Leo's Reflections
Clayborn Temple
March 28th, 1968
Dr. King lead a major march for the sanitation workers on strike in Memphis, beginning the walk from the Clayborn Temple pictured above. The sanitation workers and their supporters had been walking this same path for weeks, since February of 1968 to advocate for better working conditions after the death of Echol Cole and Robert Walker. The invitation of Dr. King drew more support than the daily marches had seen, with an estimated 15,000 to 22,000 students in Memphis joining the effort on this day. Before reaching city hall, conflict between those marching and the 4,000 National Guardsmen (and Memphis Police) came to a head, Dr. King was removed from the march. The violence resulted in the killing of 16 year old Larry Payne at the hands of a Memphis police officer who suspected him of looting, as well as the use of tear gas against protesters.
April 2nd, 1968
Clayborn held Payne's open casket funeral, a ceremony open to the public, which aimed to expose the injustice and violence that Payne, his family, and the black community in Memphis were experiencing at this time. This was held by the Clayborn despite local authorities attempting to pressure the family to opt for a private, closed casket service in a more private place of worship.
April 4th, 1968
Dr. King promised to return to Memphis and lead another march from Clayborn to city hall, aiming to remain in his practice of non-violence in allyship with the sanitation workers and the black community at large in Memphis. Dr. King never got this chance though, suffering a fatal shot from his balcony at the Lorraine Motel.
Personal Reflection:
Seeing the Clayborn Temple itself and being taught by Elaine Lee Turner (further addressed as Mrs. Turner) was something I will not be able to forget. I am in a class right now in the philosophy department which is called Satyagraha: Restorative Justice & Nonviolence Peace Building, which focuses on major leaders and their methods for nonviolence and justice advocacy. Meeting some of the major actors, and major actors for me at least will always be the individuals such as Mrs. Turner, reminds me of why being engaged and active in justice work matters. Sometimes it is easy to glorify the American Civil Rights Movement, at least as a white person, as ultimate suffering and clear injustice, which can result in a glorification of this period of action, while also not doing anything meaningful for the injustices of our own time. This is often done by the same people who are not engaged in elevating contemporary suffering of the most vulnerable in our community. Sometimes it feels like I hit a wall in my advocacy and peace building and I give up (or become unmotivated and complacent), but being with people such as Professor Tushaus and Mrs. Turner, both well educated and active members of justice work, is always a good means of reminding me why it matters. No one in the field of justice work feel fulfilled or as if it is easy, but that doesn't mean the work is done or not worth doing. Clayborn Temple and what it stands for as a historian is massive, and the opportunity to be within it's presence is something I will be grateful for forever. The monetary aid provided by our donors and the trip organization by LSA and Professor Tushaus is meaningful, since Memphis is not a place I would myself outright have choose to visit. That being said, I will be revisiting Memphis in the near future. This trip has shifted my research and writing in a meaningful way, which will be further explained when we arrive at looking at National Civil Rights Museum later on my reflections.
Burkle Estate & Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum
This is a photo of Mrs. Turner opening the Burkle Estate & Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum before regular hours, giving us a chance as part of the Heritage Tours a chance to explore the house and it's history before general tours begin.
Mrs. Turner gave one of the best historical tours I have been given the opportunity to take part in to date. She was well educated on the history of the house, African resistance to enslavement and white violence, as well as means of black liberation that Burkle took part in, and Memphis' role in slavery and anti-slavery engagement at large. Mrs. Turner worked to engage people on tour of the house and history, especially the children through question and song, which I think is phenomenal considering the best way to encourage learning is by participation.
