"The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them."
–Ida B. Wells
So, it appears, do Memphians Howard and Beverly Robertson of Trust Marketing, who this week, at the National Civil Rights Museum, were to unveil a campaign on behalf of the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis, described in their press release as "a nonprofit Tennessee organization formed to locate and mark known lynching sites."
Oliver Clasper, a friend of the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis, has had his photographs incorporated into an article "Focusing on the Hidden Horror of American Lynchings,” published in The Atlantic’s web magazine City Lab.
Ollie gives credit to the Equal Justice Initiative, NAACP, and the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis, with particular note to Clarence Christian.
An empty trestle bridge spans a grey river. White-washed doors lean on the side of a barn. Telephone poles and a tin shed frame a half-mowed ravine.
Bryan Stevenson's #BriefButSpectacular take on the Justice System and the "narrative of racial difference" that haunts us still.
by Carla Peacher-Ryan
On Thursday, April 6, at the Cannon Center, Hattiloo Theatre, in partnership with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, presented an original performance - "The Strange Fruit". Conceived by Ekundayo Bandele, executive director of Hattiloo, the show is a compilation of work by the two presenting partners, as well as Collage Dance Collective, Le Chorale a cappella choir, with narratives from Rychetta Watkins and Phil Darius Wallace. It is a work that deals with lynching and was sparked by the work of the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis.
Construction is underway in Montgomery, Alabama, on the Equal Justice Initiative's new racial justice museum, which will explore America's legacy of slavery, racial terror, segregation, and mass incarceration.
Matteo and I have been collaborating on this amazing story for almost a year. With the help of historians, archivists, and the energy and expertise of the people working with The Lynching Sites Project of Memphis, we have very nearly completed research on historical background of this tragedy. We have scouted and filmed almost all the major locations associated with this lynching, and have identified and located descendants of the families and individuals involved in the lynching and are now in the process of interviewing those willing to talk.
Two markers will memorialize the tragic and shameful events that occurred here in the spring of 1917.
Both markers, approved Thursday by the Shelby County Historical Commission, will mention the two victims of those events.
Antoinette Rappel, a 15-year-old white girl who was brutally assaulted and murdered on her way to school April 30, 1917.
Ell Persons, a 50-something black woodcutter accused of the crime who was brutally assaulted and murdered by a lynch mob May 22 that year.
Historically, the Peoples Grocery Lynching is one of the most important lynchings in American history for at least two reasons. First, it caused a large proportion of the African-American community to flee Memphis. Second, it convinced Ida B. Wells to conduct a census of lynchings which systemically researched, catalogued, categorized, and analyzed lynchings in America.
"More than 120 years ago, a tragedy in Memphis made the front page of the New York Times. Thursday marks the 125th anniversary of the People's Grocery Store Lynching..."
These men and this story need to be remembered by white Memphians in a spirit of reverence and repentance. Their memory should be honored by all of us as respected, successful citizens.
"The Scotts and the Taneys believe that Americans should learn from their history, not bury their history," they have said in a joint statement.
“This country is what it is because (African-Americans) gave our full share and our full measure, as everyone else did. The difference is that we were denied the benefits of our labor,” he said. “When we look today at the problems in the black neighborhoods, we can look back and see that is because we were denied the benefits of our contributions. So, it’s important now to go back and look and understand the truth.”
The accuser "confessed that she had fabricated the most sensational part of her testimony...Her changed attitude, if genuine, might have real meaning today, what with a polarized electorate, renewed racial tensions, and organizations and Web sites promoting white supremacy.
After four decades in the Army and the airline industry, John Ashworth is taking on a new challenge. Reclaiming history.
African-American historian John Ashworth will lead a citywide interfaith prayer service May 21st at the site where Persons was murdered, nearly 100 years to the date it occurred. Newspapers in 1917 created a spectacle of Persons' death for days leading to it, gathering thousands of people to what is now Summer and the Wolf River. After he was set afire, Persons was decapitated and taken to Beale Street, and his head was hurled at a group of black pedestrians.
Another great interview with Bryan Stevenson (excerpt): "Part of our work is aimed at trying to re-engage this country with an awareness and understanding of how our history of racial inequality continues to haunt us. I don’t think we’re free in America — I think we’re all burdened by this history of racial injustice, which has created a narrative of racial difference, which has infected us, corrupted us, and allowed us to see the world through this lens. So it becomes necessary to talk about that history if we want to get free."
The law calls for “the full accounting of all victims whose deaths or disappearances were the result of racially-motivated crimes” and for authorities to hold criminals accountable.
We are pleased and excited to share with you the news that John Ashworth will begin work on January 1 for the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis as Project Manager for the May 21, 2017 centennial commemoration of the lynching of Ell Persons. John’s contract will extend through June 2017.
A early leader in the civil rights movement in Florida and the first NAACP official killed in the struggle for civil rights died on Dec. 25, 1951, when a bomb exploded under the floorboards of his bedroom. The murder, done by members of the Ku Klux Klan in retaliation for calls for action against a Southern white sheriff, was never officially solved.