Occupying a substantial bluff rising from the Mississippi River, the site of Memphis has been a natural location for human settlement by varying indigenous cultures over thousands of years.[13] In the first millennium A.D. people of theMississippian culture were prominent; the culture influenced a network of communities throughout the Mississippi River Valley and its tributaries. The hierarchical societies built complexes with large earthwork ceremonial and burial mounds as expressions of their sophisticated culture.[14] TheChickasaw people, believed to be their descendants, later inhabited this site and a large territory in the Southeast.[15]
J. D. L. Holmes, writing in Hudson'sFour Centuries of Southern Indians (2007), notes that this site was a third strategic point in the late 18th century through which European powers could control United States encroachment beyond the Appalachians and their interference with Indian matters—afterFort Nogales (present-dayVicksburg) andFort Confederación (present-dayEpes, Alabama): "Chickasaw Bluffs, located on the Mississippi River at the present-day location of Memphis. Spain and the United States vied for control of this site, which was a favorite of the Chickasaws."[19]: 71
In 1795 the Spanish Governor-General ofLouisiana,Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet, sent his lieutenant governor,Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, to negotiate and secure consent from the local Chickasaw so that a Spanish fort could be erected on the bluff;Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas was the result.[19]: 71 [20] Holmes notes that consent was reached despite opposition from "disappointed Americans and a pro-American faction of the Chickasaws" when the "pro-Spanish faction signed the Chickasaw Bluffs Cession and Spain provided the Chickasaws with a trading post".[19]: 71
Fort San Fernando de las Barrancas remained a focal point of Spanish activity until, as Holmes summarizes:
[T]he Treaty of San Lorenzo orPinckney's Treaty of 1795 [implemented in March 1797], [had as its result that] all of the careful, diplomatic work by Spanish officials inLouisiana andWest Florida, which has succeeded for a decade in controlling the Indians [e.g., theChoctaws], was undone. The United States gained the right to navigate theMississippi River and won control over theYazoo Strip north of the thirty-first parallel.[19]: 75, 71
The Spanish dismantled the fort, shipping its lumber and iron to their locations in Arkansas.[21]
In 1796, the site became the westernmost point of the newly admitted state of Tennessee, in what was then called the Southwest United States. The area was still largely occupied and controlled by the Chickasaw nation. Captain Isaac Guion led an American force down the Ohio River to claim the land, arriving on July 20, 1797. By this time, the Spanish had departed.[22] The fort's ruins went unnoticed 20 years later when Memphis was laid out as a city after the United States government paid the Chickasaw for land.[23]
At the beginning of the century, as recognized by the United States in1786 Treaty of Hopewell, the land still belonged to theChickasaw Nation. In theTreaty of Tuscaloosa, signed in October 1818 and ratified by Congress on January 7, 1819, the Chickasaw ceded their territory in Western Tennessee to the United States. The city of Memphis was founded less than five months after the U.S. takeover of the territory, on May 22, 1819 (incorporated December 19, 1826), byJohn Overton,James Winchester andAndrew Jackson.[24][25][26] They named it after theancient capital of Egypt on theNile River.[27]
From the city's foundation onwards, African Americans formed large proportion of Memphis' population. Prior tothe abolition ofslavery in the United States, most Black people in Memphis were enslaved, being used asforced labor by white enslavers along the river or on outlyingcotton plantations in theMississippi Delta. The city's demographics changed dramatically in the 1850s and 1860s, due to waves of immigration and domestic migration. Due to increased immigration since the 1840s and theGreat Famine, Irish Americans made up 9.9% of the population in 1850, but 23.2% by 1860, when the total population was 22,623.[28][29][30]
Tennessee seceded from the Union in June 1861, and Memphis briefly became aConfederate stronghold.Unionironclad gunboats captured it in the navalBattle of Memphis on June 6, 1862, and the city and state were occupied by theUnion Army for the duration of the war. Union commanders allowed the city to maintain its civil government during most of this period but excludedConfederate States Army veterans from office. This shifted political dynamics in the city as the war went on.[31]
The war years contributed to additional dramatic changes in the city population. The Union Army's presence attracted manyfugitive slaves who had escaped from surrounding rural plantations. So many sought protection behind Union lines that the Army set upcontraband camps to accommodate them. Memphis's black population increased from 3,000 in 1860, when the total population was 22,623, to nearly 20,000 in 1865, with most settling south of the city limits.[32]
Postwar years, Reconstruction and Democratic control
The rapid demographic changes added to the stress of war and occupation and uncertainty about who was in charge, increasing tensions between the city's ethnic Irish policemen and black Union soldiers after the war.[31] In three days of rioting in early May 1866, theMemphis Riots erupted, in which white mobs made up of policemen, firemen, and other mostly ethnic Irish Americans attacked and killed 46 blacks, wounding 75 and injuring 100; raped several women; and destroyed nearly 100 houses while severely damaging churches and schools in South Memphis. Much of the black settlement was left in ruins. Two whites were killed in the riot.[32] Many blacks permanently fled Memphis afterward, especially as theFreedmen's Bureau continued to have difficulty in protecting them. Their population fell to about 15,000 by 1870,[31] 37.4% of the total population of 40,226.
