Please join us Sunday, November 16 at 3 pm

       Hiwassee River Heritage Center

       8746 Hiwassee St

       Charleston, TN 37310

The Charleston-Calhoun-Hiwassee Historical Society welcomes Stefanie Haire.

Stefanie serves as the Historic Preservation Planner at the Southeast Tennessee Development District. She is a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and received her BS in Anthropology/Archaeology from the UTC in 2016. She spent several years working for the National Park Service in Utah and Arizona before returning home to complete an MA in Public History at Middle Tennessee State University in 2019. Her 2024 dissertation focuses on Horace Brazelton, the first Black professional photographer in Chattanooga.           Horace Brazelton (1877-1956) was an affluent African American photographer in Chattanooga for some fifty years. Unfortunately, photos that were created by Mr. Brazelton are now difficult to locate or have not yet surfaced from private collections. As such, his story is largely unknown in Chattanooga, despite his career persisting some fifty years, amidst Jim Crow segregation and racism. Despite all related challenges, Mr. Brazelton and his wife Hettie (Hodge) Brazelton acted as pillars of their community. They lived and worked in an area known as the “Big Nine”–so called for the name of the major thoroughfare in the district, East Ninth Street. This self-sufficient area was filled with black-owned businesses, churches, hospitals, schools, music venues, and homes. Even still, the history lining this street has since been silenced and disproportionately forgotten.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone! It seems like a long time since we have been together.

As you know, our meetings are open to the public so if you have friends who you think would be interested in our program please bring them with you. We do invite all to become members of our organization. Our dues are only $10.00 per year and go toward the operational events of the Society.