Thomas L. Cummings Sr. (May 1, 1891 – March 29, 1968) the mayor of Nashville, Tennessee from 1938 to 1951.

Early life

Cummings was born on a farm near McMinnville, Tennessee, on May 1, 1891.[1] His father, William Martin Cummings, was a farmer.[2] He graduated from the Vanderbilt University Law School.[2]

Career

Cummings began his career as a farmer. He was the owner of a grocery store, and he became a lawyer.[2] He served as a member of the Tennessee Senate in 1927 and 1937.[2]

Cummings was elected as the mayor of Nashville in 1938. He was reelected in 1939, 1943 and 1947.[1]

In 1939, Cummings appointed black banker James Carroll Napier to the Nashville Housing Authority.[3][4] In 1940, he sent a police honor guard to Napier's funeral.[5] In May 1948, he announced the hiring of seven black policemen to join the Nashville police force.[6] He hastened to add they would only work in black neighborhoods, arguing they would be more qualified to keep the order in black neighborhoods.[6] They shared only one patrol car and weren't allowed to arrest white Nashvillians.[6]

Personal life, death and legacy

Cummings married Ella Lee Connell of White House, Tennessee.[2] They had a son, Thomas L. Cummings Jr., who founded Cummings Signs, a manufacturer of corporate brand signs for the Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, KFC, Captain D's, the Chevron Corporation, Conoco, Holiday Inn and Bank of America.[7][8] Their daughter, Patsy, married Mr Clem Schonnoff of Knoxville, Tennessee.[2] Cummings was a Freemason.[2]

Cummings died on March 29, 1968, in Nashville.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Robert Guy Spinney, World War II in Nashville: Transformation of the Home Front, Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1998, p. 75
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "T. L. Cummings Rites Today". The Tennessean. March 30, 1968. pp. 1–2. Retrieved June 23, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ 'J. C. Napier Named on Housing Authority', The Crisis, January 1939, p. 5
  4. ↑ John N. Ingham, Lynne B. Feldman, African-American Business Leaders: A Biographical Dictionary, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1994, pp. 489–490
  5. ↑ Linda T. Wynn, Encyclopedia of African American Business, Volume 1, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, p. 564
  6. 1 2 3 E. Thomas Wood, Nashville now and then: New voices in the Old South, Nashville Post, May 11, 2007
  7. ↑ E. Thomas Wood, Founder of Cummings sign firm passes away, Nashville Post, January 26, 2009
  8. ↑ E. D. Thompson, Nashville Nostalgia, Westview Publishing, 2003, p. 131
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