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Activists work to commemorate ignored part of Memphis history

Some Memphians are trying to make sure a dark chapter of our history is not forgotten.

There are about 200 historical markers in Memphis, but only one of them commemorates a lynching: the People's Grocery marker at Walker Avenue and Mississippi Boulevard.

Activists are trying to change that.

Lynching Sites Project said each of the more than 30 recorded lynchings that happened in Shelby County since the Civil War should be recognized and remembered.

"Because they were not acknowledged, it was like their lives did not matter," Iris Love Scott said. "But in fact, these people were important, and they led to where we are today."

Elle Persons is one of the people Scott says has been forgotten. Persons was accused of killing a 16-year-old white woman. After being accused, he was lynched along the Wolf River while 5,000 people watched.

WMC Action News 5
Source date: 
Apr 27 2017 (all day)
Tags: 
Action News 5
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Ell Persons

Tue, 05/22/1917 (all day)

A Brief Version of the Lynching of Ell Persons on May 22, 1917

In May, 1917 the decapitated body of a 16 year old white girl, named Antoinette Rappel, a student at...

Upcoming Events

79th Anniversary of the lynching of Jesse Lee Bond

04/28/2018 - 7:30pm

12th Annual Ramadan Memphis Interfaith Dinner

06/03/2018 - 6:00pm

125th Anniversary of the lynching of Lee Walker

07/22/2018 (all day)

Research material

News Scimitar, 5/3/1917 (Photos of Antoinette Rappal)

Police Report, 5/4/1917

Indictment, 5/8/1917

News Scimitar, 5/8/1917

Request for Troops, 5/17/1917

Commercial Appeal, 5/17/1917

News Scimitar, 5/22/1917 (Lynch bulletins)

Commercial Appeal, 5/22/1917

Evening Star, 5/22/1917

Hickory Daily Record, 5/22/1917

The Seattle Star, 5/22/1917

The Tacoma Times, 5/22/1917

Commercial Appeal, 5/23/1917

Ell Persons Death Certificate, 5/24/1917

Columbus Commercial, 5/24/1917

Covington Leader, 5/24/1917

Putnam County Herald, 5/24/1917

McNairy County Independent, 5/25/1917

NAACP Supplement to the Crisis, July 1917

News

Opinion | Lynching memorial honors victims' bodies and souls

The Commercial Appeal
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/28/lens/echoes-of-lynchings-in-quiet-photos.html

Echoes of Lynchings in Quiet Photos

The New York Times

Statue Removal-Letter to the Editor

"The Way To Make Things Right" by Rabbi Micah Greenstein

Responsible for Remembering

Watch Love Work
http://facingtoday.facinghistory.org/author/michele-whitney

How The Legacy of Ell Persons Lives On With Michele Whitney

Facing History and Ourselves
https://youtu.be/j3vgxRLR2uQ

Ell Persons, May 21st Commemoration Wolf River

Ell Persons, May 21st Commemoration Wolf River

Michele Whitney Remarks on May 21st

The lynching of Ell Persons finds a lasting imprint on the Memphis NAACP chapter

High Ground News

Memphis Students Unite Their Community 100 Years After A Lynching

Stacey Perlman, Facing Today

Seeking repentance for a 100-year-old lynching

Andrea Morales, MLK50

Ceremony Of Remembrance Commemorates Brutal Lynching One Hundred Years Ago

Brad Broders, Local Memphis

Present Day Issues Surface in Centennial of Persons Lynching

Bill Dries, Memphis Daily News

Ell Persons lynching remembered 100 years later

Ron Maxey, Commercial Appeal
(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

Descendants of 1917 lynching's 2 victims gather for truth, healing

David Waters, Commercial Appeal

Bringing a century-old tragedy to life

Erica R. Williams, The New Tri-State Defender
(Daily News/Bill Dries)

Groups Prepare for Persons’ Lynching Centennial

Memphis Daily News

Central High School presentation

Shelby County Schools

Hard History: The Lynching Sites Project

Martha Park, Memphis Flyer

The 9:01: Plan Ahead - Five Things to do in May and more

Commercial Appeal
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