Events to remember Memphis lynching
The victims of the 1892 People’s Grocery lynching, which launched the antilynching crusade of journalist Ida B. Wells and caused thousands of AfricanAmericans to flee Memphis, will be remembered on Thursday with events at the cemetery where they were buried and a program near the location of the store.
The commemoration of the 125th anniversary of the lynching includes a 10 a.m. wreath laying at Zion Christian Cemetery on South Parkway East, where victims Calvin McDowell, Thomas Moss and Will Stewart were buried, a gathering at the historic marker at the site of the former store at Mississippi and Walker and an 11 a.m. program at nearby Second Congregational Church, 764 Walker.
“A lot of people, when you read the present-day version of what happened, talked about 6,000 to 7,000 AfricanAmericans who left Memphis for Oklahoma or Kansas City. There were mass meetings, boycotts, all kinds of things that took place,” said Clarence Christian, president of the Memphis branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
But those accounts were not reported in the city’s mainstream newspapers, said Christian, a professor emeritus from Southwest Tennessee Community College.
The program at Second Congregational will include period poetry readings about the lynching and the performance of a song that was written shortly after the tragedy, Christian said.
The events of 1892 began because the People’s Grocery competed too successfully with a nearby white-owned groce-
the property indicating someone is thinking about building something there.
There was talk in the community about Chick-fil-A even before Tuesday’s announcement. But the company has not filed an application with the suburb, and there are not items on upcoming Planning Commission agendas, and no confirmation from city officials about any discussions with business.
When asked Monday, McDonald and others were rather coy about the possibility, declining comment on the rumors.
Bartlett has wanted a Chick-fil-A for a long time. Officials thought they had a chance a year or so ago only to see the deal collapse at the end. That rumored location was near the same Stage and Kirby-Whitten intersection.
The closest one to Bartlett is on Germantown Parkway near Stage across from Wolfchase Galleria. The location is in Memphis, so Bartlett doesn’t benefit from any of the sales tax revenue generated by the location.
Also, that store may be among the most difficult to access.
Based on those factors, Bartlett leaders contended there was a demand for another Chick-fil-A in the area.