Civil Wrongs

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 pe

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 cou

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 th

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

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

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. E

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 mention

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

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 M

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 be