Blog Post #6

            According to Preston Lauterbach, “to understand inequality in America, start with housing. Here, in [Memphis, TN] the nation’s poorest city, the segregation roots go deep” (Lauterbach). Lauterbach began his article, “Memphis Burning,” with an account of the fire on February 26, 1953 that destroyed the house of Robert Reed Church – a landmark on South Lauderdale Street in south Memphis. Although the fire was started by firefighters, who were giving a fire-safety demonstration on a fog nozzle fire-hose, essentially to Lauterbach, the burning of the vacant building and its ruins symbolized much more than a test of firefighting equipment. Ultimately, the city of Memphis officials authorized the ignition of the mansion not to simply trial run the new hose invention, but to assert their power and destroy African American achievement within the city of Memphis.

            Seventy years before the fire, Robert Reed Church Sr., built the mansion at 484 South Lauderdale Street. Church Sr. grew up as a slave, then made his fortune in real estate and became known as the “South’s first black millionaire” (Lauterbach). After the yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, Church helped rebuild the city and also became the iconic developer of Beale Street. Church Sr. brought economic opportunity for African Americans in Memphis. He raised Bob Church Jr., his son, in the house on South Lauderdale Street and groomed Church Jr. to be the heir of his businesses. However, Church Jr. was interested in politics and was determined “to fight for racial equality…at the ballot box” (Lauterbach).

Ultimately, Church Jr. strove to attain greater freedom and opportunity for both himself and his community by making African Americans politically alive in Memphis. He was dedicated to organizing and registering black voters. Also, Church Jr. was the chief patronage dispenser in Memphis and controlled numerous federally appointed jobs. In 1920, Church Jr. helped Warren Harding win Tennessee, which was the first time since 1876 that a former Confederate state voted Republican. Therefore, “Memphis blacks revered Church and all he stood for. The house on South Lauderdale symbolized his family’s courage, drive, and success, and demonstrated the potential of black power in Memphis” (Lauterbach).

            During the late 1930’s, the black enfranchisement created by Church Jr. in the city of Memphis was crushed by Democrat Edward Hull “Boss” Crump. Initially, during the 1920’s, Church Jr. and Crump “led a bipartisan, biracial coalition that controlled Memphis politics and elected most of its officials” (Lauterbach). Although a democrat, Crump encouraged the African American vote, while Church used his pull with Republican presidents to put officials in federal posts that would protect the Crump machine from federal investigation. The political peace lasted a few years. In the late 1930’s, the Crump machine banished Church Jr., seized his house on South Lauderdale Street, and dismantled his Republican organization in Memphis. Unfortunately, Lauterbach characterized the “smoke in the Memphis sky on that day in February 1953 signaled Crump’s complete triumph, as the former Church mansion was burned to the ground” (Lauterbach).

Article link: https://placesjournal.org/article/memphis-burning/