TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Apr 30, 2021

Longtime Tennessee state senator Thelma Harper will lie in state from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CDT Wednesday at the state capitol, becoming the first African American woman to receive that honor. Harper, the first African American woman elected to the state Senate and longest serving female senator in state history, died April 22 at the age of 80. A four-day celebration is being planned next week at locations around Nashville that were important in her life: a community viewing at Schrader Lane Church of Christ on Monday, viewing at the Historic Metropolitan Courthouse on Tuesday, and a celebration of life, internment and barbecue in her honor on Thursday. WKRN has the schedule.