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Pulaski was founded in 1809. During the Civil War, after the Union took control of Tennessee in 1862, thousands of African Americans left plantations and farms to join their lines for refuge.[citation needed] The Army set up a contraband camp in Pulaski to help house the freedmen and their families, feed them, and put them to work. In addition, education classes were started.[citation needed] The vicinity of Pulaski was the site of a number of skirmishes during the Franklin–Nashville Campaign.[citation needed] Union troops occupied the state from 1862, and hundreds of African Americans left plantations even before the Emancipation Proclamation to join their lines.
After the war, in late 1865, six Tennessee veterans of the Confederate Army founded a secret society, later known as the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). This was the first chapter. These men, John C. Lester, John B. Kennedy, James R. Crowe, Frank O. McCord, Richard R. Reed, and J. Calvin Jones, established the KKK on December 25, 1865. They created rules for a secret, hierarchical society devoted to suppressing freedmen and their white allies, and maintaining white supremacy.[7][8]
The white insurgents were determined to fight secretly against the political advancement of freedmen and of sympathetic whites. Chapters of the KKK quickly were organized in other parts of the state and the South. KKK members often attacked their victims at night, to increase the intimidation of threats and assaults. Other incidents of racial violence against blacks also took place. The Pulaski riot was a race riot initiated against blacks that took place in the city in the winter of 1868, following a heated election season.
U.S. Route 31 passes through the center of Pulaski as First Street, leading north 30 miles (48 km) to Columbia and southeast 19 miles (31 km) to Ardmore at the Alabama border. U.S. Route 31 Alternate (E. Grigsby Street) leaves U.S. 31 in the north part of Pulaski and heads northeast 23 miles (37 km) to Lewisburg. U.S. Route 64 passes south of Pulaski on a bypass route; it leads east 29 miles (47 km) to Fayetteville and west 18 miles (29 km) to Lawrenceburg.
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 8,397 people, 3,189 households, and 1,746 families residing in the city.
2000 census
As of the census[4] of 2000, there were 7,871 people, 3,455 households, and 2,038 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,200.8 inhabitants per square mile (463.6/km2). There were 3,888 housing units at an average density of 593.2 per square mile (229.0/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 70.40% White, 27.06% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.85% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.23% from other races, and 1.21% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.11% of the population.
There were 3,455 households, out of which 26.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.7% were married couples living together, 18.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.0% were non-families. 37.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.82.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.1% under the age of 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 22.1% from 45 to 64, and 19.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.4 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $27,459, and the median income for a family was $37,219. Males had a median income of $30,400 versus $21,714 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,751. About 12.7% of families and 18.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.1% of those under age 18 and 17.1% of those age 65 or over.
The Diana Singing, near Pulaski in Cornersville, is home of the semi-annual Diana Singing, sponsored by the Churches of Christ. The event attracts over 3,000 people to the area in June and September.[18]
^Horn, Stanley F. (1939). Invisible Empire: The Story of the Ku Klux Klan, 1866–1871. Montclair, New Jersey: Patterson Smith Publishing Corporation. p. 9.
^Fleming, Walter J., Ku Klux Klan: Its Origins, Growth and Disbandment, p. 27, 1905, Neale Publishing.
^"Station: Pulaski WWTP, TN". U.S. Climate Normals 2020: U.S. Monthly Climate Normals (1991-2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
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