Beck Cultural Exchange Center

The Beck Cultural Exchange Center was chartered on January 21, 1975, and held its grand opening that September 21 with more than 500 visitors. The effort was called the People's Project: a community meeting on October 13, 1974, named a sponsoring committee, which voted that December to start the center. Margaret Ross Gaiter, a founding member, chaired the board for more than 40 years.

The house at 1927 Dandridge Avenue was built in 1912 by James Cowan and Alice Saxton Cowan. James G. and Ethel B. Beck bought it in 1968, James died in 1969 and Ethel in 1970, and the community bought the house in 1975 for $22,500 and named the center for the Becks. Its purpose, then and now, is to keep the history of Knoxville's Black community in one place, with a museum, a research archive and annual events such as the Eighth of August Libation Ceremony and Juneteenth.

The center houses the Delaney Museum at Beck. Joseph Delaney, the younger brother of Samuel and Beauford Delaney, was the featured artist at the 1975 opening. The center also runs a Beck Cultural Corridor, a series of numbered stops that begins at the Beck house and includes one for Cal F. Johnson and the recreation center that carries his name. This is the place to start for Black Knoxville, before you go on to Blount Mansion downtown.