after the 1866 rights that resulted in the massacre of dozens of african-americans. they discussed testimonies that freed women assaulted during the melee and the role this event was hosted by the university of memphis and is a little bit over two hours. >> first, let us thank all of the organizers of this conference. it is 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. 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 till 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 visited chattanooga, knoxville, nashville, as he did on his 1882 tour. one of them asked douglas, what must we do after slavery? and better douglas said, -- 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 introduce all three of them now and they will copmeme to 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. he is a professor at the university of tennessee, knoxville. he is a specialist in the history of civil war and. 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."

today's presentation will explore the central themes of the book, laying bare the forces that converged in memphis in 1856. almost exactly 150 years ago, that we are now re-exploring 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 talks 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 african-american 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 tennessee state -- 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. the civil war, and the urban south. he is currently at work on a history of african-american communities in memphis. and today's talk will focus on the black soldiers who garrisoned for pickering at the time -- fort pickering at the time of the massacre. a fourth like the one -- 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 memphians, but all of you that are interested in american history. so we will start with professor ash and his presentation. [applause] stephen: 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, if we are to fully understand how americans grapple with the issues that grew out of the civil war, 1861-1865, what happened briefly was this. in may 1860 6, 1 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 rates -- raped. every black church and every black old was worth -- burned to the ground, along with nearly 100 black homes.

as they went about their work, the writers were heard -- 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. another was heard proclaiming, it is the white man's 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 to things, 2 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 south's 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 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 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 black -- be bought and sold. 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 mason-dixon 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 and the postwar years. they wanted to achieve fully quality. the postwar months was a time of great -- among the liberated slaves. they were restless and hopeful. southerners, both black and white in those months immediately after the war, were also watching events in washington dc 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

of 1865-18 66, was a time of great uncertainty. a time of death for both whites and blacks, a time of uncertainty, of hope, of fear, everybody inches about the future. -- 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 freedom's barrow was located, an agency

created by congress as the war ended. a war department agency set up to eight the slaves -- 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 freedom -- shchools teach the freedom 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. the free people came 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 for 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

freedom of the court, and they abandoned the difference that whites -- 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 -- ignorant former slaves. they saw black assertion as proof that emancipation had been a terrible mistake and that the free people were dangerously out of control. certain memphis newspapers stoked this white anger. editorializing continually on

the elected threat -- alleged threat posed by the blacks and their yankee friends, especially the freedom 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 ritually dehumanized -- 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 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. this racial animosity, i must say, was mutual. it was repaid in kind by the black population of memphis, some of them by the spring 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 went for 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. police and black men drew pistols and in the shootout, to policeman were wounded. word of the encounter spread

like lightning through the city. the rumor that went around was that a full-scale 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 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 moms -- mobs roamed through the city attacking black people on the street and in their homes, and setting fires. prominent among the writers -- rioters very often leaving them, where the city police -- 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 writing -- 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 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 event -- sensational news event outside of washington dc, 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 presidents and congress over the

reconstruction of the south, and it helped shape the reconstruction of the south. but 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 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, and event -- an event to mark the memphis massacre. thank you for creating this stage for us to think about is important event together and make it for inviting me to be a part of it. early in may, 1866, rebecca and -- ann bloom and her husband peter went to the streets of memphis. they were once enslaved club but they were now free people. although their freedom had been a tremendous victory, things -- 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 people's 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, a gold watch and a packet of razors, which were peter's because of his trade as a

berber. 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 isn't working. sorry. i am very sorry. you do not have her words on the screen. oh. can we get this? ok. that was easy. so, i will click here. it is moving on the laptop, not the screen.

hannah: ok. this is rebecca describing what happened. "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. he was holding the knife. " she was among five women among the violence in the massacre. not only through memphis, but throughout the state during reconstruction, three 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. free to women's 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 my 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 reported this to do so.

a woman named cynthia townsend told the committee that a group of white men had raped a free woman living near her. she also explained that she found it difficult to speak about such things, telling the committee, i do not believe i can express what i saw. ♪ she nonetheless fell it was her duty to do so and she added, "i am telling the truth and i know i have to give an account of it." other women who testified were forthright, and they often meant officials efforts to shape their testimony with resistance. for those women, they clearly wanted these stories told from

their perspective, to be heard. so it is hard to hear them. i also think that examining the testimony about rape in particular is important, because acknowledging the full history of the massacre and the violence of reconstruction, means acknowledging the role of gender and sexuality in those life and death struggles that they were engaged in. and free women's words about race -- rape help us do that. we can see the importance of bodily integrity and lives free of sexual abuse. they can help us see gender and the efforts of white southerners to reestablish difference and hierarchy after the emancipation. in order to get testimony about sexual violence during the massacre, we have to place that testimony in the context of the everyday memphis, leading up to those days. particularly, over the meaning of race that transpired in various arenas of the public space. public life in memphis had been

dramatically transformed by the civil war and emancipation. in the antebellum years, the city's population had been almost entirely slaves and public conduct was regulated and circumscribed by city ordinances. kate described in her presentation yesterday, as being the case and most southern cities. mathis laws prohibited slaves traveling to the city without a pass, or congregating for social or political activities. though these laws can never be fully enforced, the police were empowered to interfere where they sought the action of african-americans in the city, at all times. moving about the streets of memphis, white and black people

experience racial difference in their everyday lives. in the power of utilizing public spaces. and by now we were supposed to be looking at cynthia townsend. the civil war permanently altered these racial dynamics. thank you. the occupation of the city by the union army in june 1862, brought thousands of african-american migrants to the city, who increased the black population four times. the significance of the migration process relations and public activity may -- in the past come african-americans were brought to be sold in slave markets and in homes. after the union occupation, the african-americans came to memphis seeking as one former slave described it, a city of refuge. or a space where they would be free. during the civil war and

reconstruction, refugees rapidly entered spaces in memphis and the anticipation of new freedom. at the time, the former status of them was certain, they were no longer slaves. they had no former political rights. and until the civil rights act was passed, weeks before the massacre, african-americans were denied recognition as legal citizens. nonetheless, people made use of the power available to them to claim many aspects of citizenship. they began lives with expectations for freedom that included the ability to enjoy free movement, socializing, and in the urban community of their choosing. to be compensated for labor and to have rights protected by the freedmen's bureau and the occupying army.

