Tennessee

Tennessee became the 16th state in 1796, bordered by eight present-day states and the Mississippi River. Though in its early days the state played a significant role in the abolition of slavery, by 1860 about 1 in 4 of all the people in Tennessee were slaves.

[SEE: What Tennessee Is Doing to Combat the Coronavirus]

The divided state was the last to secede from the Union in 1861, and many battles were fought in Tennessee. After the war, the state ratified the 14th Amendment, which provides citizenship rights and equal protection laws.

During the Scopes Trial of 1925, the state received national attention when it brought a court case against a high school biology teacher who taught evolution in school, which was against the law. Also in the 1920s, Tennessee emerged as the heartland of traditional country music, with Nashville’s Grande Ole Opry becoming the longest-running radio broadcast in American history.

Tennessee played a vital role during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and was the site of lunch counter sit-ins, nonviolent protests that garnered national attention to desegregation efforts. Although the activism of African-Americans in Tennessee helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it was in Memphis in 1968 that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

Package shipping giant FedEx and health care and medical facility firm HCA Holdings are among the Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Tennessee. Non-agricultural growth has boosted Tennessee’s economy in recent years, with the manufacturing and mining, logging and construction industries experiencing strong growth.

Tourists in Tennessee flock to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which welcomes more than 10 million visitors annually. Memphis boasts Elvis Presley’s house, Graceland, the second-most visited residence in the country after the White House. Nashville, Chattanooga and Gatlinburg are also popular tourist destinations.