Nothing To See Here: Facing Racial Terror to Heal its Festering Wounds

Nothing To See Here:  Facing Racial Terror to Heal Its Festering Wounds 

Grounds for Democracy 

The Cultural Landscape Foundation 

The turnout was strong for a Tuesday—more than 3,000 men, women, and children by most accounts—thanks to the announcement in the local newspaper about where and when the event would take place. By 9:00am, lines of cars choked the Macon Road near the Wolf River Bridge, bringing traffic to a standstill. Amid the excitement, mothers (many in their best finery) were willing to overlook the schoolboys playing hooky, and vendors exhausted their supply of drinks and snacks much sooner than expected. Then, with anticipation building and reporters on hand to capture the details, Ell Persons was chained to a log, doused with gasoline, and burned alive. Once Persons’ charred corpse had cooled, the crowd pressed in to snatch any scrap of burnt clothing or rope as a keepsake. The body was decapitated and dismembered, the ears and other parts removed for souvenirs. Persons’ head and one of his feet, however, would serve another purpose—the larger objective of the gruesome spectacle. They were taken to busy Beale Street, in the heart of Memphis’ African American community, and tossed from a car at the feet of pedestrians, with this message: “Take this with our compliments.”