they expected to be citizens of the city. the reaction of many whites of the african-americans shows how powerfully their activities disrupted the racial difference that was rated in slavery. conflicts of bash of her public safety ensued. they wanted to discredit the public presence of the blacks and what was embodied in what they felt. african-american women were key participants in these conflicts. they constituted a sizable version of the former slaves that came to memphis during the war and after. an affidavit indicated that many women migrated specifically in search of a free life. they fled conditions in the countryside, physical violence, work without pay him a separation from family, and once in the city, they took advantage of the opportunity to socialize with other african-americans. women were at the center of many of the public spaces of the black community, such as picnics and affairs they sponsored -- fairs they sponsored to raise money for churches.

they often gathered and danced with soldiers into the morning hours. black women further undermined the monopoly on public life, by utilizing the power of black union soldiers. and they secured and defended their rights. the bureau held jurisdiction and all legal conflicts in memphis. it was established because the states continue to refuse to hear the testimony of black witnesses. in court, three men and best -- women press charges on whites to protest assaults, which were frequent.

the impact of the legal action spilled over into the street, when whites resisted black soldiers who came to make arrests or collect fines. these were for the reported in comments in the city newspaper. so even when cases did not lead to convictions, the action brought charges of the way abuse and that means evidence of the new rights and power of former slaves, predominately in public view. white men quickly experienced the changed meaning of race through african-american women's movement and to their use of public authority. some whites responded by attacking the women and putting them in a disparaging light. the rhetoric of the newspaper editors and focus on the reporting in the conservative press suggests efforts to -- their freedom in the city. same kind of newspaper reports that professor ash referred to. and there was an elected increase -- alleged increase of crime and disorder object early

-- disorder competently threatening white americans in the street. and in all of their unpredictability, the papers and posed the concept of women. this was common in the 19th century, divisions of herbalife in general -- urban life in general, women showing that they inhabited one or two realities. the delicate lady, or the vicious public woman or prostitute. post emancipation memphis, the imagery operated the long arm, by representing black women as bad women and often as sexually indiscriminate and dangerous committees newspapers cap their presence -- cast their presence as illegitimate and challenged their claim of equal citizens. this is evident in knowing what of the conservative press, that was used to describe black women. examples like the following were common -- a free woman with the assistance of a soldier, force

her way into the house of a white family because she believed they were holding her child against its will. using state power to assert her rights as a mother, characterized by the memphis daily appeal, as a negress who was raving and threatening and using very abusive and insulting language, all quotes from the press, in contrast to those described from the ladies of the house is delicate constitutions were unsettled. she may have been a very angry, she certainly had reason to be angry. but when the press identified

assertive black women, calling them negress, it avoided calling them women. and it associated them with -- these items described blacks as wenches, a term meaning female pop also denoting servitude -- fema, but also denoting servitude. and women arrested for disorderly contact -- conduct, they named them women of african dissent and offered the interpretation that freedom seemed to have an intoxicating effect on the free females. that is their words. images associated black women circulating in the press or reinforced by police action against these women, including frequent arrests for just that project and --for junk and disorderly conduct. they were then highlighted and exaggerated in the newspaper accounts. reports such as six more prostitutes were arrested -- negro prostitutes were arrested yesterday, indicated an epidemic of prostitution that was not indicated by other sources.

another report that "free color prostitutes were charged with vagrancy and hired out to contractors, simply -- contracted it." did not indicate that this was the case. no doubt, some women in memphis exchanged sex for money when necessary to survive. and others worked in prostitution but many arrests were -- a women -- a woman went to the freedmen's bureau to complain that an officer was arresting -- harassing her and her home. she recounted that a city police man came to my house and compelled me to give him $22. at the same time, falsely charging me with keeping a house -- the police man told her that it would cover fines for the charge.

but when she went to court the next morning, she testified "she was ready for an investigation of these false charges and the police man did not appear, nor had he made a report of the case." and there are several accounts of extortion. and similar efforts like this, under charges of prostitution, were reported as having occurred in the midst of them -- of the massacre. many of the women that were attacked understood that they were targets of violence because of their relationship to the black community. and such a connection figured prominently into the testimony of four of the five women that testified about having been raped. one example, harriet, that was married into an african-american

soldier. early on wednesday morning, two men carrying revolvers came to her room. molly hayes, a white woman in the adjacent house, heard them confronting area. and she told the congressional committee on, there were two men who asked her where her husband was. she said, he was in the fort. they said, was he a soldier? she said yes. the last word i heard was, shut the door. she testified that after they barred the door shut, both men raped her. white men are dissipating in the massacre, encountered the soldiers in the city streets as representatives of free people in the public and of authority

in memphis. by telling women that they were suffering because of their relationship with the soldiers, the assailants traded their actions as assertion of power over these men. it is important that these assailants at the size in the attacks, the particular relationship between black men and black women. you can see it in the fact that assailants often initiated interaction with black women with an oddly casual request for sex, that seemed to presume that the black women being solicited were always available for sex with the men. for instance, a 16-year-old testified that men broke into the home that she shared with a man. first insisting that she serve dinner. she remembers them saying, you must have a and ham -- eggs and ham. they sat down and ate. and after finished eating, they announced, that they wanted women to sleep with. thompson later testified to the congressional committee that "they said we were not that sort of women." yet, her refusal to have sex was unacceptable to the