Historic aerial view of Memphis, 1870
Historian Barrington Walker suggests that the Irish rioted against blacks because of their relatively recent arrival as immigrants and the uncertain nature of their own claim to "whiteness"; they were trying to distinguish themselves from blacks in the underclass. The main fighting participants were ethnic Irish, decommissioned black Union soldiers, and newly emancipated African-Americanfreedmen. Walker suggests that most of the mob was not in direct economic conflict with the blacks, as by then the Irish had attained better jobs, but were establishing social and political dominance over the freedmen.[30]
Unlike the disturbances in some other cities, ex-Confederate veterans were generally not part of the attacks against blacks in Memphis. As a result of the riots in Memphis, and a similar one inNew Orleans, Louisiana in September, Congress passed theReconstruction Act and theFourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[32]
In the 1870s, a series ofyellow fever epidemics devastated Memphis, with the disease carried by river passengers traveling by ships along the waterways. During the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878, more than 5,000 people were listed in the official register of deaths between July 26 and November 27. The vast majority of these deaths were from yellow fever, making the epidemic in the city of 40,000 one of the most traumatic and severe in urban U.S. history. Within four days of the Memphis Board of Health's declaration of a yellow fever outbreak, 20,000 residents fled the city. The ensuing panic left the poverty-stricken, the working classes, and the African-American community at the most risk from the epidemic. Those who remained relied on volunteers from religious and physician organizations to tend to the sick. By the end of the year, more than 5,000 were confirmed dead in Memphis. The New Orleans health board listed "not less than 4,600" dead. The Mississippi Valley recorded 120,000 cases of yellow fever, with 20,000 deaths. The $15 million in losses caused by the epidemic bankrupted Memphis, and as a result, its charter was revoked by the state legislature.
Woodcut representing the waterfront of Memphis,c. 1879
By 1870, Memphis's population of 40,000 was almost double that of Nashville and Atlanta, and it was the second-largest city in the South after New Orleans.[33] Its population continued to grow after 1870, even when thePanic of 1873 hit the US hard, particularly in the South. The Panic of 1873 resulted in expanding Memphis's underclasses amid the poverty and hardship it wrought, giving further credence to Memphis as a rough, shiftless city. Leading up to the outbreak in 1878, it had suffered two[dubious –discuss] yellow fever epidemics,cholera, andmalaria, giving it a reputation as sickly and filthy. It was unheard of for a city with a population as large as Memphis's not to have any waterworks; the city still relied for supplies entirely on collecting water from the river and rain cisterns, and had no way to remove sewage.[33] The combination of a swelling population, especially of lower and working classes, and abysmal health and sanitary conditions made Memphis ripe for a serious epidemic.
Kate Bionda, an owner of an Italian "snack house", died of a fever on August 13, 1878.[33] Hers was officially reported by the Board of Health, on August 14, as the first case of yellow fever in the city.[33] A massive panic ensued. The same trains and steamboats that had brought thousands into Memphis, in five days carried away more than 25,000 refugees, more than half of the city's population.[33] On August 23, the Board of Health finally declared a yellow fever epidemic in Memphis, and the city collapsed, hemorrhaging its population. In July of that year, the city had a population of 47,000; by September, 19,000 remained, and 17,000 of them had yellow fever.[33] The only people left in the city were the lower classes, such as German and Irish immigrant workers and African Americans. None had the means to flee the city, as did the middle and upper-class whites of Memphis, and thus they were subjected to a city of death.
Immediately following the Board of Health's declaration, a Citizen's Relief Committee was formed by Charles G. Fisher. It organized the city into refugee camps. The committee's main priority was to separate the poor from the city and isolate them in refugee camps.[33] The Howard Association, formed specifically for yellow fever epidemics in New Orleans and Memphis, organized nurses and doctors in Memphis and throughout the country.[34] They stayed at thePeabody Hotel, the only hotel to keep its doors open during the epidemic. From there they were assigned to their respective districts. Physicians of the epidemic reported seeing as many as 100 to 150 patients daily.[33]
The Episcopal Community of St. Mary at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral[35] played an important role during the epidemic in caring for the lower classes. Already supporting a girls' school and church orphanage, the Sisters of St. Mary also sought to provide care for the Canfield Asylum, a home for black children. Each day, they alternated caring for the orphans at St. Mary's, delivering children to the Canfield Asylum, and taking soup and medicine on house calls to patients.[33] Between September 9 and October 4, Sister Constance and three other nuns fell victim to the epidemic and died. They later became known as the Martyrs of Memphis.[36]
At long last, on October 28, a killing frost struck. The city sent out word to Memphians scattered all over the country to come home. Though yellow fever cases were recorded in the pages of Elmwood Cemetery's burial record as late as February 29, 1874, the epidemic seemed quieted.[33] The Board of Health declared the epidemic at an end after it had caused over 20,000 deaths and financial losses of nearly $200 million.[37] On November 27, a general citizen's meeting was called at the Greenlaw Opera House to offer thanks to those who had stayed behind to serve, of whom many had died. Over the next year property tax revenues collapsed, and the city could not make payments on its municipal debts. As a result, Memphis temporarily lost its city charter and was reclassified by the state legislature as a Taxing District from 1879 to 1893.[1][2][34] But a new era of sanitation was developed in the city, a new municipal government in 1879 helped form the first regional health organization, and during the 1880s Memphis led the nation in sanitary reform and improvements.[37]
