Memphis: The City That Blues Built

Memphis, Tennessee. You'll see pretty browns in beautiful gowns. You'll see tailor-made and hand-me-downs. You'll meet honest men and pickpocket skill. You'll find that business never closes till somebody gets killed. If Beale Street could talk, if Beale Street could talk, married men would have to take their beds in war. Except one or two who never drink booze and the blind man on the corner who sings the Beale Street blues. Those are a few lines from a song called Beale Street Blues.

TIMELINE
1819: Memphis was founded in 1819 on the banks of the Mississippi River.
1866: In an 1866 incident known as the Memphis Massacre, white Memphians went into black parts of town, killing and robbing anyone they saw.
1878: The first was the 1878 yellow fever epidemic.
1905: Mary Morrison in 1905 was a domestic worker.
1968: In 1968, a strike by black sanitation workers attracted the attention of Martin Luther King Jr., who came to the city to offer his help and was assassinated on the balcony of his hotel six days later.

WHY THIS MATTERS
The story of Memphis is a reminder that the events that shaped America didn't always happen in the biggest cities. What unfolded here left marks on the community that are still visible today. The full story is more complicated, and more human, than the version most people know.

Episode 65 | Hometown History | Hosted by Shane Waters

If you liked this: Episode 175 (Athens, Tennessee)

Hometown History explores forgotten stories from small-town America. The overlooked events, hidden triumphs, and buried tragedies that shaped the country we live in. New episodes every Tuesday. Find every episode at mythsandmalice.com/hometown-history

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