Black Nashville in History & Memory

      Saint Mary Magdalena L. Tate was born January 3, 1871. During her youth, because of her character and demeanor, she was called "Miss Do Right." Mary Tate's followers were known as "The Do Rights." Mary Magdalena L. Tate became known by many of her faithful followers as Mother Tate. This unique black woman, along with her two sons, Walter Curtis Lewis and Feliz Early Lewis, in 1903 founded and established the House of God, which is "the Church of the Living God, the Pillar and the Ground of the Truth Without Controversy" (1 Timothy 3:15-16). (Cited hereafter as House of God).

        After she was ordained by God, Mother Tate boldly preached "the Gospel in cleanliness of the word of God and of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." Many persons were amazed and wondered at the demonstration of the Gospel, which was preached by this blessed servant of God. She preached her first sermon at Brooklyn, Illinois. In 1907, Mother Mary Magdalena climaxed a career as a world evangelist of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Alabama, over 900 persons were converted to Christianity through her preaching. She boldly went into the water and baptized many of the converts through the physical strength given her by the Lord's power.

        Mother Tate was baptized in 1908 and was approved and accepted as Chief Apostle Elder, president, and first chief overseer of the formally organized church in Greenville, Alabama. Additionally, she was ordained to the Bishopric by the Board of Trustees and Bishops of the Church of God. Mother Tate organized and presided over the First General Assembly of the Church of God from June 25 to July 5, 1908, in Greenville. A number of ministers were ordained, and several pastors were appointed at this meeting.  In 1910, the first Church of God was established in Waycross, Georgia. During the following year, the first Georgia State Assembly of the Church of God was held in Waycross, where the first presiding elders were appointed and pastors received financial support from the general church. One of the most significant developments in the Church of You was the creation of the Decree (Covenant) Book during the 1914 General Assembly at Quitman, Georgia. Also at this meeting, four state bishops were appointed to serve in Georgia. Also in 1914, Mother Tate organized the first Church of God in Florida in the city of Ocala. The first Florida State General Assembly followed at Ocala.

        By 1916, under the leadership of Mother Tate, charters were issued to Church of God members in more than twenty states and the District of Columbia. Between 1930 and 1962, fourteen state charters were granted to establish the Church of God. Four more states were added to the Church of God roster by 1981. By 1992, some forty-three states and Jamaica were chartered by the Church of God. In 1924, the Church of God's headquarters was established on Heiman Street in Nashville, Tennessee. The original building, although no longer used for services, still stands on Heiman Street. The present headquarters sanctuary was dedicated in 1981. The Church of God, a member of the Holiness-Pentecostal denomination, has experienced the greatest growth in membership of any Christian organization in the United States of America. Mother Mary Magdalena L. Tate died on December 28, 1930, and was buried in the family plot in Dickson, Tennessee. Her remains were relocated in Nashville's historic Greenwood Cemetery in 1963. A marker to memorialize Mother Tate was erected near the entrance to the cemetery.

(TSU Digital Library)

       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.

Meharry Lewis

Booker T. Washington, seated 2nd from left, was the 1st president of the National Negro Business League. James Carroll Napier served as President of the League from 1915-1919.

The Stone sisters became the proprietors of the first black-owned beauty parlor in downtown Nashville. Their business was on the corner of Sixth Avenue, North, and Union Street near the present site of the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The sisters catered to a clientele of wealthy white women, and they introduced the first permanent-wave machine, which they learned to use at Frederick's in New York City. They sold hair pieces and wigs from France and used hair-weaving equipment, hair dryers, and hair-cutting tools, among other innovations. The sisters developed "Stone-White," a skin bleach lotion, and sold it at their beauty parlor. The Stone sisters resided at 1613 Jefferson Street, immediately across the street from Fisk University's Jubilee Hall.
       

Lee Stone (1879-1954), Sallie K. Stone (1881-1954), and Nannie Stone (1885-1975) began working in the early 1900s as apprentices at McIntyre Beauty Parlor, after arriving in Nashville from their birthplace in Maury County, Tennessee. The three sisters were joined by another sister, Emma Stone (1889-1934), who completed the pharmacy program at Meharry Medical College in 1907 and operated the Campus Drug Store at 1712 Jefferson Street. In 1915, the sisters bought the McIntyre Beauty Parlor from its white owner, May McIntyre, for the sum of $500. The sisters operated the lucrative business until the 1930s. The Luke Leas, the Percy Warners, the Robert Cheeks, and other prominent white families frequented the Stone sisters' downtown establishment.

Two other sisters were not involved in the beauty parlor business: Augusta (1876-1917) and Hortense (1883-1959). Augusta married Jefferson D. Fowler, a physician and teacher at Meharry. Hortense, the mother of the author of this article, married George Richardson White, a former dental student at Meharry. The mother of the Stone sisters, Sallie Brooks Stone (1858-1923), was born a slave. The father of the girls, John Secrest, was a prosperous white Jewish planter in Maury County. The girls inherited some Indian blood from their maternal grandmother, Sallie. The Stone sisters held membership at the Gay Street Christian Church. Lee, Nannie, and Emma sang in the church's choir. The Stone family was compassionate and sensitive to the issue of racial oppression. The mother often visited the sick and gave money and food to the poor. The sisters unsuccessfully used money and influence to gain the release of a black Knoxville man accused of killing a white woman in 1919.
 

The Stone sisters, except for Nannie, are buried in Nashville's Greenwood Cemetery. Nannie was buried in California with her husband, dentist Thomas H. Grantham.​​​​​

Emma White Bragg

Credit: TSU Digital Scholarship