St. Anselm's Church and the Home of Z. Alexander Looby

Before we reach the site of the former home of Z. Alexander Looby, let’s look at St. Anselm’s Episcopal Church. Looby donated the property for St. Anselm’s in 1960 to establish a permanent campus ministry for Nashville’s HBCUs—Fisk, Meharry, and Tennessee State University. Still closely tied to the colleges, St. Anselm’s provides a spiritual home for many students. The congregation is also dedicated to racial reconciliation in the church and in Middle Tennessee. Be sure to visit the Memorial for Lynching Victims in the front. 

Now we turn to the story of a lawyer, professor, and activist during the Civil Rights movement—Z. Alexander Looby. Born in the British West Indies in 1899, Zephaniah Alexander Looby came to the U.S. at age 15. He completed undergrad and graduate work at Howard University, Columbia Law School, and New York University. Looby was hired as a professor of economics at Fisk, but for the record, he did also teach part-time at Meharry over the years. 

In 1946, the NAACP hired Looby along with Maurice Weaver and Thurgood Marshall to represent African Americans charged with murder in the Columbia, Tennessee Race Riot. The jury acquitted the 23 Black defendants, and this high profile case was the first of many—as Looby led the legal coordination of Nashville’s Civil Rights movement. 

The Looby family first purchased the house on 2012 Meharry in 1942. Eighteen years later, in 1960, the Nashville Sit-Ins movement began. Looby stepped up to legally represent students who were arrested. Led by HBCU students from Fisk, Meharry, TSU, and American Baptist College—these activists risked their lives to dismantle Jim Crow. In the early morning of April 19, a group of white segregationists coordinated and carried out a terrorist attack—bombing the Looby home. Luckily, he and his wife Grafta Mosby were unharmed, but the explosion shattered over 100 windows at Meharry Medical College across the street. This targeted act and attempted murder, led to the movement’s most powerful moment.

This moment arose from a march that began on the Tennessee State University campus after the bombing. What began as 2,000 people swelled to 3,000 people as they walked in silence for nearly four miles to city hall. Mayor Ben West met them on the steps where he agreed that discrimination was wrong. Three weeks later Nashville became the first southern city to desegregate lunch counters on May 10. In addition to his work as a civil rights lawyer, Looby served on the city and Metro councils for a combined twenty years. For more take the Civil Rights Sit-Ins or Civil Rights Driving tours on Nashville Sites.

Continue walking down Meharry Blvd. until you reach 21st Ave N. Cross to the other side of Meharry and then cross 21st Ave. Your next stop is the building on your right and the historical marker for Dr. Harold Dadford West.