intruders. one of the men physically attacked her. smith refused the intruders and she testified, when they tried to take advantage of me, i told them that i would not. in response, one of the men choked me by the neck and said he would make me. like the men that attacked thompson, and those that attacked rebecca, first solicited for sex, asking if she had anything to do with white men before using force. her answer was, no. it was also repeated in testimony, referring to sexual intercourse. by asking bloom if she had intercourse with white men, they forced her to engage in a dialogue that position her as a woman with you a strange man with fast with him a strange man

with talk about sex. he says her blackness. at the same time, he refused to recognize her identity as a white, even though her husband had just been dragged from the bed in which she lay. when bloom refused to participate, he forced her under the threat of -- threat of violence. these sexual assaults were not spontaneous acts of aggression release from normal restraint in the pandemonium of a riot. they were enactments of fantasy of racial superiority, operated around the gender constructions of difference. it placed black women in the role of the kind of woman that would not refuse sexual advances of a white man. and white men demanded sex, black women acquiesced under force, and they show their dominance and the woman's lack of virtue. in this sense, the men wanted to make meaningful for themselves but of racial discourse on the black women's gender and sexuality already going around

memphis at the time copy eagerly in the conservative press. and these assailants joined with the press in asserting that these women had been in the public spaces of memphis, identifying them as lewd women, implying they were the kind of women that were a danger to the community if unconstrained in public. now, although generally unable to prevent rape in the massacre, women were able to resist -- assailants entered but it to the violence -- attributed to the violence. they did this by refusing the request for sex. and subsequently, by narrating the events from their own perspective when they had the chance to testify.

in the days and weeks after the massacre, the women told their stories to the committee sent to memphis from congress to investigate. the free women that testified about the sexual violence, the committee created a forum of state power in which to counter the narrative. white men -- to claim the right for themselves. it employed a language of violation and harm, and felt that the assailants actions as a rape, rather than sex. rebecca bloom said that the man that got into bed with her, violated her person. before the congressional committee, thompson said that she and smith were violated by the men that intruded upon their home. and they used similar words, they said, he tried to violate me and he hurt me. another freed woman testified about rape, reporting, and had to give up to them. they said they would kill me.

sex was imposed against their will, freed women told stories -- meaning that black women had no virtue, meaning they had no reason to resist. comments that she had to give up , were made in response to a question of the congressional committee about the assault she described. the question was, did you make any resistance? harriet also came under this kind of questioning by a committee member. when she explained that she had seen no possibility of escape from the men, because one of them had barred the door shut, one congressman asked, what did he do with the window? she explained, she could have not led through the window -- fled through the window. and he asked, you made no resistance? no, she repeated, i could not get out and i could not help myself. suspicions from the committee

continued. as i understand, you do not try to prevent them from doing these things to you, another conversation said that congressman -- congressman said. could not have somebody outside tried to help you. she explained the attack again. this is what she said. no, sir. i did not know what to do. i was there alone, i was sick and i thought i would rather let them do it to me rather than be hurt or punish. i would be afraid to call for help. i thought -- i do not like to do it, but i thought it would be best. shielded to the men's demands -- sorry. in order to protect herself from other forms of violence, yet her judgment on what to do in this situation did not conform to the page you are cool framework -- to the framework that these men on the committee had. about the uneasiness of the

testimony, she defended her action and made clear that as much as she -- the violence, she did not share the assumption that rape would damage her in ways that were worse than death. the struggle to make intelligible to the committee the perspective that she experienced in the massacre, but also possibly her experience watching was enslaved. all the women that testified had recently lived under a system in which many women faced the choice between submitting to intercourse with white men or risking other harm to themselves or their loved ones. for them, honor may have depended on surviving and protecting the injustice, then on protecting the notion of

women's sexual virtue. despite their efforts, the freedom women's testimony did not related to their arrest -- the arrest of the men in the assault. and the final report highlights the rape of black women -- yay. as the crowning acts of atrocity. this characterization appeared and thousands -- in thousands of copies of the report that was distributed by congress and it was distributed in the newspapers across the country. they forcefully challenged conservative public discourse about black women in memphis. they had successfully

represented themselves as honorable women, and those white men as criminal. they had circulated the notion that black women -- it was a reality and was never possible before. -- that had been full of condemnation for black women, was temporarily subsided by the overwhelming violence. 10 years later, however, conservatives in memphis stumbled on their chance to vindicate white men in their town. in 1876, francis thompson, the woman who shared a home with lucy smith who testified about them being raped, was arrested. she was charged as being a man wearing a woman's clothing. because of the testimony before the committee had occupied a prevalent place in the report, her arrest for cross jesting, which -- cross-dressing, which may have only filled a part of an article under different circumstances, filled the newspapers for days. it served the interests of conservatives in the election

campaign that would lead it to the end of the military occupation in the south. the official reconstruction. in this context, the conservative papers contended that the cross-dressing proved that her testimony on the rape had been a lie. she was forced to pay for her crime. after her arrest, she was placed on the city tanguay -- chain gang where she suffered reticle from the crowds -- critical from the crowd. in jail, she wrote a message to the newspaper reported that she was being treated, very grossly, never an opportunity presented to my taking evidence to light and exhibiting her to the curious public. she alleged further abuse of treatment to a vast other acts -- two other acts that you cannot place in print. imprisonment and hard labor, it was possible that she was -- that she suffered violence from those in jail. as she did a decade earlier, she testified against the violence. there was a congressional

