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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by Bruce Guthrie who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the Creative Commons definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. If asked for permission in advance, I'll usually waive the non-commercial clause unless it's for people trying to sell the photos. A free copy of any printed publication using the photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from official signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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Signage: You'll see a lot of signs in this group. Eventually, I'll type the text of the signs into the subject description and get rid of the signs themselves. This is pretty slow and tedious work though.
Description of Subject Matter: Memphis includes Beale Street. A sign there says:
"There were two types of culture, I guess you say, on Beale Street. There were the sinners and there were the saved. You had your professional people, your doctors and business folk. Then you had those who worked to have some night life."
-- Rev James Jordan
You're standing on the street where W.C. Handy wrote the first published blues; where Robert R. Church Sr., the South's first black millionaire, made his mark, where General Ulysses S. Grant, had a Civil War headquarters, and where he returned years later to speak as President; where President Dwight Eisenhower visited; where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched; where B.B. King and Elvis Presley got their starts. ....
"Well, old Beale Street. Just like Broadway. That's what it was! Broadway in miniature. All the entertainment and everything to eat. All the sharp men, pretty girls. The works! It was right here!"
-- Andrew Chaplin Jr.
June 6, 1862
After the Confederate River Defense Fleet, commanded by Capt. James E. Montgomery and Brig. Gen. M. Jeff Thompson (Missouri State Guard), bested the Union ironclads at Plum Run Bend, Tennessee, on May 10, 1862, they retired to Memphis. Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard ordered troops out of Fort Pillow and Memphis on June 4, after learning of Union Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck’s occupation of Corinth, Mississippi. Thompson’s few troops, camped outside Memphis, and Montgomery’s fleet were the only force available to meet the Union naval threat to the city. From Island No. 45, just north of Memphis, Flag-Officer Charles H. Davis and Col. Charles Ellet launched a naval attack on Memphis after 4:00 am on June 6. Arriving off Memphis about 5:30 am, the battle began. In the hour and a half battle, the Union boats sank or captured all but one of the Confederate vessels; General Van Dorn escaped. Immediately following the battle, Col. Ellet’s son, Medical Cadet Charles Ellet, Jr., met the mayor of Memphis a ...More...
Wikipedia Description: Memphis, Tennessee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Memphis is a city in the southwest corner of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River.
As of 2006, Memphis had an estimated population of 670,902, making it the largest city in the state of Tennessee, the second largest in the southeastern region (only to Jacksonville, Florida), and the 17th largest in the United States .
The greater Memphis metropolitan area, including the adjacent counties of Mississippi and Arkansas, has a population of 1,260,581. This makes Memphis the second largest metropolitan area in Tennessee, surpassed only by metropolitan Nashville.
Memphis is the youngest of Tennessee's four major cities (traditionally including Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville).
A resident of Memphis is referred to as a Memphian and the Memphis region is known as the Mid-South.
History:
Main article: History of Memphis, Tennessee
Early history:
The Memphis area was first settled by the Mississippian Culture and then by the Chickasaw Indian tribe. European exploration came years later, with Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto and French explorers led by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.
The land comprising present-day Memphis remained in a largely unorganized territory throughout most of the 18th century. By 1796, the community was the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee.
Foundation:
Memphis was founded in 1820 , the city was named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River.
The cotton economy of the antebellum South depended on the forced labor of large numbers of African-American slaves, and Memphis became a major slave market.
Tennessee seceded from the Union in June 1861 and Memphis briefly became a Confederate stronghold. Union forces captured Memphis in the Battle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, and the city ...More...
Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
MEMPH_130303_66.JPG: Lansky Brothers
Clothier to the King
Lansky Brothers was founded in 1946 by Bernard and Guy Lansky with a $125 investment from their father, S. L. Lansky. The store began at 126 Beale Street as an army surplus store, but gradually changed to accommodate customers interested in a one-of-a-kind look. At the time, Beale Street was the center of the African-American social and music scene in Memphis. Bernard traveled the country looking for unique product. Sometimes outrageous, always years ahead of anything else in town, many of the items were made of bright, vivid colors and silky fabrics. Lansky Brothers quickly became the fashion headquarters to musicians and the clothes savvy, including B.B. King, Isaac Hayes, David Porter, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Rufus Thomas.
MEMPH_130303_72.JPG: It was Elvis Presley who helped establish Bernard Lansky’s “Clothier to the King” title and allowed for global recognition. Bernard recalls looking up one day and seeing a young man looking at his windows. He walked up to greet him and told him, “Come on in and let me show you around.” The young man said “I don’t have any money, Mr. Lansky, but when I get rich, I’m going to buy you out.” Bernard told him “Don’t buy me out. Just buy from me!” Lansky outfitted Elvis for his performances on the Ed Sullivan Show, Dorsey Brothers Show and the Louisiana Hayride. Bernard dressed Elvis in the Pink/Black combination, which defined the cool colors of the '50s era. The Lansky family has cultivated a legacy that is three generations now, and is still operating clothing stores in the lobby of the historic Peabody Hotel.
Directly Related Pages: Other pages here that have content directly related to this one:
1960_TN_Memphis_Hist: TN -- Memphis -- Various -- Historical Images (2 photos from 1960)
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject:
[Structures][Cemeteries]
2013 photos: So far, I'm mostly using my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I'm also using a Nikon D7000 and Nikon D600.
Trips this year have been limited to a Civil War Trust conference in Memphis.