Black History and it's Influence on Memphis
updated July 21, 1997
History
In addition to African and Irish immigrants, there were also waves of Jewish, Italian and German
immigration.
"When he came to this country in 1890, my father peddled. He didn't have anywhere to
sleep. He'd look at these little homes with lawns and green grass and say, "I just pray
that 'someday I'll have a home like that'. He was trying to get established. He opened a
produce place right there on Beale and Mulberry." - Mrs. Nello Pacini
In the 1870's a series of cholera, and yellow fever epidemics struck the area, and between 1872
and 1878 over half of the population had died or had fled the city of Memphis. 25,000 fled, and
over 5,000 died in one month alone. African Americans who had a much greater immunity to
yellow fever, assisted the sick, tended to the dead and helped to rebuild the city after the disease
had passed. The wake of mosquito borne disease left economic devastation in Memphis. After the
epidemics, the African American community remained in the area and became more involved in
rebuilding the community.
Beale Street was a large center for African American civic and social activities. Robert Church, a
freed slave, became the South's first African American millionaire in 1899, buying real estate and
other ventures during the yellow fever epidemic. In 1881, Church bought the first bond to help the
city reestablish its forfeited charter during its bankruptcy following the plague.
In the 20th century, Beale was a bustling street, and music could be heard in the night clubs and
in the churches. Night life was sometimes a dangerous mix of seedy characters, easy money and
liquor. This was the atmosphere that gave birth to the Blues.
"...Beale Street was like no other street on the face of the earth."- Rufus Thomas
The Blues and Gospel spirituals have roots in the cotton fields, linking them back to the traditional
musical styles of Africa and her people. The tribal harmonies and rhythms handed down from father
to son, mother to daughter, were combined with music from the church to form a completely
American form of music. The juke joints and honky tonks had acquired a new sound, and the
Blues was born. It was here in 1909 that band leader William Christopher (W.C.) Handy wrote
the first Blues song, a campaign theme for the notorious Memphis mayor, "Boss" Crump, called
"Boss Crump Blues", and later published the work as "The Memphis Blues." It caught on fast,
and soon Blues bands filled smoky clubs, and Jazz orchestras played their beats in theaters and
parks. Jazz was evolving in Memphis and in New Orleans during this time.
Music filled the air day and night in turn of the Century Memphis, and Beale was a Mecca for
young musicians. "St. Louis Blues" came out in 1913, and Handy had created a revolution in
music that resulted in the first uniquely American music style. The Blues is the fore-runner of Soul
and Rock & Roll, two more uniquely American music styles later born here in Memphis. Other
great Blues men followed Handy's steps; Muddy Waters, Furry Lewis, Albert King, Alberta
Hunter, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Memphis Minnie McCoy, and in the 1940's Riley "Blues Boy" King,
whose stage name would come to be known as B.B. King.
"If you were Black for one night on Beale Street, you would never want to be white
again."
During the Civil War, Memphis fell quickly to Union troops, and many African American freed men
settled in this area of the city. In addition to African Americans, a large Irish population made up
part of early Memphis. Many Irish men who settled in the area chose to work for the Police
Department. In 1866, the death of an Irish boy fueled race riots between African American and
Irish Memphians when African American Union troops stopped the mainly Irish police from
arresting an African American boy who was a suspect in the death. Many African Americans fled
as Irish immigrants burned, looted, and murdered Beale Street residents in retaliation.
In the 1930's, the Great Depression had come to Beale Street and would take its toll on the area until the late 1960's, when talk of urban renewal discussed bulldozing down the once bustling neighborhood.
"Anything that was pawnable, they'd pawn. One fellow came out of a taxicab with an artificial leg and wanted to pawn the leg. I wouldn't take it." -- Lou Rafael
Some of the old buildings were lost, but in 1966 Beale Street was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, and by the early 1980's a full tilt renovation was taking place. Community and government investment in the Beale Street area spawned new businesses -- such as clubs, theater renovations, shops and restaurants, to return to the area, resulting in a wonderful entertainment district, changing once again from its past days of seediness back to glory.
"If Beale Street could Talk..." - W.C. Handy
A park was dedicated to the street's most famous resident, W. C. Handy, and Handy Park is the center of many of the open-air happenings that take place in the area today. A bronze statue of the man, holding his trumpet, stands as a monument to the man and his music.
"My daddy had a shop right there by the market where Handy Park is now. All the truck farmers used to come there with vegetables and sell their produce. They'd line up in their stalls, four or five hundred people every morning trading their vegetables." - Frank Liberto Sr.
Today the Blues can still be heard on Beale Street, but there are also newer sounds to hear, like Reggae, Rock, Fusion Jazz, Soul, and Gospel as well. The entire downtown area of Memphis is undergoing an amazing, massive, and long-overdue renovation which reflects positively on Beale Street. Weekend nights, all summer long, visitors will find open-air parties and park concerts all along Beale late into the night.
"We used to have shoes sitting out front. A man came along and stole one shoe. That's why in our show window there is only one shoe today." -Abe Schwab
Go to Memphis Clubs listing Live Music