investigation unit was the far left defecation of a curious newspaper -- thompson was defiled, but she was weakened by her time in prison. soon after she completed her sentence, she moved to a cabin by herself in north memphis and it was there that she was discovered seriously ill by members of the free community. they moved her to the city hospital where she died of dysentery in november 1876. the men that intruded on her home during the massacre may well have known of her mail or ambiguous body, and her probable transgender identity may have targeted her home for that reason. it is also possible that it

would have mattered very little to the assailants. most important to them where the domination that they -- was the domination that they put on their victims. we may never know. the newspapers vilified the southern brutality against black americans. not only did the press to cry thompson's depravity and accuse her of using her appearance to learn women into prostitution. and not only did the paper review the charges to condemn opponents, reminding readers that now what they referred to as the francis thompson radical party, had relied upon thompson's words to condemn white men in memphis. they used her arrest to discredit all the black women who had testified. the methods feels -- memphis appeals claim is a similar

report. whenever you hear radicals talking of the persecution of the black race in the south, ask them what they think about francis thompson and outrageous against her in the riots. the pretended outrages in the south -- are at peace with the francis thompson affair and it is material such as this all stories remain fractured. in these final years of reconstruction as black -- political leaders ability began to wane, and the stage at which black women could testify to rate -- to rape, the conservative press in memphis declared the all black women could testify -- that testified had lied. and perhaps most important about this, for our concerns today, the ways that thompson's history

speaks to memory. the testimony about the sexual violence allows us to know that the white men's politicalization on sexuality, -- under women as they struggled in their community. defenders of the agents of that massacre try in the late 1870's to take that history from us and to claimant was not true. -- claim it was not true. but the courage of rebecca, lucy, and francis, their willingness to speak for the cause, allow us nonetheless to remember. thank you. [applause]

>> that is tough to follow. i knew what it was going to be like. i have used that article in teaching several times. there are some of the most challenging discussions to have with students. i want to thank everyone who has put this on. it is important to remember an event that had slipped through

the crack's. something important to remember. it is nice to come from the east part of the state. this is my first time in memphis even though i have been studying it for six years. i want to thank my panelists. this is the first time i have used the scholarship of everybody on the panel in my research. when i mean everybody, i mean everybody. i'm going to break convention. normally, the presenters don't introduce the moderator but i want to a knowledge bobby lovett's work. his dissertation, a copy of that sit in my office. i have consulted that on many

occasions. his article is one of the first scholarly treatments upon everyone is building upon. i want to acknowledge that groundbreaking work on the memphis race riot. i am glad this is working because i do have lots of slides to show. these are actual photographs. james mosley. i want to start with sydney. he was born in montgomery, alabama, sometime in the mid-1840's. in 1863, he was among the first wave of african-americans in listing in the infantry.

in 1864, he spent time in the hospital with smallpox. but recovered, continue to serve, and he was discharged on april 30th, like most of his regiment. we all know the day after he and his fellow comrades were discharged, you have with the symposium is about. the memphis race riot. he stated in memphis. he married in 1882. a copy of his marriage's certificate in shelby county. at some point, him and his family, which i hope you can make outcome of the photograph is fated, moved up to chicago. listed there for several years before he died. a copy of his death certificate. sidney mcardle and his family

are one of thousands of individual stories. african-american soldiers and their families who were in memphis, garrisoned during the course of the civil war and then were here during the memphis race massacre. when i started this project, i fell into it by accident. i had no idea what i would find it i had no intention of studying african-american soldiers, memphis, the race massacre. when i found, starting to study these soldiers, go through their records, was connections. strong and vibrant communities. stretching from the antebellum time through the civil war into the late 19th century and some

cases in to the 20th century. there were also lots of connections made during their service at the fort. i would like to talk about some of these individual stories and also talk about the communities and the connections that were formed between the soldiers and their families. this may seem like an on place to start when we are talking about communities, looking at desertion. normally that is seen as the antithesis of communities.

when i started this research, this is a regimental book, i was surprised at the number of desertions. this is one page for one company. it seemed like a lot. when i counted them up and did averages, to give you an idea, for all african american soldiers during the war, a little over 6% desertion rate. all union and confederate soldiers. the third u.s. colored heavy artillery, 19% desertion rate. i was a little surprised. i wondered what i had stumbled across. i looked more at the numbers. 41% of all the desertions in this regiment of african-american soldiers in memphis were from two soldiers deserting from the same company on the same day. that seemed unlikely.

it wasn't just coincidence. we came up with a rough probability of two soldiers from the same company deserting on the same day. we came up with .00001 probability they were going to choose that day independently and just happened to be deserting. this is borne out when we look at some of the stories. for instance, two people deserted company f in 1863. they had many other similarities. besides the last name, both were born in the same county in mississippi. they enlisted on the same day and took their physicals one after another. they were probably from the same plantation and knew each other from before the war. another pair were born in franklin county, tennessee. deserted on july 19, 1863 while on guard duty.

one of the most remarkable cases was john and james alexander. they both deserted. they took their physicals with only one person in between in line. both returned from desertion over a year later on the same day. my guess is they spent much of that year together. it wasn't just pairs of people deserting. often pairs of people who had known each other and enlisted together. a larger percentage of desertions, where you have groups of three or four or five soldiers deserting from the same company on the same day.