Perhaps the most significant effect of yellow fever on Memphis was in demographic changes. Nearly all of Memphis's upper and middle classes vanished, depriving the city of its general leadership and class structure that dictated everyday life, similar to that in other large Southern cities, such asNew Orleans,Charleston, andAtlanta. In Memphis, the poorer whites and blacks fundamentally made up the city and played the greatest role in rebuilding it. The epidemic had resulted in Memphis being a less cosmopolitan place, with an economy that served the cotton trade and a population drawn increasingly from poor white and black Southerners.[38]
The 1890 election was strongly contested, resulting in white opponents of theD. P. Hadden faction working to deprive them of votes bydisenfranchising blacks. The state had enacted several laws, including the requirement ofpoll taxes, that made it more difficult for them to register to vote and served todisenfranchise many blacks. Although political party factions in the future sometimes paidpoll taxes to enable blacks to vote, African Americans lost their last positions on the city council in this election and were forced out of the police force. (They did not recover the ability to exercise the franchise until after the passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s.) Historian L. B. Wrenn suggests the heightened political hostility of the Democratic contest and related social tensions contributed to a white moblynching three black grocers in Memphis in 1892.[39]: 124, 131
JournalistIda B. Wells of Memphis investigated the lynchings, as one of the men killed was a friend of hers. She demonstrated that these and other lynchings were more often due to economic and social competition than any criminal offenses by black men. Her findings were considered so controversial and aroused so much anger that she was forced to move away from the city. But she continued to investigate and publish the abuses oflynching.[39]: 131
Businessmen were eager to increase the city population after the losses of 1878–79, and supported the annexation of new areas; this measure was passed in 1890 before the census. The annexation measure was finally approved by the state legislature through a compromise achieved with real estate magnates, and the area annexed was slightly smaller than first proposed.[39]: 126
In 1893 the city was rechartered withhome rule, which restored its ability to enact taxes. The state legislature established a cap rate.[40] Although the commission government was retained and enlarged to five commissioners, Democratic politicians regained control from the business elite. The commission form of government was believed effective in getting things done, but because all positions were electedat-large, requiring them to gain majority votes, this practice reduced representation by candidates representing significant minority political interests.[39]: 126f
In terms of its economy, Memphis developed as the world's largestspot cotton market and the world's largest hardwood lumber market, both commodity products of the Mississippi Delta. Into the 1950s, it was also the world's largestmule market. These animals were still used extensively for agriculture.[41] Attracting workers from Southern rural areas as well as new European immigrants, from 1900 to 1950 the city increased nearly fourfold in population, from 102,350 to 396,000 residents.[42]
Racist violence continued into the 20th century, with four lynchings between 1900 and thelynching of Thomas Williams in 1928.[43]
A Tennessee Powder Company built an explosives powder plant to make TNT and gunpowder on a 6,000-acre site inMillington in 1940. The plant was built to make smokeless gunpowder for theBritish Armed Forces duringWorld War II. In May 1941,DuPont (1802–2017) took over the plant, changed the name to the Chickasaw Ordnance Works, and produced powder for theUnited States Armed Forces. There were 8,000 employees. The plant was dismantled after the war in 1946.[44][45]
From the 1910s to about 1950, Memphis politics was controlled byE. H. "Boss" Crump. Crump worked with the city's middle class progressive leadership. He built up the police and fire departments—and for decades routinely called on off-duty policemen and firemen, to help him out on election day. He built up public schools, and reorganized city government for more efficiency. Most progressives in the South were hostile to African American interests but not Crump. He worked with the leading Black politicianRobert Church Jr. until 1940, as well as key Black ministers. Crump raised funds from white businessmen that paid the poll taxes for Blacks, which enabled them all to vote. Crump had his limits. He avoided the demand for prohibition by Baptist activists, and tolerated the city's thriving saloons and houses of prostitution.[46][47] Crump served briefly in Congress which gave him a good view of the national picture. He was an early supporter of New York GovernorFranklin D. Roosevelt for the presidency in 1932. Crump strongly supported President Roosevelt in Memphis and statewide and through his influence on the Congressional delegation. FDR responded by being very generous to the state, as seen in the massiveTVA project. He gave Crump control of Memphis patronage and most statewide patronage.[48][49]
Crump secured a state law in 1911 to establish a small commission to manage the city. The city retained a form of commission government until 1967 and patronage flourished under Crump. The city installed a revolutionary sewer system and upgraded sanitation and drainage to prevent another epidemic. Pure water from an artesian well was discovered in the 1880s, securing the city's water supply. The commissioners developed an extensive network of parks and public works as part of the nationalCity Beautiful movement. Lynette Wrenn concludes the new system handled business efficiently. However, it tended toward policies that benefited the city's wealthier residents while sometimes overlooking the needs of its less affluent neighborhoods.[50]
Memphis did not become ahome rule city until 1963, although the state legislature had amended the constitution in 1953 to provide home rule for cities and counties. Before that, the city had to get state bills approved in order to change its charter and other policies and programs. Since 1963, it can change the charter by popular approval of the electorate.[39]: 194
During the 1960s, the city was at the center of theCivil Rights Movement, as its large African-American population had been affected by state segregation practices anddisenfranchisement in the early 20th century. African-American residents drew from the civil rights movement to improve their lives. In 1968, theMemphis sanitation strike began forliving wages and better working conditions; the workers were overwhelmingly African American. They marched to gain public awareness and support for their plight: the danger of their work, and the struggles to support families with their low pay. Their drive for better pay had been met with resistance by the city government.
