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BCDA: New Salem Baptist Church
Black Craftspeople Digital Archive
New Salem Baptist Church
1886, Sevierville, Tennessee
In 1886, well-known Black brickmaker and brickmason Isaac Dockery and his team completed the brickwork on this church. A prolific craftsperson, Dockery established the first brick kilns in the Sevierville area. With his sons, Dockery founded Isaac Dockery and Sons Contractors in Brick and completed brickwork across the region. One of Dockery’s best-known projects is the 1895 Sevier County Courthouse. For more on Dockery, click here.
Contextualization
The Black Craftspeople Digital Archive departs from traditional art history object-study methods by centering on the lives and experiences of Black craftspeople. Among the questions we ask of objects are: How is craft knowledge produced by Black life? How does the object currently speak to the craftsperson’s legacy? What were the craftsperson’s experiences? This postcard was conceived by the BCDA in response to an invitation by the MA in Critical Craft Studies’ cohort of ’21. For more on the BCDA’s object-study methods, please visit the website.