Fred Whitley: Bringing you Inside Nashville through Soul of America Tours

Fred Whitley is an intelligent, bright light whose leaving his fingerprint throughout Nashville with his sightseeing tour company, Soul of America Tours. A native Nashvillian, Fred has watched the city grow into the hottest tourist destination in the country. As an educator for 30 years, he decided to get in on this boom by taking his love and knowledge of history to create a tour company centered around sharing the history (and herstory) and contributions of African Americans in Nashville. well-known and unknown history in Nashville. A city rich in monumental moments from the civil rights sit-ins, creation and development of the first African American medical school in the South, to seeing some of the greatest artists and musicians create their hits in Nashville.

Talking to Fred was an absolute joy, so keep reading to check out why he has one of the coolest sightseeing tours in the city.

Fred, what was the spark for Soul of America Tours?

I think it was a confluence of a couple of things. I was teaching people, and then I was working. I was the security supervisor at the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. I would notice all of these tour buses going by, but realized nobody was telling our story. So I had that in the back of my mind while I was teaching at the Johnson Learning Center, which is an alternative school that sits on the former Tom Wilson Park, an 8,000-seat Negro League Baseball Arena in the 1920s. I remember being in the classroom, and some kids were joking on each other using the projects like JC Napier and Preston Taylor, as a weapon. I was like, hold on, do you know who those men were? They helped to build community in our city and created our Black History. I realized that my generation did not do a great job of educating the next generation on our prominent history and contributions in this city.

Then I heard somebody say a phrase that I hate – those who can, do, those who can’t teach. And that just kind of ate me up. So I decided I need to be a practitioner of history,

Rather than doing Uber or continuing to do security, I said, Let me take my skill set in teaching and love of history, and move it to a different table. This is how Soul of America Tours was born.

What made you take the leap into entrepreneurship?

I didn’t go back into the classroom this year and this would have been year 30. Most people are trying to get year 39 and say “I made it”. You know, it’s like Wilma Rudolph getting her three gold medals. But I got to year 29 and decided to step out there on faith and action.

Is there a Black History Month moment you can share that many may not be familiar with?

It’s hard as a historian or herstorian to pick one particular thing because Nashville has been so impactful in many avenues of American life through significant contributions by African Americans.

One unique thing that stands out is that right now, electric cars are all the rage, 120 years before Tesla made its debut, Nashville had electric cars owned by an African American group of men in the city. If you can imagine a Model T4 stretched out and could carry 15 people. It stemmed from segregation because we (Black people) couldn’t ride the trolley cars or we had to ride in the back of the trolley cars. African American men and their wives felt that was intolerable and did not want to go back. J.C. Napier, Preston Taylor, R.H. Boyd and others put their money together to form United Transportation Company in 1905. Giving rides and keeping people’s dignity as they moved people through Nashville.

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What a story, and now you are transporting and sharing this history. What do you hope people take away from your Soul of America Tour?

I hope they go back to their town or city and say, hey, do what Nashville did because of what they learned on our tours.

For example, there’s a spot under the I-40 bridge off Historic Jefferson Street where they honor 100 African Americans from that city. I hope they take that back. Let’s not hide our history.

Like, right now, we’re at the Centennial Park Arts Building, which used to be a “Whites only” public pool that was bricked in and closed when activists tried to desegregate it in 1961. Yes, this history is an ugly, painful story that hasn’t been digested because racism hasn’t been digested. I hope they go back and find ways to live and gain true understanding with the past and move forward in the future. It’s ambitious, but listen, that’s what we all should be called to do as we walk in purpose.

I also hope they groove a little bit too. Because we’re going to dance on the bus. We’re going to play some games like Leia Avery’s Just Play Entertainment games. So it’s not just history and herstory. Bring some comfortable shoes, get ready to clack those fans, twist and shout and make sure to dap up the “Soul Duck”.