the biggest one was february, 1866. 14 soldiers deserting the same day. the probability is .001 the 14th power. that is not coincidence. these are communities, coming into the army from the surrounding countryside. desertion is a form of community, keeping that community together. that was more import and then serving in the union army. take a look at another specific case. how these bonds of community help them getting pensions and deserting. william sykes, this is his pension application. he may have deserted to support his fiancee. they spent the rest of their lives in memphis red both the company books and military service records are clear, he stated he had been discharged.

several veterans from the regiment testified on behalf of. all of them lived in memphis in the late 19th century. most had been in the city before the war. a corporal was typical. testifying, i knew the claimant before the war. he was a free man. we both lived in memphis.

i saw him frequently in the service. these communities helped soldiers to desert continued to protect them for decades afterwards. this did not go unnoticed. george westfield, a special examiner for the pension bureau in memphis, had a case in 1899. he had to determine whether mary johnson's deceased husband was identical to either of the men who served in african-american regiments civil war. after examining records and opposing 14 witnesses, he reported to the commissioner, i'm convinced the husband is not identical with either of said soldiers. his reasoning, is important for understanding memphis in the african-american soldiers who garrisoned it. the most convincing fact indicated the husband did not serve in either companies, as if there are hundreds of regiments in memphis. it is hardly conceivable he would live here from discharge

to 1887 without being known to many of them. and having them at his house. this was not just come find people living in memphis. considering people living in the outskirts and surrounding countryside. to give you an idea of some street use of memphis from the time, we are talking about the commissioner going through. veterans of where they are living and staying. even further out in the country, there were veterans who had connections with those veterans in memphis. alex jones recalled, i lived most of my time in desoto county, mississippi until i move to memphis. i was in and out of memphis every three or four months. similarly, tony jordan reported, i lived in fayette county, tennessee. until 1882 when i moved back to memphis. it was then that i saw robert

johnson, another veteran. coming into the city regularly. these may seem simple. they point to the interconnection between memphis and the surrounding countryside for the veterans. henry hart's experience shows the importance of veteran communities. he was born in henderson county where he lived on a plantation. the 25-year-old hart enlisted at cornet.

that is where many african-americans joined the army. they were sent to other parts of the south. he was put in the heavy artillery. he met henrietta who worked in the hospital when he recovered from smallpox. by 1864, they were married and eventually had five children. he tried his hand at several different occupations during the course of his life. he spent most of his life living in that circle area. he try keeping a grocery store. in 1870, listed as a laborer. 1880, a candy maker. sometime, he learned how to read and write. we heard yesterday about how important education was. he obviously made an effort to learn. they did have a fractious relationship, to put it mildly. separated in 1885.

four years later, he remarried. soon after that, him and his new wife moved to 13 jefferson avenue. he was near several comrades including robert pyles, living less than 350 feet away. who was also a veteran of the colored artillery. robert pyles testified later about knowing henry hart. henry harteveltd taking care of him when he had been in the hospital for smallpox. he was as well appointed with him as he could be with any man. the area in memphis where most of the veterans and widows lived, not surprising, south memphis where fort pickering was in the race massacre occurred. an area right down here. i will show a close up. this is about eight blocks south of jefferson avenue. through combination of an

incomplete veterans census and going through veterans records, i found exact addresses for 30 widows and veterans. as i continued doing this project, there are going to be seven or eight more i will be able to find. even denser. almost half of all the veterans or widows were living within a few block radius. not coincidentally, at the center of this cluster was the colored church. in the center of where these veterans were living in the widows were living. henry lived at 44 hayden avenue. over there to the right.

next door, two regimental widows. a few blocks east, all these blue dots represent where at least one veteran or widow living. in many cases, there were two or three. a few blocks east, he lived next door. one black north of them, lived another person. . four blocks south of the church, robert jones and alex jones lived together. in the upper right, he lived within a few hundred feet of them. 10 blocks south west, there

appears to be another cluster of veterans. you get some idea of what they were seeing on a daily basis. there is another cluster about 10 blocks away. this shows some of the connections as widows and veterans moved about the city removing him one group to another. maintaining their connections. marianne weston, a widow, shows the connections even as they moved about the city. she was living in the southwest cluster area. by early 1890, she was living further north.

later that year, she moved back to her old neighborhood. the southwest cluster. there, she was living next door to henry beaumont. a couple blocks north of john abernathy. i talked about arts. memphis had a population of 65,000. what is the chance they are coincidentally living nearby? i want to and with a slightly longer individual story, partly because of the wonderful image. this is david warrington. he probably had this photograph taken soon after enlisting. in late october, 1864.

i found this image in his pension file. this is, from my perspective, incredibly rare. a photograph of an african-american soldier, pretty early in the pension file. he was stationed in memphis. even for the mid-19th century, they had much in common. they were 28-year-old farmers. they were both on the short side, standing at 5'5" and 5'4". a neighbor recalled, he was black, not very tall, heavy set. in and his brother agreed to serve ad substitutes for men who

had been drafted but did not want to serve. they were sent south where they joined a different companies. the only thing of note in his service record was some clerk incorrectly listed him as david washington. a seemingly innocuous mistake. both of them settled down just south of st. louis. the area was described as wilderness where few men owned good land. it was not all hard work for the warrington's. i'm going to put this up because i like the photograph so much. david warrington soon met charlotte, a young woman who may

have been the sister of frank grimes, who had served with them in memphis. after a few years of courtship, they married on july 25, 1872. she gave birth to a daughter, sylvia, 10 months later. around 1878, they had a second daughter who was always a little weak thing. by all accounts, the family was happy. and neighbor recalled, i remember him going long distances home at night. saying he had a little baby at home and had to go. i know he was referring to this diana. another neighbor gave a similar account. he would walk home for five miles from his work, just to be with his said wife and children. treasuries struck in 1882 when

charlotte died from pneumonia at age 28. mary warrington, the sister, moved in to help. david warrington remained devoted to his daughters. a neighbor recalled, i used to see him out on the lake. fishing with his two children. their mother charlotte was dead and gone. he took them along to get them out of the way of his sister, mary. seven months later, david warrington became hell with tuberculosis and died. james warrington, who served with david warrant, helped bury his brother. diana was young and she later said, she had no memory of her parents.

