The Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change

March 9, 1892- Three African American businessmen, Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart, were murdered at the hands of a mob in Memphis, TN simply for running a better business than their white competitor. The lynching of these men, well respected in the African American community of Memphis, outraged Wells. Emboldened, Wells furiously fought against those who participated in, or ignored, violence against African Americans.

Thomas Moss symbolized the urban entrepreneurial class of African Americans that emerged in the decades following the Civil War. Moss invested in a community-owned grocery store, the People’s Grocery, which he managed at night after spending his days working as a postman. The People’s Grocery was located at the southeast corner of what is today Mississippi Blvd and Walker Ave, known then as “the Curve” for the distinctive turn that streetcars made at the corner.