“There They Come; They Will Kill Me for Sure!”: The Victims of the Massacre

by Andre E. Johnson On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host “Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief […]

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Panel Six: Remembering Reconstruction

On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host“Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of the […]

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Panel Five: The Radicalization of Reconstruction

On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host“Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of the […]

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Panel Four: The Memphis Massacre

On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host “Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of […]

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Panel Three: Giving Meaning to Freedom

On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host “Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of the […]

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Panel Two: Civil War and Emancipation in the Mississippi Valley

On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host “Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of the […]

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Panel One: Slavery and Slave Life in the Mississippi Valley

On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host “Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of the […]

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A Service of Commemoration and Remembrance

Memphis Theological Seminary and Freedom’s Chapel Disciple of Christ Church will hold a free staged reading commemorating the victims and survivors of the Memphis Massacre on Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 9:00am. In the wake of the civil war, a massacre broke out in Memphis–almost 50 lives were lost, hundreds were injured, and entire neighborhoods were consumed […]

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A Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation and Reconstruction

On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis will host “Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium will feature historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of […]

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Constructing Memories of Reconstruction

by Tim Good Last year, the nation and the National Park Service completed the 150th commemoration of the American Civil War. This commemoration included events both on and outside of park boundaries, with a particular emphasis on developing a shared history that acknowledged slavery as the war’s cause, and emancipation as its objective. These goals […]

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Black Churches in the Memphis Massacre

by Elizabeth L. Jemison The white mob that held Memphis in terror for three terrible days in May 1866 targeted black churches for destruction. They burned wood frame buildings and ruined even a large brick church building. According to the Congressional inquiry into the massacre, the mob destroyed every black church in Memphis. The Congressional report […]

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