Civil Wrongs

In this third and final episode of season 6, we talk to the family and others connected to the Memphis case that resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made national waves and shaped how police could use force against people fleeing from them. And that probably would have made a difference in the case against Phillip Hatley’s killer, too. We also dive into the most recent scathing report on...

This episode explores how Phillip Hatley’s family responded to his death — both at the time and through three generations, as more information has come to light. His grandsons say they have a newfound understanding of their father, who was five years old when Phillip Hatley was killed within earshot of his family. The next generation sees opportunities to affect change in their community as police...

In this episode, we bring you the story of Phillip Hatley, a 43-year-old Black husband and father who was shot in the back and killed by a drunk Memphis police officer in 1939.  His death led to a publicly contentious trial that ended with his killer going free. But his own grandsons knew only bits and pieces of what happened despite growing up in the same neighborhood. We journey with them back t...

Tennessee recently scheduled its first executions after a five-year hiatus. In this episode, we host a conversation between Steven Hale, author of “Death Row Welcomes You” based in Nashville, and Margaret Vandiver, author of “Lethal Punishment: Lynchings and Legal Executions in the South” to talk about the connections between lynching and the death penalty. Resources mentioned in this story: “ Dea...

One hundred years ago on May 8, a Black man who could not swim saved 32 white people from drowning in the Mississippi River.  That heroic act got him a meeting with President Calvin Coolidge and a house in North Memphis. And one of Downtown’s most iconic parks honors his heroism. His name was Tom Lee. The park was not always welcoming to Black people — even his own descendants. But those striving...

In this Memphis neighborhood, the economic potential of its future is just as important as the telling of its past. The Klondike Smokey City Community Development Corporation has been working for years to provide affordable homeownership for residents while also preserving its history.  Resources mentioned in this story: Klondike Smokey City Community Development Corporation Monument Lab Re:Genera...

The 1968 Memphis sanitation worker's strike was a pivotal point in the Civil Rights Movement. It eventually led to the fatal shooting of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel. Local activists say that although the tragic event left a stain on the Bluff City, it is important to remember the positive change that came in the aftermath of the strike. For the past eight years, The BIG W...

In 1961, Dwania Kyles was among the first group of 13 Black children to integrate Memphis’ public school system. To aid in her own healing from that traumatic experience, she became a certified wellness coach. Now, she helps others find healing through deep abdominal breathing, which is known to help reduce stress, anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate. Resources mentioned in this episode:  Dwan...

Next time you’re walking down South Main Street in Memphis and find yourself in front of one downtown’s longest-standing art galleries, look down. You might learn something.  Miniature paintings by artist Ephraim Urevbu are now embedded in the sidewalk. Inside them are QR codes that share the more difficult chapters of American history. For our continuing Civil Wrongs series, Laura Kebede-Twumasi...

When pundits and politicians talk about rural America, it’s often another way of saying white America.  But that would also be a misperception, according to the Brookings Institution. The share of people of color living in rural areas has increased in the last decade from one-fifth to about a quarter. As racial diversity in small towns increases, some are working to improve racial understanding th...

This season, we're doing something different by sharing some of the positives that have come from people’s efforts to remember the past. Check back for more episodes.

Black farmers have lost 90% of the land they once owned since 1920. Oral histories of the massacre say land was stolen from victims and survivors. One local group, the Elaine Legacy Center, is digging into the research in hopes of community repair.  Resources mentioned in this episode:  The Elaine Legacy Center Fund for Reparations NOW! Reuters: U.S. Black farmers lost $326 bln worth of land in 20...

The Elaine Massacre of 1919 was one of the deadliest in American history and for decades, its story was suppressed. Descendants of this tragedy say they are still feeling its effects in their small rural Arkansas community.  Resources mentioned in this episode: Facebook group: Descendants of The Elaine Massacre Victims Blood in Their Eyes by Grif Stockley, Brian K. Mitchell & Guy Lancaster New...

Starting in the immediate aftermath, a "hush mouth" campaign ensued across Phillips County, Arkansas to stifle the telling of the massacre. Now, there are few places that tell the story, and those that do are surrounded by controversy.  Resources mentioned in this episode: The Elaine Legacy Center Delta Cultural Center Elaine Massacre Memorial Helena Museum of Phillips County Delta Heritage Trail...

The racist caricature that Black people are inherently lazy and morally corrupt underscored the perceived authority of Earle, Arkansas sheriff’s deputy Paul Peacher to haul men off to forced labor in the 1930s. Nearly a century later, similar stereotypes of people with addictions may be driving approaches to their treatment. It’s called work therapy. Every year, thousands of people are required to...

Slavery was still happening in eastern Arkansas in the 1930s — seven decades after Emancipation. Efforts to seek better pay and working conditions by the Southern Tenant Farmers Union, a rare interracial labor organization, sparked violent backlash from the planter class. One sheriff’s deputy went so far as to arrest and enslave eight Black men on trumped up charges so they could work on land that...

Though the Memphis Massacre is virtually excluded from U.S. history education, it has had a long-lasting impact on civil rights, including a direct correlation to the passage of the 14th Amendment.   “I think yes, we can draw a very direct line from the Memphis Massacre to the 14th Amendment,” said Tim Huebner, a history professor at Rhodes College. “It was very clear [after the massacre] that the...

The ruthlessness of the white mobs during the massacre extended to sexual violence. Multiple women were raped over three days, including five who were brave enough to testify to the congressional committee. It’s unsurprising; rape was used as a sadistic form of control over the enslaved. And with a bloodthirsty mob set loose on Memphis, it followed a pattern set for centuries to cement white domin...

The white mobs were led by a specific subset of people: Police officers who were mostly Irish immigrants. At the time, Irish immigrants were viewed as inferior to other white Americans. And with the emancipation of slaves just a year prior and the influx of Black people looking for jobs, Irishmen felt that their tenuous social status was threatened.  The environment for violence had been brewing f...

A year after the Civil War, in May 1866, widescale violence erupted in Memphis. White mobs led by police brutalized the Black community, beating and shooting any Black person they could find, but especially targeting Black Union soldiers who had just been discharged. At least 46 Black men, women and children were killed, 75 others were injured, and at least five women were raped. Every single Blac...

In this final episode of our inaugural season, we discuss police interrogation tactics in 1917 and their connection to false confessions today. We talk to a researcher who studies the intersection of psychology and criminal justice and ways to protect the innocent and a former Memphis police chief who lived the complexities of race and policing. We also examine cases identified by local reporters...

Please be aware that we discuss extreme violence and that you’ll hear racial slurs that were common to the time.  In this second episode about the Ell Persons lynching of 1917, we talk to the people alive today who have deep connections to this century-old story. There’s Michele Whitney, Ell Persons’ great grandniece, who never knew about this piece of family history until a Memphis organization r...

Ell Persons’ lynching made national headlines in 1917 and even spurred a 10,000-strong silent march in New York. Yet, his story has rarely been told. Little is known about his life. We walk you through what was going on in Memphis at the time that set the stage for his lynching, law enforcement's tolerance of mob violence, and the Black resistance that followed. Resources mentioned in this episode...

A century ago, a Black man named Ell Persons was accused of a murder with no proof. He was lynched in front of thousands of people.   But like most racial terror lynchings of the time, Ell Persons’ death was not merely a punishment for a singular crime. It was meant to send a message to the entire Black community that any progress toward equality would not be tolerated. The year before, thousands...