After learning of King's murder, many African Americans in the city rioted, looting and destroying businesses and other facilities, some by arson. The governor ordered Tennessee National Guardsmen into the city within hours, where small, roving bands of rioters continued to be active.[51] Fearing the violence, more of the middle-class began to leave the city for the suburbs.
In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Memphis's population as 60.8% white and 38.9% black.[52] Suburbanization was attracting wealthier residents to newer housing outside the city. After the riots and court-ordered busing in 1973 to achieve desegregation of public schools, "about 40,000 of the system's 71,000 white students abandon[ed] the system in four years."[53] Today, the city has a majority African-American population.
Memphis is well known for its cultural contributions to the identity of theAmerican South. Many renowned musicians grew up in and around Memphis and moved toChicago and other areas from theMississippi Delta, carrying their music with them to influence other cities and listeners over radio airwaves.[54][full citation needed]
On December 23, 1988, atanker truck hauling liquefiedpropanecrashed at the I-40/I-240 interchange in Midtown and exploded, starting multiple vehicle and structural fires. Nine people were killed and ten were injured. It was one of Tennessee's deadliest motor vehicle accidents and eventually led to the reconstruction of the interchange where it occurred.[55][56]
On January 7, 2023, after a routine traffic stop, five African American police officers brutally beat a 29-year-old African American man,Tyre Nichols. Nichols died from his injuries in the hospital three days later. Officerbody cam footage and local surveillance cameras captured the altercations, which were described as "heinous" and showed "a total lack of regard for human life", according to Memphis police chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis.[58] The officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, and other crimes. The relatively rapid dismissal and prosecution of the offending officers were favorably perceived by Nichols's family, and Davis called it a "blueprint" for future incidents of police brutality nationwide. The incident also resulted in the disbanding of the city's "SCORPION" unit, which had been mandated with directly combating the most violent crimes in the city. All the officers charged with involvement in Nichols's death were members of the unit.[58]
According to theUnited States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 324.0 square miles (839.2 km2), of which 315.1 square miles (816.0 km2) is land and 9.0 square miles (23.2 km2), or 2.76%, is water.[59]
Downtown Memphis rises from a bluff along theMississippi River. The city and metro area spread out through suburbanization, and encompass southwest Tennessee, northernMississippi, and easternArkansas. Several large parks were founded in the city in the early 20th century, notablyOverton Park inMidtown and the 4,500-acre (18 km2)Shelby Farms. The city is a national transportation hub and Mississippi River crossing forInterstate 40, (east-west),Interstate 55 (north-south), barge traffic, Memphis International Airport (FedEx's "SuperHub" facility) and numerous freight railroads that serve the city.
In recent years, the city has decided todeannex some of its territory. It has gone through a three-phase process to deannex five areas within the city limits, returning them to unincorporated Shelby County.[60] The first phase of deannexation occurred on January 1, 2020, when the Eads and River Bottoms areas returned to county jurisdiction. As a result, the Shelby County Sheriff is responsible for patrolling these former parts of Memphis.[61] The first phase of the deannexation process reduced the city's size by 5% and its population by 0.03%.[60]
Shelby County is located over four naturalaquifers, one of which is recognized as the "Memphis Sand Aquifer" or simply as the "Memphis Aquifer". Located 350 to 1,100 feet (110 to 340 m) underground, thisartesian water source is considered soft and estimated byMemphis Light, Gas and Water to contain more than 100 trillion US gallons (380 km3) of water.[62]
The pipeline's route, which was set to run through the historic Black Boxtown neighborhood,[63] raised concerns among the projects opponents about theracially disproportionate impacts that contamination from the pipeline would cause if completed.[65]
Construction of the pipeline was cancelled in July 2021 after months of activism and resistance from organizations including Memphis Community Against the Pipeline (MCAP), Protect Our Aquifer, the Memphis and Mid-South Chapter ofThe Climate Reality Project, and other partnered organizations.[68]
Memphis has ahumid subtropical climate (KöppenCfa,TrewarthaCf), with four distinct seasons, and is located inUSDA Plant Hardiness Zone 8a in downtown, cooling to 7b for much of the surrounding region.[71] Winter weather comes alternately from the upperGreat Plains and theGulf of Mexico, which can lead to drastic swings in temperature. Summer weather may come fromTexas (very hot and humid) or the Gulf (hot and very humid). July has a daily average temperature of 82.8 °F (28.2 °C), with high levels of humidity due to moisture encroaching from the Gulf of Mexico. Afternoon and evening thunderstorms are frequent during summer, but usually brief, lasting no longer than an hour. Early autumn is pleasantly drier and mild, but can be hot until late October. Late autumn is rainy and cooler; precipitation peaks again in November and December. Winters are mild to chilly, with a January daily average temperature of 42.1 °F (5.6 °C). Snow occurs sporadically in winter, with an average seasonal snowfall of 2.7 inches (6.9 cm). Ice storms and freezing rain pose a greater danger, as they can often pull tree limbs down on power lines and make driving hazardous. Severe thunderstorms can occur at any time of the year though mainly during the spring months. Large hail, strong winds, flooding, and frequent lightning can accompany these storms. Some storms spawn tornadoes.
The lowest temperature ever recorded in Memphis was −13 °F (−25 °C) on December 24, 1963,[72][73] and the highest temperature ever was 108 °F (42 °C) on July 13, 1980.[74] Over the course of a year, there is an average of 4.4 days of highs below freezing, 6.9 nights of lows below 20 °F (−7 °C), 43 nights of lows below freezing, 64 days of highs above 90 °F (32 °C), and 2.1 days of highs above 100 °F (38 °C).
