It is really a great conference, something that really needed to be done in the country. I just said to a couple of people that the best memory is to write it down. And so, this important history, the people on this panel have been writing it down so that it will be preserved, not just for us, but for the next generation and the next generation. One german historian said that history always must be revised. It must always be rewritten, because even we in this generation cannot write the final part of the story. Because new resources are coming up, new interpretations, and consequently we must keep working at the same topics and subtopics until we get it, and until we get it right. Frederick douglas visited tennessee three times before he died in 1895. He came in 1873, 1882, and in 1892, 3 years before he died. He did not come to memphis in 1892 because of the riots. And massacres that took place. He had visited chattanooga, knoxville, nashville, as he did on his 1882 tour. One of them asked douglas, what what must we do after slavery . And Frederick Douglass said, we must learn or die. That is still true today. We have to learn our history, keep writing and rewriting it until we get it right. And we have to learn what has happened in the past in order to be able to govern ourselves in the present, and to plan for the future. So, these three scholars that have come to us in memphis really have done their work and i have used a lot of their work in my own research in writing, to give us Important Information today. And what i am going to do is to introduce all three of them now and they will copmeme to you you in that order and at the end of the presentations we will have plenty of time for you to give comments and for you to ask the scholars questions, about their presentations or other information they may have. Stephen ash is here on your far left. Stephen ash is a professor at the university of tennessee, knoxville. He is a specialist in the history of civil war and. Emancipation. He is the author of a long list of books on the civil war era, including most recently the book a massacre in memphis the race riot that shook the nation one year after the civil war. Todays presentation will explore the central themes of the book, laying bare the forces that converged in memphis in may 13, 1856. Almost exactly 150 years ago, that we are now reexploring this history. Hannah rosen who is next to the left, going toward the right. She is an associate professor of history at the college of william and mary. Her work focuses on the intersection of race and gender, with a history of slavery and emancipation. She writes about citizenship, Sexual Violence, and the meaning of race in the post emancipation south. Which i consider we are still living in, 150 years later. Her Current Research explores africanamerican experiences surrounding death and mourning. Her talk today will focus on the interplay of race, gender, and violence during the memphis massacre. Andrew slap, the last person on the panel, is a professor of history at East Tennessee State University in johnson city. His research focuses on 19th century American History, particularly the civil war era. He has published books on reconstruction politics, appalachia, still a study that we need to do a lot in. Since the civil war, and the urban south. He is currently at work on a history of africanamerican communities in memphis. And todays talk will focus on the black soldiers who garrisoned fort pickering at the time of the memphis massacre. A fort like the one in nashville, still difficult to identify in the city, but the one of the largest for the union army in the civil war. So today, you will get some very valuable information, not only as tennesseans and memphians, but all of you that are interested in American History. So, we will start with professor ash and his presentation. [applause] professor ash i would like to add my thanks, the thanks of some any of our other speakers who have extended gratitude to susan, beverly, andre and others who made this a reality. What i am going to talk about today is one of the uglier chapters in American History. A fascinating chapter, but not a comfortable one to contemplate. But it is an important story to know if we are going to fully understand how significant racial hatred and violence has been in shaping our national experience. It is important to note, too, if we are to fully understand how americans grapple with the issues that grew out of the civil war, 18611865, what happened briefly was this. In may 1866, one year after the civil war ended, mobs of white men in memphis went on a 36 hour rampage through the city. By the time this race riot, which by any reckoning was a racial massacre, ended, approximately four dozen black people had been murdered, men, women and children. Many others had been assaulted, robbed, or raped. Every black church and every black school was burned to the ground, along with nearly 100 black homes. As they went about their work, the rioters were heard boasting that they would kill every black person in the city, or drive them out of the city. They heard, kill every negro, no matter who. Men and women. Another was heard proclaiming, it is the white mans day now. To understand how such a thing could happen, we need to understand how profoundly unsettled the south was in the wake of the civil war. We have to understand how the defeat of the confederacy and emancipation of the slaves had revolutionized the south, opening up opportunities for black people that they could have hardly dreamed of before the war. While at the same time, threatening everything that is southern whites believed in. The northern victory had decided two things, two great issues that had troubled the nation. The attempt of the Southern States to leave the union and form their own republic had been crashed, and slavery had been abolished. But the war left unsettled certain other great questions, questions that would have to be addressed in the postwar era of reconstruction. Among these was exactly what kinds of freedom the souths 4 million liberated slaves would have. It was not certain when the war ended in the spring of 1865 just what the status of the free people would be in the postwar south. Southern