Civil War: Poverty And Crime In Memphis

English IV.
Research Paper
Dec. 7, 2013 Poverty and Crime in Memphis Although Memphis may be known best for its barbeque and music, Memphis also is the home of high crime rates, poverty, and poor race relations. To help you fully understand these social and economic problems Memphis must be placed in its context, My Research first looks at the history or Memphis to get a complete understanding on the city’s current situation. Also, a good theory and good evidence, it will show that the three problems listed high crime, poverty, and poor race relations all are connected and have solutions. Well I Did My Research And Found A GREAT Story On Miss Frances Wright. Much of Shelby County (belonging to Memphis) in the
The Union also made Memphis a freedman’s colony, and many neighboring black slaves came to Memphis once they were emancipated to partake in education and paid labor. Memphis fell so easily to the Union that most of its infrastructure remained in place. For a brief moment, Memphis became a city of opportunity to black Americans and a place where black communities thrived. Yet as white Memphians saw themselves competing with former slaves, tensions ran high resulting in race riots. “In 1866 ... struggling Irish residents turned their frustrations on many of their newly arrived black neighbors in a riot that left forty-six dead, nearly twice that many injured, five women raped, approximately 100 blacks robbed, and ninety-one homes, four churches, and all twelve black schools destroyed.”[1] The riots did not stop until martial law was declared and troops from Nashville arrived in Memphis to force peace. For a good many years, the black community suffered and struggled to regain prominence, most of them being too poor to move away for new opportunities. With all the schools destroyed, the educational opportunities vanished and the ability of black to become literate and contribute to society became almost impossible. Yet this would not be the only disaster in
“Separate but equal” was anything but equal, and black Memphians suffered. Edward Crump, progressive for his time, came to dominate Memphis politics from 1909 to 1954. Despite his efforts at reform, Memphis was named “murder capital” of the nation twice in the 1910s and 1920s. This high crime rate was for the most part blamed on the black population. Inequality continued until tensions exploded in the 1960s with the Sanitation Worker’s