(December 7, 1878 – April 20, 1968)
from The Greenwood Project
Born near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Keeble was brought to Nashville as a toddler. He dropped out of school at 12, took factory jobs, sold produce from a wagon, and operated a grocery store, but his real love was preaching. Baptized by Preston Taylor at 17, Keeble began his own ministry within two years. He and his wife, Minnie Womack, traveled around the country, from Michigan to Florida and across Tennessee, where he preached, baptized hundreds of converts, founded schools and hospitals, and formed new churches. By 1929 his sermons were broadcast over the radio. After Minnie’s death, the popular evangelist married Laura Catherine Johnson. In 1940 he helped launch the new Nashville Christian Institute, serving as the school’s president from 1942-1958 and traveling to Canada, Nigeria, and the Holy Land. By the time of his death in 1968, having outlived his five children, he was estimated to have baptized over 40,000 converts, black and white. Hundreds of people attended his funeral.
Rev. Marshall Keeble (photo from Jackson Street Church of Christ, Nashville, Tennessee. https://www.jacksonst.org/marshall-keeble/)
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The Greenwood Project is a series of 160-word biographies of individuals who lie at rest in Mt. Ararat and Greenwood cemeteries, two historic African American burial grounds in Nashville, Tennessee. The project, which began in September 2014 (and is still available on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064806156276), shares the stories of more than 300 consequential individuals, primarily African American, who changed the course of city, state, and national history through their words and deeds. (All biographies were written by Kathy Lauder unless otherwise noted.)
Nashville Historical Newsletter 