whites, in the aftermath of the civil war, had their own ideas about this key question. They had a very narrow definition of black freedom. Southern whites had always thought that blacks were inherently inferior and potentially dangerous and emancipation did not change that. Now, with emancipation as the law of the land, they conceded only that blacks could no longer be bought and sold. And that their marriages and parenthood would be legally recognized. In all other ways, southern whites insisted that blacks must remain subservient and in no way equal citizens. This kind of racism strikes us as appalling today, but before we condemn it too harshly we need to see it in historical context. The belief in black inferiority was the norm among the white people in that era, i mean those above the masondixon line as well is below. North and south. The idea of black inferiority was taken for granted. It was taught to white children from the cradle. Very few americans, in the north or south, in the era managed to rise above this racism. Even those that were sympathetic to the black people, very few managed to rise above that and embrace black people as their full equals. This is not to excuse the white racism of that era. It is to make it understandable and it is certainly not to excuse the violence and even cruelty with which some southern whites tried to impose their vision on black freedom in the postwar south. What about the emancipated slaves . How did they view the situation . Not surprisingly, they had a far more expansive definition of freedom, compared to the southern whites. To the liberated people of the south, it was not enough that they could no longer be put on the auction block. It was not enough that they no longer had to endure the separation of families, the husband taken from wives, children taken from parents and sold away. The emancipated black people sought to make the most of their freedom in the postwar years. They wanted to achieve fully equality. They were restless and hopeful. Southerners, both black and white in those months immediately after the war, were also watching events in washington, d. C. Where president andrew johnson, the successor of president lincoln, was locked in battle with the republican dominated congress over the question of how the south would be reconstructed, how the seceded states would be restored, how the former confederate would be dealt with, and how the former slaves would be dealt with. So, this period, about a year after the war, from the spring 1865 through the spring of 1866, was a time of great uncertainty. A time of death for both whites and blacks, a time of uncertainty, of hope, of fear, everybody anxious about the future. Amid the turmoil, the southern cities, including memphis became magnets for the free slaves, drawing them from the tens of thousands from the country. Why . What did the city have to offer . What was so attractive for the newly liberated people . For one thing, it was in the cities where the troops were posted. It was also in the city where the offices of the freedoms located. Eau was an agency created by congress as the war ended. Agency set up to aid the slaves and their transition from slavery to freedom. And they had offices across the south, all of them in towns and cities. Also, they were northern missionaries. Idealistic men and women who came south during and after the war to set up goals to teach the slaves how to read and write and how to achieve full potential after the war. To the former slaves in the postwar south, the cities seems to offer safety and opportunity. In contrast to the countryside, where white continued to dominate local affairs and continued to lord it over the free people. In the cities, the freed slaves could enjoy both freedom and real security, or so they thought. In the postwar months, free people flocked from the plantation to the cities, and methods was one of these magnets. The black population of memphis when the civil war began was about 4000. By the spring of 1866, it was probably around 20,000. These free people flocked to the city, even though the Living Conditions were wretched. Most of the newcomers had to live in shanties, the city was crowded, it was filthy, plagued with disease and there were not enough jobs to go around. But to most of these black newcomers, it was worth it. They celebrated their freedom in the city. Exuberant, they established churches, they enrolled their children in missionary schools, they sought justice in the court, andreau they abandoned the deference that whites had always expected of them and that they had to exhibit as slaves. They demanded that whites treat them with respect. Now, look at the situation through the eyes of white memphis. White memphians reacted bitterly, to say the least, over what they saw as an invasion of their city by lazy and insulin olent former slaves. They saw black assertion as proof that emancipation had been a terrible mistake and that the freed people were dangerously out of control. Certain memphis newspapers stoked this white anger. Editorializing continually on the alleged threat posed by the blacks and their yankee friends, Freedmans Bureau and the missionaries, which they refused stirring up the black people. Every instance of black crime and rowdiness was played up sensationally, in the newspapers, to the point that many white people became convinced that their city was about to be overwhelmed by black crime and violence. Some of these newspapers virtually dehumanized the blacks, showing them as thieves motivated by passion, living in vice idleness and infamy. These are some of the words from the newspaper editorials of the day. The most bitter and angry of the whites where the working class were the working class men, particularly the Large Population of irish immigrants who competed with the blacks for jobs. The irish dominated the ranks of the City Police Department and routinely brutalize the free people. Brutalized the freed people. This racial animosity, i must say, was mutual. It was repaid in kind by the black population of memphis, by the spring of 1866 had decided that they were no longer going to take the abuse of whites, especially the police. The racial atmosphere in the city by that point, the spring of 