Whereas, Native Americans were the first inhabitants of the Chattanooga area and were the first to create many of the communities on the Tennessee River and local creeks, and for over a millennia were the primary inhabitants of the many lands and waters of this region; and
Whereas, several indigenous tribes, such as the Yuchi, Muscogee, Shawnee and Cherokee have had an important and lasting impact on the history and legacy of the Chattanooga region, and in 2006 the Tennessee Commission on Indian Affairs passed a resolution that identified and recognized these and other historical tribes of Tennessee as -- the Koasati, Tuskegee, Natchez, Chickasaw and Choctaw; and
Whereas, the legacy of the Chattanooga region’s indigenous tribes include the Mississippian Mound Builders in the years between 1200 and 1700 -- ancestors of the modern Yuchi, Muscogee (Creek), Chickasaw, Choctaw, and several tribes and bands that includes Citico Town and its sacred temple mound -- part of the Coosa Confederacy; the famous Cherokee leader, Dragging Canoe, who relocated the Resisting Cherokee to this region in 1776 following his dissent of the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals; one of this area’s most famed diplomats and Principal Cherokee Chief, John Ross, whose trading post site led to the establishment of the city of Chattanooga after the removal of all Native Americans from Tennessee in 1838, and whose persistent advocacy for the rights of Indigenous Tribes led to the first U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of a Native Nation (Worcester v. Georgia 1832); and
Whereas, Citico Town (ca. 1400) became an extensive agricultural area, extending for at least a mile radius in all directions, and was a crossroads and an integral link along the ‘Great Indian Path’, the foot highway that was traveled by indigenous persons and settlers, whose network of roads and pathways, along with the Cisca-St Augustine road which includes Nickajack Lake and the Unicoi Turnpike, and the Natchez Trace Parkway, served as precursors to the modern day American Interstate Highway system; and
Whereas, Spanish explorers such as de Soto, Pardo, and de Luna began to engage the chiefdoms of the East Tennessee area, including Citico Town, in the 1540's; and
Whereas, part of the initial concentration of the Cherokee ‘Removal’ -- Camp Cherokee -- began at the Citico-Lincoln Park site, and in 2009 the 111th United States Congress, through Senate Joint Resolution 14, officially acknowledged the “long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the federal government regarding Indian tribes”, and offered, “an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States”; and
Whereas, the city of Chattanooga in 2006 presented a “Proclamation of Repentance” to the descendants of those persons forced to endure the Cherokee Trail of Tears, while similarly, in 2014, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a resolution (HJR 553) expressing “sincere regret” to the State’s indigenous tribes that were “sadly and unjustly” removed and forced to endure the Trail of Tears as a result of the Indian Removal Act of1830; and
Whereas, another important aspect of the history of the Citico-Lincoln Park area is that it served as an advanced fortified position and later a recreational area for Army troops during the American Civil War; and the systematic desecration of the sacred temple mound at Citico began during the Civil War when it was dug into and used to store ammunition; its ultimate destruction began in 1914 as it was considered “in the way” for the construction of the Dixie (Amnicola) Highway; and while many of the sacred items and valuable artifacts of this area were removed and are now stored within the historical collections of the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture at the UTK, most have been lost to Native American communities; and
Whereas, several research studies have been conducted on Citico Town and mound by: M.C. Read (Smithsonian Institution Report 1867); C.B. Moore (1914); James W. Hatch (“The Citico Site (40HA65): A Synthesis: Tennessee Anthropologist, 1976”; and for several decades the Jeffrey L. Brown Institute of Archaeology at U.T.C. In many instances these studies failed to include the input and inclusion of Native communities; and
Whereas, the lands encompassing Citico town and mound on the south side of the creek began to serve the local modern community when Lincoln Park, Chattanooga’s first public park for African-Americans, opened in 1918; amongst its many attractions were the Lincoln Center, lighting for night activities; a Ferris-wheel; merry-go-round and other rides; a concession stand; tennis court; mini zoo; picnic area; and by 1938; an Olympic-sized swimming pool, built by the WPA; and
Whereas, Negro League Baseball became a pivotal aspect of the history of the Lincoln Park area with the formation of the Negro Southern League in 1920, and by the Chattanooga Black Lookouts serving as an inaugural member of that League. Teams from across the Negro League played on Andrews and the baseball fields of the Lincoln Park area; and
Whereas, the Black Lookouts, reconstituted as the Chattanooga White Sox in 1926, counted pitcher Leroy ‘Satchel’ Paige, “one of the all-time great baseball players of American history”, among the team’s players; and
Whereas, after a short hiatus, the Negro Leagues returned to Chattanooga in the 1940’s, and one of the more notable players from the Chattanooga Choo-Choo’s roster was a 16-year-old center-fielder named Willie Mays; and
Whereas, Lincoln Park was the residential and recreational focal point of Chattanooga’s African American community from 1918 through 1960, and declined with the implementation of the desegregation social movement, culminating in the city transfer of the park property to Erlanger Hospital in 1979, while the Lincoln Park neighborhood remained; and
Whereas, the city of Chattanooga applied to the National Park System to become a federally-recognized Historic-Preservationist ‘Certified Local Government’ in 1989, and has actively and successfully promoted the preservation of several European-American neighborhoods, including Fort Wood, Battery Place, Ferger Place and St Elmo, with “Historic Neighborhood” status while failing to include the Lincoln Park neighborhood and Citico site; and
Whereas, in the summer of 2013, the Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association and coalition members began an Annual Reunion in order to rekindle public interest, awareness and support for the Lincoln Park site; and
Whereas, from May to July 2016, the Bessie Smith Cultural Center hosted Negro League Baseball exhibits, educational workshops and panel discussions which focused heavily on the influence of Negro League baseball in Chattanooga; and
Therefore be it resolved, that we proudly recognize, honor and cherish the history, heritage and active influence that the Native American Citico and African-American Lincoln Park sites have contributed to the United States, to Tennessee, and to our local region; and
Therefore be it resolved, that these contributions and continued active influences includes important aspects of Native American, American Civil War and African-American history, and that the combined Citico-Lincoln Park site is one of the more historically relevant and culturally significant sites in the greater Chattanooga region; and
Further, we call on the city of Chattanooga to honor Mayor Berke’s 2013 promise to preserve Lincoln Park; and
Further, we recognize the great need for continued historical analysis and interpretation, anthropological assessment and preservation of this site through the study of the variances between the spatial and status differentiations of the Citico town and mound site, and the need for full scale utilization of modern technologies for continued studies of the Citico-Lincoln Park area; and
Further, we call on the city of Chattanooga to comply with the federal requirements of being a Historic-Preservationist ‘Certified Local Government’, and to install a historic preservation officer who will protect, preserve and promote the Citico-Lincoln Park site, and to devise and implement a historic preservation plan for the area; and
Further, we call for a Citico-Lincoln Park Interpretive Center to be developed that will work for the protection, preservation and promotion of this site, public education and outreach, and seek partnerships with appropriate agencies that includes the Smithsonian Institute, Tennessee Historical Commission, UTK McClung Museum, and the Negro League Museum; and
Finally, we resolve that this honored and sacred place shall stand intact and be rebuilt, and remain a symbol of human ingenuity, achievement, and post racial reconciliation, both for ourselves and for future generations to come.
Respectfully, Coalition to Preserve Citico-Lincoln Park Historic Site
Eric A. Atkins, M.Ed. Editor