The Memphis Massacre: looking back on a forgotten time in the city’s history
By John Klyce Austin Cotton plodded home in the summer heat, exhausted. As a bead of sweat trickled down his cheek, the carpenter raised his coarse, blue-collar hands to his head, shielding his eyes from the sun’s unforgiving rays. It was May 1 of 1866 in Memphis, Tennessee, and Cotton, a former slave, struggled through his first year of freedom. As he passed Hollowell’s Grocery, … Continue reading The Memphis Massacre: looking back on a forgotten time in the city’s history