TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 13, 2026

The city of Nashville has renamed a stretch of road from 8th Avenue South to Music Square West in the Edgehill neighborhood for civil rights activist King Hollands. It will now be known as King Hollands Avenue, the Nashville Banner reports. In 1954, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Hollands was one of the first 14 African American students to attend the previously all-white Father Ryan High School. Six years later, he took part in Nashville's lunch counter sit-ins, helping to draw attention to the racial segregation of downtown businesses, enduring insults, threats and physical violence. At a ceremony unveiling the new street sign, Hollands’ fellow sit-in participant Gloria McKissack was on hand to share her memories. "King Hollands was a dear friend and a colleague. He stood by me and helped me in so many ways." Hollands died in 2023.