Many thanks to Martha Parks and the Memphis Flyer for this wonderful article about the involvement of high school students in the Ell Persons story:
This time last year, the 100th anniversary of Ell Persons' lynching seemed far on the horizon. A lot has happened over the course of the year, as Memphians have rallied around the work of the Lynching Sites Project.
Students at Overton High School raised the $2,500 required to fund a historic marker that will be placed on the Summer Avenue bridge spanning the Wolf River. Members of the Central High School Key Club went to the site to clear brush and make a path. Students from several schools were present at LSP's event commemorating the People's Grocery lynching.
Earlier this spring, more than 1,500 Central High School students and teachers gathered at an assembly to hear the story of Ell Persons' lynching; Hattiloo Theatre presented The Strange Fruit, a reflection on the legacy of lynching, in partnership with Memphis Symphony Orchestra and Collage Dance Collective; and Facing History and Ourselves students led a community teach-in about lynching history in the South.
I met with Overton High School seniors Khari Bowman, Taylor Williams, Alexis Sledge, and Kam Johnson, and Central High School students Myles Franklin, Amal Altareb, Talia Glenn, Ethan Haley, and Nina Howard to ask them about engaging with this history...
Martha Park, Memphis Flyer 
