prof. rosenthe 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 po

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. edman'st point, the fre 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 ge