memphis
-
Watch: King’s Mountaintop, 50 Years Later
When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, the news shocked the world. The day before, King gave his last speech, known today as the “Mountaintop” speech—one that some would call a prophecy. The civil rights leader went to Memphis, Tenn., to shed light on…
-
Episode 8: Memphis Police Officer Guns Down 16-Year-Old #LarryPayne as Sanitation Strike Continues
Memphis, Tenn., exploded into chaos on March 28, 1968, as militarized police officers—armed with rifles, tear gas, billy clubs and the full authority of the state—terrorized black protesters who were out in full force to support Memphis sanitation strikers. It was amid this violent siege that Memphis Police Officer Leslie Dean Jones stuck a shotgun…
-
Tennessee Store Clerk Charged With Murder in Shooting of Black Teen for Allegedly Stealing Beer
A Memphis, Tenn., store clerk is facing first-degree murder charges after authorities say he fatally shot a 17-year-old black boy he accused of stealing beer from the convenience store. WREG-TV reports that 28-year-old Anwar Ghazali, a clerk at Top Stop Shop, chased Dorian Harris after the teen allegedly stole a beer, shooting the teen from…
-
Episode 5: Children of the Memphis Sanitation Strike Share Their Stories
For the children of the Memphis, Tenn., sanitation strikers, the sounds, sights and smells of revolution, capitalism and white supremacy settled deep into their bones like the heaviest blues song, the kind that haunts and heals. Their childhood experiences were molded and shaped by fathers who struggled to provide for their families while also throwing…
-
Episode 3: ‘I Know Hard Work’: Memphis Sanitation Strikers on Childhoods Sharecropping in the Jim Crow South
Sharecropping in the United States was slavery by another name, and many of the 1968 Memphis, Tenn., sanitation strikers were well acquainted with it. After the Reconstruction Era ended in 1877, Jim Crow laws intended to maintain white supremacy through violence, intimidation and segregation, spread across the Southern states—and some Northern states, too (pdf). Even…
-
Justin Timberlake’s Man of the Woods Album Probably Should Have Been Called 808s and Banjos
On Friday, Justin Timberlake will release his fifth album, Man of the Woods. You may remember that he teased the album with a visual trailer that was akin to a white version of Beyoncé’s Lemonade visuals, with Timberlake doing odd things in the outside with horses, snow, fire, frilly leather jackets, dirty T-shirts and gloves.…
-
Episode 2: The Tragic Deaths of Robert Walker and Echol Cole Sparked 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike
Robert Walker, 30, and Echol Cole, 36, woke up on Thursday, Feb. 1, 1968, and went to work for the Memphis (Tenn.) Sanitation Department. They left their families for a long day of collecting garbage with the full expectation of returning home to them. Instead, as their shifts were about to end and heavy rain…
-
Episode 1: Our Video Series Shares Never-Been-Told Stories of the Memphis Sanitation Workers
In Memphis, Tenn., 1968, 1,300 sanitation workers braved the bitter cold to engage in a revolutionary 65-day action to defend their right to personhood. These men struggled against the noose of white supremacy to proclaim their dignity. They stood, shoulder to shoulder, armed with picket signs and perseverance, determined to declare to the world, “I…
-
Pastor Who Admitted to Sexually Assaulting Teen Put on Leave
Updated Friday, January 12 2018, 8:55 AM EST: CNN reports that a pastor who admitted to having a sexual encounter with a teen will be placed on leave. Andy Savage, a pastor at Highpoint Church in Tennessee, confessed on Sunday to his congregation that he had a “sexual incident” with a high school senior in…