Morgan Hubbard - Class of 2029 - Uncle Nearest Distillery Reflection: How Tennessee Whiskey Speaks to the Larger Impacts of Racism and Black Erasure

Uncle Nearest Distillery: How Tennessee Whiskey Speaks to the Larger Impacts of Racism and Black Erasure

The trip to the Uncle Nearest Distillery opened my eyes to the importance of preserving history and the interconnectedness within Black communities. Some sections of the distillery discussed the idea that Uncle Nearest was previously credited for his contributions to Jack Daniel’s growing company, despite the erasure that happened after his death. The location of Tennessee heavily impacted Nearest’s story as places, like Lynchburg, are different from what people expect of them, regarding racism. The book featured many visuals that represented the strong community within Lynchburg, including the well-known photo where Nearest is seen as the focal point in a sea of white people, which was rare considering the prevalence of white supremacy in the South.

The advocacy for women’s rights was an intriguing aspect of the experience, as I had assumed it would focus on Nearest and the feat of black men. The speakeasy, however, featured shoes from the women's suffrage movement and portraits of women who advocated for equality of sexes and races. As black women, modern-day advocacy has encouraged us to “pick a side” and decide which aspect of our identity we want to fight for, similarly to the way black women have in the past. Every aspect of black success should include the experience of black women, as they’ve shaped the progress of the civil rights movement. 

The insight into whiskey distilling was an immersive experience that the book could only describe, but the weight of the actual work was in seeing the factories and the process that people use. They described the art and the precision of Tennessee whiskey and how the water that they use is one of the defining characteristics that separates their whiskey production from other states. The entrepreneurial aspect of the site is extremely important, as American slavery created a racial-based wealth gap due to the generational wealth that white people were able to accumulate over time at the expense of black labor. A black-owned distillery profiting from a black man’s creation is quite a refreshing part of the experience and begins to compensate for the many years that Uncle Nearest’s story, like many others, went unknown and unnoticed. The erasure of black success has made sites that pay homage to people, such as the Uncle Nearest Distillery, all the more important in modern-day society. 

As students of Spelman College, we feel extremely empowered and connected to one another through sisterhood; however, our closed campus can leave us in a bubble unless we expand our horizons. The immersion into a community that may not align with our political beliefs or may believe in inherently racist ideals. The viewing of Confederate flags or “MAGA” paraphernalia can be very triggering and, more personally, scary, but the real world will not shield us from the real aspects of the ongoing discrimination that some of us have already experienced. Many of us are considering political fields that will involve interacting with people who are too ignorant to recognize the weight of their opinions, especially when they do not identify with the marginalized group that will be impacted by the lawful change that they are voting for or against.

By: Morgan Hubbard

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