Annual precipitation is high (54.94 inches [1,400 mm]) and relatively evenly distributed throughout the year. Average monthly rainfall is especially high in March through May, and December, while August and September are relatively drier.
Climate data for Memphis (Memphis Int'l), 1991−2020 normals,[a] extremes 1875−present[b]
Memphis, Tennessee – Racial and ethnic composition Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
As of the2010 United States census[update], there were 652,078 people and 245,836 households in the city.[87] The population density was 2,327.4 people per sq mi (898.6/km2). There were 271,552 housing units at an average density of 972.2 per square mile (375.4/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 63.33% African American, 29.39%White, 1.46% Asian American, 1.57%Native American, 0.04%Pacific Islander, 1.45% from other races, and 1.04% from two or more races.Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 6.49% of the population.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,285, and the median income for a family was $37,767. Males had a median income of $31,236 versus $25,183 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,838. About 17.2% of families and 20.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.1% of those under age 18, and 15.4% of those age 65 or over. In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau ranked the Memphis area as the poorest large metro area in the country.[88] Jeff Wallace of the University of Memphis noted that the problem was related to decades of segregation in government and schools. He said that it was a low-cost job market, but other places in the world could offer cheaper labor, and the workforce was undereducated for today's challenges.[88]
The total metropolitan area has a higher proportion of whites and a higher per capita income than the population in the city. The 2010 census shows that the Memphis metro area is close to amajority-minority population:
the white population is 47.9 percent of the eight-county area's 1,316,100 residents. The non-Hispanic white population, a designation frequently used in census reports, was 46.2 percent of the total. The African American percentage was 45.7. For several decades, the Memphis metro area has had the highest percentage of black population among the nation's large metropolitan areas. The area has seemed on a path to become the nation's first metro area of one million or more with a majority black population.[89]
In a reverse trend of the Great Migration, numerous African Americans and other minorities have moved into DeSoto County, and blacks have followed suburban trends, moving into the suburbs of Shelby County.[89]
The top countries of origin for Memphis' immigrants in 2015 were Mexico, India, China, Honduras and Vietnam.[90]
Memphis is home toTemple Israel, aReform synagogue that has approximately 7,000 members, making it one of the largest Reform synagogues in the country.Baron Hirsch Synagogue is the largestOrthodoxshul in the United States.[94] Jewish residents were part of the city before the Civil War, but more Jewish immigrants came from Eastern Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Memphis is home to an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Muslims of various cultures and ethnicities.[95]
In the 21st century, Memphis' crime rate has remained significantly higher than the national average.Memphis' gangs are a major reason for the crime crises in the city.[96] Since the 2000s, it has consistently been recognized as one of the most dangerous cities in the U.S.[97][98][99][100]
In 2023, Memphis set a homicide record with 397 homicides.[101] New York City, the nation's largest city with a population of 8.5 million, had a lower homicide count of 386 in 2023.[102] Identity theft, carjackings and robberies were also happening at a highly concerning rate in the city after 2020.[101] Crime was the primary reason 30,000 former Memphis residents decided to relocate outside the city between 2017 and 2022.[103] Memphis' businesses are also leaving the city or closing down at a high rate due to rampant crime.[104][105] Memphis' leaders are continually discussing and implementing strategies such as recruiting more police officers to hopefully lower crime in the city.[106][107] However, on September 9, 2025, it was revealed that crime in Memphis had in fact dropped to a 25-year low across major categories.[108] On September 15, 2025, president Trump signed a order to mobilize federal law enforcement agents, including FBI, and to deploy theTennessee National Guard to Memphis.[109][110] Some members of the Memphis city council, including Memphis mayorPaul Young, opposed the plan.[111][112] The federal government deployed theMemphis Safe Task Force to Memphis in October 2025.[113]
The city's central geographic location has aided its business development. On the Mississippi River and intersected by five major freight railroads and twoInterstate Highways, I-40 and I-55, Memphis is well positioned for commerce in the transportation and shipping industry. Its access by water was key to its initial development, with steamboats plying the Mississippi river. Railroad construction strengthened its connection to other markets to the east and west.
Since the second half of the 20th century, highways and interstates have played major roles as transportation corridors. A third interstate,I-69, is under construction, and a fourth,I-22, has recently been designated from the former High Priority Corridor X. River barges are unloaded onto trucks and trains. The city is home toMemphis International Airport, the world'sbusiest cargo airport, surpassingHong Kong International Airport in 2021. Memphis serves as a primary hub forFedEx Express shipping.
One of the largest celebrations of the city isMemphis in May. The month-long series of events promotes Memphis's heritage and outreach of its people far beyond the city's borders. The four main events are theBeale Street Music Festival, International Week, The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, and the Great River Run. The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest is the largest porkbarbecue-cooking contest in the world.
In April, downtown Memphis celebrates "Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival", or simply Africa in April. The festival was designed to celebrate the arts, history, culture, and diversity of theAfrican diaspora. Africa in April is a three-day festival with vendors' markets, fashion showcases, blues showcases, and an international diversity parade.[116]
During late May-early June, Memphis is home to theMemphis Italian Festival at Marquette Park. The 2019 festival will be its 30th and has hosted musical acts, local artisans, and Italian cooking competitions. It also presents chef demonstrations, the Coors Light CompetitiveBocce Tournament, the Galtelli Cup Recreational Bocce Tournament, a volleyball tournament, and pizza tossing demonstrations. This festival was started by Holy Rosary School and Parish and began inside the School parking lot in 1989. The Memphis Italian Festival is run almost completely by former and current Holy Rosary School and Church members and begins with a 5K run each year.