the first thing i remember, i was living in st. louis in the house of my uncle. in 1893, frank grimes applied to get a pension. small problem. unit is the little mistake from the clerk. he was applying from a pension for david warrington. the records were for david washington. despite correspondents, she did not get the pension. she probably needed to get support. she is in a week physical pattern according to a relative. diana wrote the pension office, inquiring about the pension. special examiners investigated the claim, interviewing people from illinois to california.

one of the key pieces of evidence was this photograph. this photograph was one of the key pieces of evidence. a picture of a man which my mother always taught me is a likeness of her brother. they took the photograph to try and corroborate that david washington and washington were the same person. upon being shown the photograph, a former neighbor said, i can easily tell you whose likeness that is. i did not need to have you or anyone tell me who's picture that is. diana warrington not only received the pension at that point but the pension office backdated it to when she should have first gotten it. david warrington had taken care

of his little girl with the photograph taken almost 60 years earlier. this was probably the only image she had of her father. she told the special examiner, he must have been a soldier. i will lend this picture to you. but wish it returned to me. the unreturned picture remained buried in the files for almost a century. i found it about three years ago. you are among the first people seeing this. in almost a century.

now the difficulty she had getting a pension was not unusual. widows and children had a more difficult time than white veterans and their families of getting pensions. some of the reason for this, you can see in the angry letter. the census taker wrote. they were doing a special census. the person responsible for memphis, bitterly complained to his supervisor he could not job. because african-americans in the city did not have documentation to prove their connections or service. some of this is reminiscent of slavery. not having bursar tickets or marriage records.

some of it probably did not help to have white rioting in 1866. some of the records destroyed. fortunately, this case was not unique. there are hundreds of cases of african-american soldiers and their families coming together, working together to make sure they got at least some of what they deserved for their service to the union. thank you. [applause] >> let's give another applause. [applause]

>> dr. ash, dr. rosen, and dr. slap. now is the time for us to reflect on what we have learned. also present some questions and comments to the presenters because of all this valuable information they have provided us. especially, professor slap's presentation shows how we can still do research on african-american cultures and families in tennessee and memphis. you can use the pension applications as well as portfolios of each of those african american soldiers. much of which is online now. and on microfilm. there is a tennessee

genealogical society, african american genealogical society, that meets in nashville in the downtown public library. the annual meeting of the african-american genealogical society, where more african-americans are been able to trace their roots back to this time that we are talking about. professor rosen, very interesting paper. on african-american women and the brutalities they suffered after the civil war. sometimes in studying history, we forget that 49.7%, according to my calculations, of the slaves were women and children.

we have this erroneous perception that most of the slaves were men. most of the abuse that she talks about was going on before 1866. black women were still continuing after the 1865 emancipation to suffer these brutalities. we still need some of you to do studies on african-american children because they have made up a tremendous percentage of those we call slaves. those enslaved, 280,000 people in tennessee. 4 million across the united states. we still don't know a lot about them and what happened to them. during and after slavery. now children's history is a subject that some historians like you are getting into to teach us more about what happened to the population of those enslaved in emancipated.

dr. ash has brought together a good and definitive synopsis of what happened in the race riot of 1866. we will turn it over to you to ask some questions. any comments you may make, make them brief. but we want to know what you have to ask. history is about asking the best questions in order to get the best answers. that is all we historians do. one question leads to another. we learn more and we get better

answers. so i think there are some monitors around with microphones. as he raise your hand, please stand, repeat your name, and ask your question to one of the three panelists. >> i don't want to get ahead of anyone. my question is to dr. rosen. in looking at the action and violence against women, i wonder if your research shed any light on whether there was any involvement with courts in those matters. i know there was testimony in the investigations. but i'm interested in the role of courts, and what, if anything happened in the legal system with respect to those actions. prof. rosen: the only evidence of any kind of legal action that

i found against someone who participated, maybe professor ash found others, was an indictment against one of the men who had been very prominent in the events. he was the son of a grocer in south memphis who had been a ringleader. but the indictment did not necessarily go anywhere, it was just an indictment. the answer, have i found anything? no. the common presumption is there was no legal action, either in the local or state courts or federal action against those who participated. it is also true -- i remember when i first came to memphis

years ago to start my dissertation research. i spoke to an archivist before the shelby county archives was in the building. it was in the back of the library downtown. i spoke to the archivist at the time, because i was looking for local court records. i wanted to find information of african-american women bringing charges for violence somehow in memphis or in the county. she told me at a certain point of moving from one place to another, that tons of individual criminal records have been thrown away. the property records had all been kept, but that cannot records have been put in. she said she saw them in a big dumpster behind the library. might have there been stories there? it is possible. one of the legacies from the massacre and by the end of reconstruction was that it was difficult for african-american women to bring charges,

especially against white men, for sexual assault. the trauma of simply going through that, being disbelieved or having no one respond with any sense of your veracity, that probably did not meet people to seek out the authority. the evidence of such rich and tight communities as dr. slap has found is marvelous. on the date that a woman testified, usually another one did too. people are coming to the setting together, supporting each other. these are the women in the community they turned you to deal with this kind of violence, subsequently outside the lot. strategies to avoid. there were ways people don't with it, but legal recognition, i found no evidence.

