The city is home to one of the last two surviving residences of James Knox Polk, the 11th President of the United States; the other is the White House.

After a grand jury declined to indict him, he was abducted from Nashville by white men including law officials, and taken back to Columbia.

[8] After the war, chemical plants were a site of labor unrest between white and Black workers, both in terms of competition for work and efforts to unionize.

[8] In the postwar period, Black veterans often became leaders in the growing campaign for civil rights during the 1950s and 1960s throughout the state.

For instance, Clifton Place is a historic plantation mansion located southwest of the city on Mt.

[16] On February 25, 1946, a civil disturbance, dubbed "the Columbia Race Riot," broke out in the county seat.

[17] In a fight instigated by William "Billy" Fleming, a white repair apprentice,[18] James Stephenson, a black Navy veteran, fought back and wounded him.

As whites gathered in the square talking about the incident, blacks armed themselves and planned to defend their business district, which they referred to as "the Bottom".

Later that evening whites drove around the area, shooting randomly into it; they referred to the neighborhood as "Mink Slide."

Armed black men turned out some street lights and shot out others, patrolling the area for defense.

In an uncoordinated effort, the Highway Patrol entered the district early the next morning before a planned time; they provoked more violence and destroyed numerous businesses.

Two black men were killed and a third wounded, in what the police said was an escape attempt while the Highway Patrol was trying to take them from the jail to the sheriff's office.

He worked with Z. Alexander Looby, who was based in Nashville but associated with the national legal team, and Maurice Weaver, a white civil rights lawyer from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

[19] Marshall asked for a change of venue, hoping to get the trial moved to Nashville or another major city.

[8] The case gained much attention on the issue of civil rights for African Americans in the United States.

The NAACP and other organizations put pressure on President Harry S. Truman to take action to improve the situation.

[8] In 1948 Truman directed integration of the Armed Services by Executive Order 9981, as a result of the report and his consultation with black leaders.

[22] It developed along the banks of the Duck River at the southern edge of the Nashville Basin; the higher elevated ridges of the Highland Rim are located to the south and west of the city.

It enters the city of Manchester and meets its confluence with a major tributary, The Little Duck River, at Old Stone Fort State Park.

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.