I do not have pictures of inside the house, as this was not allowed, but this picture alone shows the significance. If I lived in Memphis I do not think I would have thought much about the house. It was a small white (seemingly) single story home surrounded by Magnolia trees (which where vital in coordinating the Underground Railroad, since they were evergreen. Those escaping the violence of slavery were told to look for the evergreen trees for sanctuary. These trees were planted by Burkle as a means of communicating the safety and security he created to those seeking it). The fact that this home looks so unassuming, and was close to the major locations of the selling of black folks as property (called the Memphis Stock Yards), and the river to freedom, the aesthetics make sense. Burkle was a German immigrant seeking to avoid persecution from his own violent and subjugating government in America, and while he could have lived comfortably complacent to slavery and anti-black violence (as many white Americans did at this time), he created a home that many historians believe was built specifically on the goal of liberation. One such example of this is the basement which Mrs. Turner took us in groups to, turning off all the lights and showing us a mere glimpse of what hiding in a small, dirt cellar seeking freedom might have felt like. I know I can never understand what those searching for freedom experienced at this time, but this house aided me in better contextualizing my own classroom education of the Underground Railroad. I am grateful and could speak for many more paragraphs regarding it. That being said, thank you to those who worked for liberation and freedom throughout the period of slavery in America.
I AM A MAN PLAZA
The I Am A Man Plaza is in dedication to the sanitation workers who fought for better working conditions in Memphis for a field of work that primarily employed black men.
This employment of black men in sanitation (i.e. the people who pick up your garbage on Tuesday nights) was purposeful, the practice by the city of Memphis was offering a job to those who lacked many opportunities under segregation the bare minimum, this included the working conditions that lead to the violent death of Cole and Walker in 1968. This offering of the bare minimum was something that the city of Memphis knew was still better than the opportunities available for black folks outside of this employment and took advantage of that. Mrs. Turner mentioned the case of Tom Lee, a young black man who saved many white people form drowning in the Mississippi River on his small, personal boat, despite himself not knowing how to swim. To honor him, the people of Memphis gave him a job with the Department of Sanitation following his efforts, which Mrs. Turner noted as what white people believed in the 1920s to be an honorable professor for a black man. This professor came with unlivable pay, dangerous working conditions, as well as a lack of any form of benefits. This is why daily over 1,300 black men working for the Sanitation Department of Memphis made the walk from Clayborn Temple to City Hall. The wall holds the name of those men, as this form of protest during the Jim Crow Era was dangerous. They, and their advocates, were not only risking their jobs or their income, but their lives. The I Am A Man Plaza aims to commemorate the memory and effort of these individuals, not just memorializing the big names and faces in history. Justice cannot be met with only the efforts of a leader, but with an active and engaged community seeking truth and justice with the aid of that leader.
I Am A Man is not a general phrase to be thrown around by peace and justice advocates, but one that has it's roots in Memphis and the sanitation strike of 1968. After the killing of Payne, hundreds of people returned on March 29th, 1968 to walk from Clayborn Temple to City Hall, as they had the past weeks. More than 200 of these people carried signs that said, "I Am A Man", aiming to expose the hypocritical nature and violence of Loeb and Jim Crow law overall. The attempt was to make clear the injustice and dehumanizing nature of the way Memphis segregated race. By removing black folks from white spaces, it was an attempt to frame them as subhuman, not white and therefore not worthy, and the "I AM A MAN" signs showed the absurd and violent nature of the current social order of their time. This was all done with the weight of Payne's death, the removal of Dr. King from the march, and the violence suffered the previous day. Preserving the names and actions of individual is something that is vital to effective and good, meaningful and more just history, at least in so far as my own training as a social historian, and I appreciate this plaza and memorial being present to do so. I am grateful for the opportunity to visit it.
Elaine Lee Turner
Mrs. Turner was one of the founding members of Heritage Tours, the company utilized for this trip. She was also one of the most well spoken and educated individuals I have been given the opportunity to listen and learn from. She is also one of the Lee Sisters, and those familiar with the American Civil Rights Movement are probably familiar with that name. The Lee family has a plaque on Beale Street, commemorating the families efforts in ending the Jim Crow regime in Memphis. Her role was not the center of the tour, Mrs. Turner aimed to make clear that black history and justice was bigger than herself and her efforts in the 60s, but getting to hear from her is something I am grateful for.
