Park-Johnson Hall and Cordie Cheek

Park-Johnson Hall was named for two incredibly influential scholars. The first was Robert Ezra Park, who is described as “a man who contributed more ideas for analysis of racial relations and cultural contacts than any other modern social scientist.” Park taught at Fisk University during the last years of his life, following tenures at Harvard, Tuskegee, and the University of Chicago. In 1955, eleven years after his death, this academic building was completed and named for Robert Ezra Park. 

The hyphenated name for this building is a fitting combination. Charles S. Johnson studied sociology under Dr. Park at the University of Chicago and then moved to New York where he worked for the National Urban League and edited Opportunity magazine at the height of the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson came to Fisk in 1927 to lead the university’s new sociology department. Dr. Reavis Mitchell stated, “Johnson devoted his life to research, writing, and teaching. He sought to explain Blacks to whites, whites to Blacks, southerners to northerners, and urban and rural dwellers to one another.” Johnson established the Institute on Race Relations at Fisk in 1944, and he helped to bring his mentor, Robert Park, to Fisk.

In October 1946, the University Trustees appointed Charles S. Johnson as university president—making him Fisk’s first African American president. Johnson was very effective over his decade-long tenure. He helped build the endowment and improve campus facilities, including the construction of the building that now bears his name. Completed in 1955, the building was designed by the African American architecture firm McKissack and McKissack. Tragically, President Johnson died suddenly of a heart attack—just months after the building opened. In 1956, it was rededicated as Park-Johnson Hall.

Before we leave, we must talk about a disturbing event that ended with the lynching of a 17-year-old young man named Cordie Cheek, which deeply affected the Fisk community. In November 1933, Cheek was falsely accused of raping a young white girl in Maury County—approximately 50 miles southwest of Nashville. He was brought to the Nashville jail to protect him from potential lynch mobs in Columbia (Maury County) where he stayed for 30 days while the grand jury met. The charges were dropped after it was revealed that the girl’s brother had paid her $1 to say Cheek attacked her. After his release on December 16, Cordie Cheek came to the home of his aunt and uncle, whose house sat on the edge of campus near where the President’s House stands today. Within a few hours of arriving here, a lynch mob from Maury County arrived and abducted Cheek—taking him back near Columbia—where he was brutally murdered. 

Many Fisk students witnessed the abduction and John Hope Franklin, a student at the time, remembered the lynching’s effect on campus: “[T]he entire remainder of our junior year was overshadowed by this tragic event. . . . The conclusion that many of us reached was that if it could happen to Cordie Cheek, who had been seized within three blocks of the Fisk Chapel, it could happen to any of us.” The story of Cordie Cheek must not be forgotten and must continue to inspire our fight for racial, social, and equal justice.

Before we turn around and walk back to Fisk Way, look to your right and locate the ranch-style residence—this is the university’s presidential home. Now look to your left, past Park-Johnson Hall. On the corner you’ll see a mauve-colored building. This is the Office of Alumni Affairs, located in the Richardson House. While we won’t walk to the Richardson House on this tour, check out the historical marker in front of the building to learn about this important New South Nashville family.

Turn around and walk back toward Fisk Memorial Chapel. Turn RIGHT and walk past the chapel to the corner of Fisk Way and Meharry Boulevard. Once you reach the corner turn to your right to look at Spence Hall.