Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis, Tennessee, is known for its role in the civil rights struggle and for its musical contributions to the birth of the blues and rock 'n' roll. Located on the fourth Chickasaw bluff above the floodplain of the Mississippi River, Memphis was first settled and later grew as the result of 19th-century territorial expansion and economic growth in the United States. The city's central location in the South and its access to the river and the nation's railroads enabled the “bluff city” to capitalize on the westward expansion of cotton growing to become the largest inland cotton market in the world. Memphis was thereby transformed from a small river town in the nation's interior to a vibrant urban center essential to the commercial development of the nation.

Only after territorial disputes with France and Spain were resolved in the late 18th century and a treaty was negotiated with the Chickasaw Indians in 1818 were the city's founders able to begin selling land they had first purchased in the 1790s. Memphis was founded in 1819, and it grew slowly until the 1840s and 1850s, when the arrival of the steamboat and the railroad allowed the city to use its trading influence to take advantage of the importance of cotton to the American economy. Although slaves accounted for only 17 percent of the city's population in 1860, Memphis also had the largest slave market in the mid-South. The city's growth, however, was dependent not only on cotton merchants and slave traders but also on the new laboring classes. In the 1850s, Memphis was the fastest-growing city in the nation, and much of this growth was the result of the arrival of immigrants, who accounted for 30 percent of the population in 1860. As a result, on the eve of the Civil War, Memphis was the sixth-largest city in the South.

The Civil War and Reconstruction era were volatile times. Residents resisted secession; however, the firing on Fort Sumter placed Memphis behind the Confederate cause. Memphis surrendered to Union forces on June 6, 1862, and the city served as a center for contraband trade throughout the war. Emancipation and Reconstruction introduced a number of social and political changes. The African American population increased from 3,872 in 1860 to 15,471 in 1870. This demographic change helped spark a race riot on May 1, 1866. In 1867, African Americans were enfranchised in the state of Tennessee, and they elected black politicians to office throughout the 1870s.

Memphis also faced financial difficulties. A decline in cotton prices and an increase in property tax delinquencies placed a tremendous burden on the city treasury. In 1879, the city declared bankruptcy and lost its city charter, coming under state control. The economic elite blamed the working-class electorate and initiated a movement for municipal reform. It was only after a series of yellow fever epidemics led to a decline in the population and the city's tax revenue, however, that the city charter was revoked and a commission government was established.

In the 1880s and 1890s, city leaders focused on promoting economic growth by constructing a modern [Page 457]sewage system, expanding city services, and lowering taxes. The migration of thousands of blacks and whites from the countryside made Memphis the third-largest city in the South by 1900. Cotton continued to dominate the economy, and Memphis also became the largest hardwood lumber market in the South, providing jobs for migrants. In 1893, home rule was restored with the regaining of the city charter, and as Memphis entered the 20th century, the city implemented an annexation plan, established a modern park system, and adopted a new commission form of government in 1909. These municipal improvements were accompanied by the hardening of racial prejudices, as well. In 1886, the last African American until the civil rights era was elected to office, and segregation was accompanied by episodes of racial violence. Ida B. Wells and others protested the intensification of racism, while many African Americans focused on the establishment of black schools, churches, and businesses, especially on Beale Street, the center of the African American community.

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