More than anything, this is this a chance to thank Mrs. Turner and her family, she noted especially her sisters, in her role of resistance and liberation of white supremacy in the form of segregation within Memphis. Mrs. Turner was kind, bright, funny, educated, and quick witted. She noted that even in her participation of the Salem March with Dr. King, it was not something she could've been viewed as optional or an inconvenience, but necessary. She would go to her college courses (and before that, her high school classes), and her and her friends would drive to wherever the resistance - such as sit-ins - where taking place, and take part. It was her duty in justice, and it was a wonderful opportunity and reminder why engagement and consistency in justice work is important. She did not get to just sit down when it was difficult, and that is something I have to remember when truth and justice seeking. If you are able to do the work, it is a duty, not a hobby.
Beale Street
The opportunity to listen to such talented musicians sing about Memphis, love, loss and beyond was wonderful. Early in the evening when I went take a call outside the band in our restaurant began singing Wilbert Harrison's Here I Come, Kansas City, and it reminded how glad I am to have attended MWSU all the way from the East Coast.
Aretha Franklin Brass Note Celebration on Beale
Peabody Ducks on Beale
I HAVE A DREAM
LORRAINE MOTEL
The Lorraine Motel & The National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM)
We arrived here before opening to ensure we would have as much time as possible to learn. Seeing the outside of the motel and the location of such a monumental event in American & global history was important.
One April 4th, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel, dying of the gunshot wound he sustained here an hour after the act. The motel was almost destroyed before those determined to preserve black history in Memphis rallied together and bought the property, creating the country's first Civil Rights Museum.
Balcony 306
This was the location where Dr. King sustained his fatal wound, while standing on the balcony talking to those who came to visit him in his motel. Moving to the Lorraine Motel after being pulled from the sanitation worker's march was important to Dr. King, as it was one of the few black owned motels in Memphis.
This memorial wreath and plaque is maintained in his honor, with 60s vehicles surrounding the location in an attempt to help the onlooker understand what they are experiencing.
NCRM & Rosa Parks
An interactive exhibit which attempted to showcase Parks' experiences in Montgomery before the iconic boycott
NCRM & Rosa Parks
Inside the bus, museum guests are encouraged to sit on the bus and listen to audio of what Parks heard when told to move to the back of the bus.
Gandhi
A controversial figure when examining black justice, a bust sits in the NCRM commemorating Gandhi's efforts for freedom from British colonization and white supremacy. Dr. King is know to have read much of Gandhi's writings and encourage the use of Satyagraha.
These style of statues are popular through the museum, aiming to keep people engaged and understanding the real lives behind the stories and pictures. Unpictured are the recorded stories throughout all exhibits, allowing the viewer to hear what those participating felt and experienced.
ACMHR Pledge
A pledge taken by advocates for nonviolence and commitment.
These various forms of pledges, songs, promises, and agreements were throughout the NCRM, aiming to show the diverse forms of resistance throughout this period.
I did not take pictures of the sit ins or Freedom Riders exhibits. These were ones wherein I was so engaged photographs or recordings were not on my mind. The Freedom Riders exhibit, especially the recorded oral histories of those who took part, are something I will never forget. I now plan to write a major paper on the methods of the Freedom Riders and share these nonviolent forms of resistance with those I work with at the ACLU and other advocacy groups.
The Black Panthers
The NCRM did not skip or attempt to sanitize history to make it more consumable to the general public. The Black Panthers are often overlooked when examining the Civil Rights Movement, but this was not the case at the NCRM. Instead it was presented to the viewer with an entire context, and it was your job to draw your own conclusions.
I AM A CHILD
Covering civil rights efforts through today, the NCRM showcased ways that King and other's methods and legacy continue to be utilized and meaningful today.
Many times the concept of a museum houses it's content as just a part of history, but the NCRM attempted to show that this fight for justice is ongoing and it is important to be engaged and part of it.
Mountaintop
"Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world...the world is all messed up. The nation is sick...And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we are going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demands didn't force them to do it...Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period to see what is unfolding. And I'm happy that He's allowed me to be in Memphis...Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!" (Dr. King, Mountaintop, April 3rd, 1968. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkivebeentothemountaintop.htm).
Thank you to our donors, MWSU, LSA & Professor Tushaus for allowing me the oppertunity to see Memphis as it should be seen.
Not through the prying eyes of tourist traps or commodification and glorification of violence, but by and with people who help to build and maintain Memphis, throughout history to today.