympics whitewater slalom events, the only Olympic sporting event ever held in the state. (from
Tennessee )
Image 78 Surveyor
Daniel Smith's "Map of the Tennassee State" (1796) (from
Tennessee )
Image 79 Memphis International Airport , the hub of
FedEx Corporation , is the busiest cargo airport in the world (from
Tennessee )
... that college basketball player Jett Howard almost signed at Tennessee , but instead chose the Michigan team of his father Juwan Howard ?
... that to promote the Buffalo Club , Rising Tide Records sent packages of plastic buffalo to music industry executives in Nashville ?
... that a section of Interstate 65 in Tennessee was the first part of the Interstate Highway System to open in the state?
... that Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park , modeled on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. , was created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the statehood of Tennessee in 1996?
... that in Jackson, Tennessee , there was a 50–50 chance a reference to Dixie was about a radio station ?
... that portions of Tennessee State Route 158 have been called "Front Street", "Front Avenue", "Lakefront Drive", "Neyland Drive", and "James White Parkway"?
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