Carnival Memphis, formerly known as the Memphis Cotton Carnival, is an annual series of parties and festivities in June that salutes various aspects of Memphis and its industries. An annual King and Queen of Carnival are secretly selected to reign over Carnival activities. From 1935 to 1982, the African-American community staged the Cotton Makers Jubilee; it has merged with Carnival Memphis.[117]
A market and arts festival, the Cooper-Young Festival,[118] is held annually in September in theCooper-Young district ofMidtown Memphis. The event draws artists from all over North America and includes local music, art sales, contests, and displays.
Memphis sponsors several film festivals: theIndie Memphis Film Festival, Outflix, and the Memphis International Film and Music Festival. The Indie Memphis Film Festival is in its 14th year and was held April 27–28, 2013.[119] Recognized byMovieMaker Magazine as one of 25 "Coolest Film Festivals" (2009) and one of 25 "Festivals Worth the Entry Fee" (2011), Indie Memphis offers Memphis year-round independent film programming, including the Global Lens international film series, IM Student Shorts student films, and an outdoor concert film series at the historicLevitt Shell. The Outflix Film Festival, also in its 15th year, was held September 7–13, 2013. Outflix features a full week ofLGBT cinema, including short films, features, and documentaries. The Memphis International Film and Music Festival is held in April; it is in its 11th year and takes place at Malco's Ridgeway Four.
On the weekend before Thanksgiving, the Memphis International Jazz Festival is held in the South Main Historic Arts District in Downtown Memphis. This festival promotes the important role Memphis has played in shaping Jazz nationally and internationally. Acts such as George Coleman, Herman Green, Kirk Whalum and Marvin Stamm all come out of the rich musical heritage in Memphis.
Formerly titled theW. C. Handy Awards, the International Blues Awards are presented by theBlues Foundation (headquartered in Memphis) forblues music achievement. Weeklong playing competitions are held, as well as an awards banquet including a night of performance and celebration.
Beale Street is a national historical landmark, and shows the impact Memphis has had on Americanblues, particularly after World War II as electric guitars took precedence over the original acoustic sound from theMississippi Delta.Sam Phillips'Sun Studio still stands, and is open for tours. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison all made their first recordings there, and were "discovered" by Phillips. Many great blues artists recorded there, such asW. C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues".
Stax Records created a classic 1960ssoul music sound, much grittier and horn-based than the better-knownMotown from Detroit. Booker T. and the M.G.s were the label's backing band for most of the classic hits that came from Stax, by Sam & Dave,Otis Redding,Wilson Pickett and many more. The sound was revisited in the 1980s in theBlues Brothers movie, in which many of the musicians starred as themselves.
Memphis is the home ofMemphis-style barbecue, which is one of four predominant regional styles of barbecue in the United States. Memphis-style barbecue has become well known due to theWorld Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest held each May, which has been listed inGuinness World Records as the largest pork barbecue contest in the world. Notable Memphis restaurants include:
Alcenia's, a soul food restaurant that has been featured on Food Network and the Travel Channel[127]
Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, founded in 1948, this barbecue restaurant located in an alley has been visited by countless celebrities[128]
In addition to barbecue, the cuisine of Memphis is also defined by:
Fried chicken, such as that from Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken, a restaurant founded in nearbyMason, Tennessee in 1953 and has since expanded to over 35 locations
Chicken wings, served with Honey Gold, a sweet and spicy sauce made with honey, mustard, and cayenne
In addition to theBrooks Museum andDixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis plays host to two burgeoning visual art areas, one city-sanctioned, and the other organically formed.
The South Main Arts District is an arts neighborhood in south downtown. Over the past 20 years, the area has morphed from a derelict brothel andjuke joint neighborhood to agentrified, well-lit area sponsoring "Trolley Night", when arts patrons stroll down the street to see fire spinners, DJs playing in front of clubs, specialty shops and galleries.[132][133] Not far from South Main Arts district isMedicine Factory, an artist-run organization.[134]
Another developing arts district in Memphis is Broad Avenue. This east–west avenue is undergoing neighborhood revitalization from the influx of craft and visual artists taking up residence and studios in the area.[135][136] An art professor fromRhodes College holds small openings on the first floor of his home for local students and professional artists. Odessa, another art space on Broad Avenue, hosts student art shows and local electronic music. Other gallery spaces spring up for semi-annual artwalks.[137][138]
Memphis also has non-commercial visual arts organizations and spaces, including local painter Pinkney Herbert's Marshall Arts gallery, on Marshall Avenue nearSun Studios, another arts neighborhood characterized by affordable rent.[139]
Beale Street – a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of theblues. Street performers play live music, and bars and clubs feature live entertainment.
Dixon Gallery and Gardens – focuses on French and American impressionism, and contains the Stout Collection of 18th-century Germanporcelain, as well as a 17-acre (6.9 ha) public garden.