>> we should recall this is may 1866, and of course african-americans have only been emancipated, so they are not citizens. they are not handled in any courts differently from the tennessee slave laws. not until the freedman's bureau comes online in march of 1855. they were very active in memphis. they would have records on some of that. but we were not citizens really until the 14th amendment of 1868. that is one of the problems with this history. we are free, but we are not citizens. so we can be treated any kind of way that they wish according to the legal record. do you have another question? >> if i could say more about the

court system. the problem with using the local courts was that they were under control of the irish, basically. but whole city was basely under control of the irish. they in the germans were the only ones who could vote and to serve on juries. at any case been brought against a rioter either in civil or promote court, it would've gone against an irish court and irish jury. that led up to the federal government. the question was taken up to the white house. andrew johnson, the long-lived states right democrat that he was, his attorney general says the federal government has no business interfering. i have to disagree with dr. lovett on one point.

civil rights act had been past three weeks before the massacre. that did overturn the dred scott decision and created that black people were citizens. did was not firmly entrenched until the 14th amendment was ratified in 1868. >> to reiterate, we have to wait until tennessee actually recognizes that. the courts are going to do that. tennessee is going to pass legislation to make that recognition in july. the congress readmit tennessee into the union because they do give blacks protection. but before the riots, there were no legal protections.

prof. rosen: one thing that does come out of the follow-up after the massacre is that the metropolitan police bill is passed in a tennessee. i don't know much about it, but it essentially was a state law which abolished the control of local police. his title was recorder of the court, who had been a terrible thorn in the side of free people in the city. he had lost his position. there have maybe in a transition after the massacre in which free people in the city might have

seen a new set of police and a new legal structure possibly available to them. i've not found any records from that, nonetheless, there may have been a time when things look possibly as if they could be better. has that point, the freedman's courts had cleared up. >> one more thing about the courts is that in the 6-7 months before the race massacre, there are 2 different police forces and judicial systems operating in memphis. one is civil, but there is also the army. they are busy arresting people. in military commission cases. to get some sense of the chaos in memphis, there are cases where irish cops are arresting black soldiers and trying them in civil courts, while black soldiers are arresting irish

cops, trying them in military courts. so there are some testimonies that stopped at the memphis race riots because of the unit being discharged. there are at least 160 cases tried. >> in other words, you have to go through 2-3 different sources in order to put that kind of a study together. we are still in the confusion of war, and reconstruction is not complete yet in tennessee. >> the only other point i wanted to make is an editorial comment. dr. slap, you mentioned compound interest. i wanted to add, i want to comment on the power of stereotypes. as dr. rosen talked about, the way african-american women were characterized in those hearings, looking at their status even today, in many instances, when it comes to allegations or testimony about victimization, especially sexual victimization. there is often a discount. it is difficult for those people's voices to be heard with credibility.

thank you. >> good morning. i want to thank the panel, the moderator dr. lovett, for such exemplary research. i am from the historic orange mountain community, the first community in america founded and developed exclusively for african-americans to buy land and own their own homes circa 1890. so actually, under half of my lineage, my ancestors, i want to thank you for such exemplary research. we know that there is more to come. i would certainly like to get a composition of that and all of the high schools in memphis, as well as other areas. our young people need to know what great great people they came from.

thank you. [applause] >> we have about 15 more minutes, so if you have any more questions, please. direct them to one of the panelists. yes? if you can get to a mic. >> okay, my question is for all of you concerning the research methods of those who did these interviews. do you know how they chose people to interview? specifically for women, where they interview in their homes or they asked to go to someplace for testimony? prof. rosen: i should have explained that.

how each woman came to be at the freedmen's bureau or the investigation is not indicated. either they volunteered. we have lots of evidence from other congressional investigations that freed people were aware of the movement of congress and these committees, and were eager to tell their stories. some people traveled great distances to get to committees. they were not interviewed in their home. memphis, they had to go to the guy yoga house where the congressional committee had printed out a room where they conducted these interviews. -- had rented out a room where they conducted these interviews. the freedmen's bureau, the day after the massacre ended, agents

were out in the streets taking notes about what happened, creating lists of those whom they had spoken to, tabulating the property stolen and destroyed and the assaults made. some people may have been on that list and then called by the congressional committee because they already knew that those people were witnesses. francis thompson herself appears on that very first list from the freedmen's bureau. but we don't know exactly how they got there. my presumption tends to be it is because it was important for them to testify. the committee was in town, they saw it out. --when the committee was in town, they sought it out. but we don't have exact records. >> sometimes pension examiners would go through company lists. whoever was applying for a pension would give them names. that person would suggest somebody else that they could talk to. in some cases they interviewed a few, sometimes it was 15-20. some cases even more. pension applications were sometimes 700 800 pages long, testimony going back and forth. something difficult with the method, is trying to understand the work that these are

supposedly direct testimonies supposedly verbatim, but a lot of these, particularly with african american women trying to prove they were married -- trying to keep as a historian in mind, you have a white man and an african-american woman asking her questions about her sexual life. and bringing their judgment to this, and how that affects what that person is saying and what is being recorded. so there are a lot of challenges in using the testimony, not just taking them at face value. prof. lovett: in the back? yes. >> i want to echo the comments of the excellent work that you do. and the fact that you devote your life to bring in attention

to areas of truth and justice. my question is about the women's movement itself, addressed to dr. rosen. was there any evidence of white women standing in solidarity with the attacks against the black women? i know there were women's movements already. they cared about abolition itself. could you speak to that? prof. rosen: certainly. professor ash has done a deeper research into the white community in memphis, and may have something to add. i don't have any evidence of early women's rights groups being involved at all in the supporting people who suffered violence during the memphis massacre. on rare occasions, you see white residents of south memphis.

