Memphis Area Lynching Locations Special Resource Study

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This is the Memphis Area Lynching Locations Special Resource Study project website. The National Park Service (NPS) will use this website to display public information throughout the course of this study. Meeting dates and locations will be posted here, along with project updates.

The National Park Service is conducting a special resource study (SRS) on lynching sites in the vicinity of Memphis, Tennessee, for their potential inclusion in the national park system, as directed by Congress under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117-328). The law identified the following eight lynching sites in Tennessee to be included in the study:

1. 1868 Christopher Bender and Bud Whitfield (Memphis, Shelby County)

2. 1869 Wash Henley (Memphis, Shelby County)

3. 1892 Thomas Moss, Will Stewart, and Calvin McDowell (Memphis, Shelby County)

4. 1893 Lee Walker (Memphis, Shelby County)

5. 1894 Warner Williams, Daniel Hawkins, Robert Haynes, Edward Hall, John Hayes, and Graham White (Kerrville, Shelby County)

6. 1917 Ell Persons (Memphis, Shelby County)

7. 1939 Jesse Lee Bond (Arlington, Shelby County)

8. 1940 Elbert Williams (Brownsville, Haywood County)

As outlined in the study legislation, sites of other lynchings within 100 miles of the city of Memphis may be identified through historical research and public input and added to the list of potential sites to be studied. The authorizing legislation allows three years to complete the study and submit it to Congress. Once received by Congress, the final study will be made available to the public.

For the purposes of this study, the National Park Service will use the definition of lynching as established by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1940, namely that a lynching is a killing committed outside of the law, by a group, and done under the pretext of service to justice, race, or tradition. Although the traumatic history of lynching is not confined to the Memphis area but was pervasive throughout the United States, per the legislative directive, this study will focus on sites in Memphis and a 100-mile radius surrounding the city.

The 54 USC 100507 (United States Code) and NPS Management Policies 2006 have established the process for conducting congressionally authorized studies of potential additions to the national park system. They require that a study area meets four criteria to be recommended as an addition: (1) national significance, (2) suitability, (3) feasibility, and (4) need for direct NPS management. The study process is linear, and each of the four criteria are evaluated sequentially. If the study finds that a site does not meet one of the criteria, the study process will be curtailed for that site. Regardless of the outcome of the study, new units of the national park system can only be established by an act of Congress or by presidential proclamation.

Contact Information

Julie Bell
Project Manager
(303) 987-6726