Graceland – the home ofElvis Presley, it attracts over 600,000 visitors annually, and features two of Presley's airplanes, his automobile and motorcycle collection, and other memorabilia. Graceland is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[143]
Chucalissa Indian Village – aWalls phase mound and plaza complex operated by the University of Memphis. The village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is aNational Historic Landmark. The Southeast Indian Heritage Festival is held there annually.[144]
Burkle Estate – a historic home now used as a museum of slavery and the anti-slavery movement.[145]
Elvis Presley was originally buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, the resting place of his backing band's bassist,Bill Black. After an attempted grave robbing, Presley's body was moved and reinterred at the grounds of Graceland.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, the former WFL franchiseMemphis Southmen / Memphis Grizzlies sued theNFL in an attempt to be accepted as an expansion franchise. In 1993, theMemphis Hound Dogs was a proposed NFL expansion that was passed over in favor of theJacksonville Jaguars andCarolina Panthers. The Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium also served as the temporary home of the formerTennessee Oilers (now the Titans) while the city ofNashville worked out stadium issues.
Beginning in 1963, Memphis adopted a mayor-council form of government, with 13City Council members, six electedat-large from throughout the city and seven elected from geographic districts. Following passage of theVoting Rights Act of 1965, civil rights activists challenged the at-large electoral system in court because it made it more difficult for the minority to elect candidates of their choice; at-large voting favored candidates who could command a majority across the city. In 1995, the city adopted a new plan. The 13 Council positions are elected from nine geographic districts: seven are single-member districts and two elect three members each.
Paul Young, a Democrat, is the city's mayor. He took office on January 1, 2024.[150]
Since the late 20th century, regional discussions have recurred on the concept of consolidating unincorporatedShelby County and Memphis into ametropolitan government, as Nashville-Davidson County did in 1963. Consolidation was a referendum item on the 2010 ballots in both the city of Memphis and Shelby County, under the state law for dual-voting on such measures. The referendum was controversial in both jurisdictions. Black leaders, including then-Shelby County CommissionerJoe Ford and national civil rights leaderAl Sharpton, opposed the consolidation. According to the plaintiffs' expert, Marcus Pohlmann, these leaders "tried to turn that referendum into a civil rights issue, suggesting that for blacks to vote for consolidation was to give up hard-won civil rights victories of the past".[151]
In October 2010 before the vote, eight Shelby County citizens had filed a lawsuit in federal court against the state and the Shelby County Elections Commission against the dual-voting requirement. Plaintiffs argued that total votes for the referendum should have been counted together, rather than as separate elections. City voters narrowly supported the measure for consolidation with 50.8% in favor; county voters overwhelmingly voted against the measure with 85% against.[152] The state argued that with the election decided, the lawsuit should be dismissed, but the federal court disagreed.[151]
By late 2013, in pre-trial actions, both sides were trying to disqualify the other's experts, in discussions of whether regional voting revealed racial polarization, and whether voting on the referendum demonstrated racial bloc voting. "The experts for both sides have clashed on whether racial bloc voting is inevitable in local elections and whether that would require some kind of court remedy."[151]
The defendants' expert, Todd Donovan, did not think that polarized voting as revealed for political candidates meant that "African-American voters and white voters have polarized interests when it comes to referendum choices on government administration, taxation, service provision and other policy questions."[151] He noted, "In the absence of distinct political interests that create polarized blocs of referendum voters defined by race, there is no cohesive racial minority voting interest that can be diluted by a referendum."[151]
In 2014, the federal district court dismissed the lawsuit, on the grounds that the referendum would have failed when both jurisdictions' votes were counted together. (In total voting, 64% of voters opposed the consolidation.) In the last week of December 2014, the U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals upheld that decision, ruling that, ""In this election, the referendum for consolidation did not pass and would not have passed even if there had been no dual-majority vote requirement (with the vote counts combined)."[152]
Before the referendum, the decision was made by the city and county to exclude public school management and operations from the proposed consolidation. As noted below, in 2011 the Memphis city council voted to dissolve its city school board and consolidate with the Shelby County School System, without the collaboration or agreement of Shelby County.[153] The city had authority for this action under Tennessee state laws that differentiate between city and county powers.
The city is served byMemphis-Shelby County Schools (formerly Shelby County Schools). On March 8, 2011, residents voted to dissolve the charter forMemphis City Schools, effectively merging it with the Shelby County School District.[154] After issues with state law and court challenges, the merger took effect the start of the 2013–14 school year. In Shelby County, six incorporated cities voted to establish separate school systems in 2013.[citation needed]
The Memphis-Shelby County School System operates 222 elementary, middle, and high schools.[155]
The Memphis area is also home to many private, college-prep schools, including:
Nielsen Media Research currently defines Memphis and its surrounding metropolitan area as the 51st largest American media market.[164] Despite Memphis proper's large size, Memphis has always been a medium-sized market; the nearby suburban and rural areas are not much larger than the city itself.
Major broadcast television affiliate stations in the Memphis area include, but are not limited to:
More than 1,000 commercial recordings of over 800 distinct songs contain "Memphis" in them. TheMemphis Rock N' Soul Museum maintains an ever-updated list of these on its website.[168]
Interstate 22 connects Memphis withBirmingham, Alabama, via northern Mississippi (includingTupelo) and northwestern Alabama. While technically not entering the city of Memphis proper, I-22 ends at I-269 inByhalia, Mississippi, connecting it to the rest of the Memphis interstate system.