1866, it was so tense and volatile that a lot of people had come to the conclusion that a racial explosion of some sort was inevitable. So, to some people, it was not a surprise when it did explode. Some people had seen it coming for a long time. The prophecy was fulfilled on the afternoon of may 1, 1866 irish policeman confronted a crowd of black men who were carousing on the street in the black section of town. There was a confrontation. Angry words were exchanged, insults were exchanged and it quickly escalated into a shootout. Policemen and some of the black men drew pistols and in the shootout, to policeman were wo policemen were wounded. Word of the encounter spread like lightning through the city. The rumor that went around was that a fullscale black uprising had begun. And that the blacks intended to murder the white population of the city. Many whites, as i said were already primed for this, this fear all along that this would happen, many whites thought this is really happening, it in uprising. And they panicked. Mobs of white men armed with pistols and clubs, formed Downtown Core march two the , marched to the scene of the shootout, and began shooting and beating every black person they could find on the street. Men, women and children. Over the next 36 hours, other mobs roamed through the city attacking black people on the street and in their homes, and setting fires. Prominent among the rioters, very often leaving them, were the city police. Why was it allowed to go on for so long . The city authorities, who were mostly irish, took no action to restore order. The mayor of the city was drunk during the whole time of the riot. But even had he been sober he could not have restored order, because as i said, his police force was involved in the rioting. That left it up to the u. S. Army, but they were slow to respond. The Army Commandant in the city that had several companies of troops at his disposal, kept making excuses for not deploying them until that riot reached such intensity that he could no longer remain aloof. He was never held accountable, nor was any rioter punished. Not one of them. Nor was there restitution made it to the victims and survivors y restitution made to the victims and survivors of the massacre. So that in brief is the story of the memphis massacre, one of the bloodiest and destructive riots in American History. If i had more time, i would discuss its impact on national politics. It was widely reported across the country, extensively reported. It was the most insatiable news sensational news event outside of washington, d. C. Since the surrender of the confederate armies. The massacre was the subject of no fewer than three federal investigations, with hundreds interviewed. And it also played a key role in the battle between president s and congress over the reconstruction of the south, and it helped shape the reconstruction of the south. But, as i said, i have no time to do that. That is another story. Thank you. [applause] hannah i will take a moment. Is this on . Amazing, ok. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is hannah rosen. It is lovely to see you here. Before i begin with my comments, i just want to say how really thrilled i am about this conference. How very grateful i am to beverly and susan and their partners for organizing it. It has been a long time coming, an event to mark the memphis massacre. Thank you for creating this stage for us to think about is this important event together and make it for inviting me to and thank you for inviting me to be a part of it. Early in may, 1866, rebecca ann bloom and her husband peter went to the streets of memphis. They were once enslaved club but , but they were now free people. Although their freedom had been a tremendous victory, it was terrifying times for the blooms and others that were facing daily life or death struggles. Several days before the community had been any murderous assault by gangs of white men that roamed south memphis and went into free peoples homes, robbing, assaulting and murdering residents and burning houses and churches to the ground, they were heading now to the office of the Freedom Bureau to testify to what had happened when five of those men entered the room on the second night of the violence. Seated before an agent, peter blum explained that they had barged into the room and the pretext of searching for weapons. Instead, they still 50 in cash, tole 50 in cash, a gold watch and a packet of razors, which were peters because of his trade as a berber. As a barber. And they said that the men were upset that there was no candle in the room, so they took peter outside to look for one. She explained that she was raped by one of the men that was remaining behind. Rebecca describes his actions and this is what she said this isnt working. Sorry. I am very sorry. You do not have her words on the screen. Oh. Can we get this . Ok. Well, that was easy. So, i will click here. It is moving on the laptop, not moving on the screen. Ok. You her words. Do her wordad he wanted to know if i had anything to do with white men. I said, no. He held a knife and said he would kill me if i did not let him do what he wanted to. I refuse. He said, you must pay then he got into bed with me. Still holding the knife. She was among five women among to Sexual Violence during the memphis massacre. Not only through memphis, but throughout the state during reconstruction, three people freed people testified of sexual attacks by white men. Three people spoke about the vilest mehta had either witnessed or separate. The investigation committee, as bloom did to those agents. Three pupils determination for the abuse of their rights, coincided with federal interest and documenting of violence by the former confederates. Together, this phenomenon created a unique record of black women speaking about rape. Freed womens testimony of rape can be painful to hear. I intended to display her words on the screen today, despite the fact that they would be painful to read. Still not working. I have done this, speaking about this, reading her words despite the discomfort, because it is crucial we examine the testimony. It is crucial first, because it was not easy for the women who recorded these words to do so. A woman named