Date: 
Jan 1 1851

Downtown Memphis near Market and 2nd. Within about a block of 35.152427, -90.048603.

The Red Record: Say his name: Unidentified victim, 1851

In this episode, we talk with Jen Bennie, a researcher with Lynching Sites Project and the host of the YouTube channel "Walk with History." She investigated a case of an unnamed man who was lynched in Memphis on Jan , 1851. In this case,  Black man shot the county clerk who declared his freedom papers a forgery as he attempted to board a boat headed north. It is the first recorded lynching in Shelby County and extremely rare to happen before the Civil War. Though more than two dozen papers reported the lynching, none mentioned his name.

Wash Henley and 1851 Marker Dedication

Date: 
10/19/2019 - 10:00am

The Lynching Sites Project of Memphis (LSP), in partnership with the National Park Service, is pleased to announce a new Marker Unveiling and Dedication ceremony in Memphis, followed by a Courageous Conversation. 

The ceremony dedicating the markers will take place on Saturday, October 19, at 10:00 am, Wednesday, October 19, at Collins CME Chapel Church, 678 Washington Street, Memphis.

Fayetteville Observer, 1/21/1851

Tragedy at Memphis

"...As soon as this became generally known in the city, the citizens assembled at the jail, where the negro had by this time been taken, broke down the doors, took him out, and hung him to the nearest tree. Just before he was hung, he admitted that he belonged to a gentleman living near Coffeeville, Miss."

Fayetteville Observer, 1/21/1851
Fayetteville Observer, 1/21/1851