Redesign of Tom Lee Park lives up to its namesake
I grew up in Memphis with my father James Herbert Neely and my sister Carlita. Tom Lee was my great-great uncle, and my father was very proud of that fact. His life’s work was honoring Tom Lee’s legacy any way that he could, and eventually it became a large part of my own life.
In 1952, the City of Memphis renamed Astor Park at the foot of Beale Street after Tom Lee and erected a granite memorial obelisk honoring him for pulling 32 people to safety on his boat Zev when the steamboat M.E. Norman capsized on the Mississippi River and sank in 1925. However, the tribute was still a reflection of the Jim Crow-era south, featuring an inscription simply attributing his courageous and heroic actions to “A Very Worthy Negro.”
My family has always fought for a greater respect for Tom Lee’s legacy, and when my father passed in 1991, my sister and I decided to take up the mantle. We fought for years to give Tom Lee a proper memorial in Tom Lee Park, but we faced opposition from city government and public opinion. It just wasn’t something that people wanted to deal with.
But in 2003, a straight-line windstorm howled through Memphis, damaging the obelisk. I’ve always believed this was for the best, as it may have had his name, but it did not bear his likeness or his humanity.
We were presented with an opportunity to make some real change, and with the help of the Urban Art Commission, Memphis City Council, the National Ornamental Metal Museum, the Memphis River Parks Partnership (known then as the Riverfront Development Corporation) and sculptor David Alan Clark, we were able to erect a new statue in 2006 that truly conveys the man he was and the good he stood for.
Over the years, it was an uphill battle for my family to be directly involved in any Tom Lee Park activation despite our requests. This year, when the Memphis River Parks Partnership reached out to
me with their new designs for Tom Lee Park, I was blown away.
I began to see the larger implications of the project, all of the great things we could do for the city and residents with a reconsideration of a simple park. I was relieved that Tom Lee’s legacy would live on with such a sincere, innovative and kind tribute after all that my family and I have done to keep that legacy alive.
Cities thrive, or they wither, based on how they react to change. It took half a century, then finally a violent act of nature, for Memphis to move forward and give Tom Lee a proper memorial more appropriate to the city’s aspirational culture. Today, Memphis has another opportunity to move forward — to nurture that culture with the creation of a brand-new Tom Lee Park.
The park is already a great public space, but I support the Memphis River Parks Partnership’s efforts to redevelop the park not just because of my lineage, but because of my desire to go beyond greatness by helping bring their vision to life.
We’re creating something that’s worthy of a 200-year-old city growing to embrace inclusivity, ambition, equality and change.
Tom Lee did a noble deed. Let’s do another one by giving generations of Memphians a world-class riverfront park that can enrich them every single day.
Charmeal Neely is the great-great niece of Tom Lee.