Pre-Event: Lynching Site Project Memphis Tour

Pre-Event: Lynching Site Project Memphis Tour
Date: Wednesday, January 29
Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm CST
Location: off-site
Cost: $40 (includes transportation and admission fees; lunch not included)

The Lynching Site Project (LSP) is part of a growing network of people who want the whole and accurate truth to be told about the history of Shelby County, TN. LSP Memphis believes that healing and growth in understanding can come when we openly face the history of racial violence in our community.  In this work, LSP Memphis joins with the national effort of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative to memorialize over 4,000 known lynchings in our country between 1877 and 1950. On this tour we will explore the stories of Calvin McDowell, Thomas Moss, and Will Stewart who were lynched in March of 1892. This violent and traumatic event launched the career of Ida B. Wells as an investigative journalist and an anti-lynching activist. We will visit the site of the victims’ successful grocery business, the site of the lynching, and the grave of Thomas Moss, along with a memorial marker for Ida B. Wells. We will finish the tour with a debriefing conversation over lunch together at a home-town favorite, Central BBQ. BBQ Pork is what Central is famous for and vegetarian options of a portobello mushroom sandwich and meatless greens and green beans are available. Two experienced volunteers from the Lynching Site Project Memphis will act as our tour guides and conversation moderators. Extensive, but not strenuous walking required. Participants will pay for their own lunch.