i mentioned molly hayes, who had testified to one of her black neighbors. they had shared a side-by-side shanty of some kind. and she expressed her for about what was happening -- expressed her horror about what was happening. you can imagine in that community that she provided her with some comfort. i don't know that. i only know that because she told the story with sympathy to federal officials. but there isn't any evidence in relationship to this particular event, or these cases of sexual violence that i have come across from the women's rights taking of it. but it is quite possible that it happened. prof. lovett: we have two more questions. >> i want to thank everybody that is involved in this

symposium. i was a senior in high school in 1958 when martin luther king was assassinated. ever since, i have been interested in race relations and why those that look like me have had the experiences that we have had. i really appreciate everything that i have heard. all of the work and exquisite research. i am a researcher myself. i want to see if i could get professor rosen to react to something that i was thinking about as i was listening. as i read history, it seems that many of the race riots in this country recur as a result of allegations of black men raping white women. as i was sitting here, the scottsboro boys and in it till came to mind.

i was wondering if you could react to that in terms of contracts between race riots and what we are experiences today with the symposium. >> thank you for your question. certainly false accusations that black men were somehow sexually threatening white women have led to racial violence in american history. i think what is interesting to me is that, certainly in the newspapers you would see a reference to a charge. but what is interesting is that that did not come into play in any of the explicit rhetoric explaining, justifying the massacre in the white papers. for many days during the events and afterwards, conservative papers were claiming that this had been an uprising, of black

soldiers and that it was necessary to suppress that violence. i never came across evidence that anyone was accusing people of sexual assault. it's interesting that that particular rhetoric in general, how white racist's conviction of african-americans have evolved over time responding to things-- certainly black men were represented in these papers as kernels, as out of control, as drinking too much. a lot of talk about black men and guns and how dangerous it was that black men were armed and were frequent shooting off their guns in celebration. sexual assault did not come into it. the representations become much more intense and powerful by the turn-of-the-century. >> i agree with the professor. i have never come across any

explicit accusation that black men were raping white women as an excuse for the massacre. you might remember in my talk when i was quoting the newspapers, the white conservative newspapers, some of those editorials had a subtext. that quotation i said about the beastly passion -- that is codeword for black men lusting for white women. so that was there as a subtext all along. but as professor rosen said, no explicit accusation. prof. lovett: we have two more questions. please, this side first. >> i have a civil question, where was for triggering -- fort pickering? >> it was on the southern part of the city.

if you want, afterwards, i can show you on a map. it was on the southern edge of the mississippi. >> that would be riverside drive, and self main -- and south main and that area today. >> wasn't there some issue with black soldiers having been put in fort pickering somewhere because there was some mutinous action? many of these black soldiers, mostly put away, and how this affected the security situation. and when you think about the fort pillow assault, i have heard some people say that memphis was the epicenter of the backlash against black soldiery. when you look at those two

events, is there anything to that? >> i will refer to dr. slap about fort pillow. about mutinous black soldiers and fort pickering, are you referring to before the riot? >> mutinous black soldiers in fort pickering. >> there were complaints, and this was going on both in the newspapers and through formal channels, that african-american soldiers were acting out, breaking curfew. shooting guns. some of this needs to be put into context that the freedmen's bureau was sending contraband. soldiers families were trying to

send them out of memphis. there was a lot of discord with the soldiers and freedmen's bureau. when you drill down, it's understandable why there was -- why they were upset. i would not characterize it as mutinous. one last thing about records. every single service record for every african-american soldier in the third artillery is available on ancestry.com. it is probably 30-20,000 documents. for some, it is a few pages, for others, it is 20-25 pages. prof. rosen: the way that the violence of the first day, and even though they had been discharged, for black soldiers

to go back into the fort. is that what you are thinking about? many testified subsequently they were enormously frustrated and trying to lead to check on their families and helped protect those in the community. they were not allowed to leave. the commanders of the fort presuming that would only escalate the violence but from their part they represent being held against their will when they wanted to be out with whatever weapons they still had left contacting their family. prof. lovett: let us thank the panelist again. [applause] i will turn this over. starting monday at 8 p.m. eastern time, the can tenders.

c-span's 14 part series, which --ps with 2016 presidential helps put the 2016 presidential campaign in historic perspective. contenders presents key figures who run for president and lost, but changed political history. ach night we feature different candidate, beginning with henry clay and ending with ross perot. tv, on american history only on c-span3. >> this week and we take a hardhat tour of the new museum for national african american history and culture.

>> this is an interactive lunch counter that will allow the to bring their own knowledge, put together their own stories around the civil rights movement. it is also capable of being used by an individual and also classes. that's not bad. i see this as a 12 inch screen. this looks much better. the point is again, throughout the museum, trying to find all the different ways and platforms , this talks about the civil rights movement itself. they also want to create some artifacts that would really be traumatic. >> watch the entire tour at 6

p.m. sunday and 10 p.m. eastern time on american history tv. only on c-span3. >> tonight, journalists and author jonathan kendall talks about his dad, -- cop talks about his -- talks about his book, first dad's. to capture the complexity of human beings and fathering is a way into character. we tend to think this is a bad guy or a good guy. to see a lot of these men had different parts, they were compartmentalized and some of them could be pretty laudable and do amazing things and some could be really disappointing and horrify us. >> tonight on c-span's q and a. each week american history tv's real america rings you archival films that provides context for

today's public affairs issues. up next on real america, in 1975 for survival is police training film, detailing procedures and techniques for can confronting and arresting armed suspects. this 50 minute don't uses, to the nation's scenes at a shooting range that show the proper uses of firearms by law enforcement. ♪