Other important federal highways though Memphis include the east–westU.S. Route 70,U.S. Route 64, andU.S. Route 72; and the north–southU.S. Route 51 andU.S. Route 61.[170] The former is the historic highway north to Chicago viaCairo, Illinois, while the latter roughly parallels the Mississippi River for most of its course and crosses theMississippi Delta region to the south, with the Delta also legendary for Blues music.
Roadways
Memphis maintains 6,800 lane-miles of city roadways. The city collaborated withGoogle Cloud Platform and SpringML in February 2019 to testmachine learning (ML) to improve public services. A key focus is pothole identification usingTensorFlow technology.[173] Public Works personnel completed 63,000 repairs, with around 7,500 of those reported by citizens to 311.[174]
A large volume of railroad freight moves through Memphis, because of its two heavy-duty Mississippi River railroad crossings, which carry several major east–west railroad freight lines, and also because of the major north–south railroad lines through Memphis which connect with such major cities as Chicago,St. Louis,Indianapolis,Louisville,New Orleans,Dallas,Houston,Mobile, andBirmingham.
By the early 20th century, Memphis had two major passenger railroad stations, which made the city a regional hub for trains coming from the north, east, south and west. After passenger railroad service declined heavily through the middle of the 20th century, theMemphis Union Station was demolished in 1969. TheMemphis Central Station[177] was eventually renovated, and it still serves the city. The only inter-city passenger railroad service to Memphis is the dailyCity of New Orleans train, operated byAmtrak, which has one train northbound and one train southbound each day between Chicago and New Orleans.
Memphis International ranks as the 41st busiest passenger airport in the US and served as a hub forNorthwest Airlines (laterDelta Air Lines) until September 3, 2013.[180] It had 4.39 million boarding passengers (enplanements) in 2011, an 11.9% decrease over the previous year.[181] Delta has reduced its flights at Memphis by approximately 65% since its 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines and operates an average of 30 daily flights as of December 2013, with two international destinations (Cancún – seasonally; Toronto year-round). Delta Air Lines announced the closing of its Memphis pilot and crew base in 2012. Other airlines providing passenger service are:Southwest Airlines;American Airlines;United Airlines;Allegiant;Frontier;Air Canada; and Southern Vacations Express.[182]
Memphis has the second-busiest cargo port on the Mississippi River, which is also the fourth-busiest inland port in the United States.[183] The International Port of Memphis covers both the Tennessee and Arkansas sides of the Mississippi River fromriver mile 725 (km 1167) to mile 740 (km 1191).[184] A focal point of the river port is theindustrial park onPresident's Island, just south ofDowntown Memphis.
Memphis's primary utility provider is theMemphis Light, Gas and Water Division (MLGW). This is the largest three-service municipal utility in the United States, providing electricity, natural gas, and pure water service to all residents of Shelby County. Prior to that, Memphis was served by two primary electric companies, which were merged into the Memphis Power Company.[188]
The City of Memphis bought the private company in 1939 to form MLGW,[188][189] which was an early customer of electricity from theTennessee Valley Authority (TVA). In 1954 theDixon-Yates contract was proposed to make more power available to the city from the TVA, but the contract was cancelled; it had been an issue for the Democrats in the1954 Congressional elections.
MLGW still buys most of its power from TVA, and the company pumps its own fresh water from the Memphis Aquifer, using more than 180 water wells.
The Memphis and Shelby County region supports numerous hospitals, including the Methodist and Baptist Memorial health systems, two of the nation's largest private hospitals. Until the 1960s and the end ofsegregation, most hospitals only served white patients. One of the few hospitals for African Americans in Memphis in those times was Collins Chapel Connectional Hospital, whose historic building now houses a homeless shelter.[190]
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, the largest healthcare provider in the Memphis region and the fourth largest employer as of 2018,[191] operates seven hospitals and several rural clinics. Methodist Healthcare operates, among others, theLe Bonheur Children's Hospital, which offers primary level 1 pediatric trauma care, as well as a nationally recognized pediatric brain tumor program. Methodist Healthcare also operatesMethodist University Hospital, a 617-bed facility 1 mile southeast of Le Bonheur.
Baptist Memorial Healthcare operates fifteen hospitals (three in Memphis), includingBaptist Memorial Hospital, and with a merger in 2018 became the largest healthcare system in the mid-South.[192] According to Health Care Market Guide's annual studies, Mid-Southerners have named Baptist Memorial their "preferred hospital choice for quality".
TheSt. Jude Children's Research Hospital, leading pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases, resides in Memphis. The institution was conceived and built by entertainerDanny Thomas in 1962 as a tribute toSt. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of impossible, hopeless, and difficult causes.
^Mean monthly maxima and minima (i.e. the expected highest and lowest temperature readings at any point during the year or given month) calculated based on data at said location from 1991 to 2020.
^Official records for Memphis were kept at downtown from January 1875 to December 1939 and at Memphis Int'l since January 1940.[75]
^abActs of the State of Tennessee Passed by the Forty-Eighth General Assembly (1893) [Passed March 28; Enacted April 5]. "Ch. 84".An act to amend an act, entitled "An act to establish taxing districts in this state, and to provide means of local government for the same," passed January 29, 1879, and all acts amendatory thereof, so as to give the legislative council of the city of Memphis power to levy taxes for the support of said city, and to change the manner of filling any vacancy in the board of police and fire commissioners, or in the board of public works of said city: and to provide a street and sewer commission for said city. pp. 110-114.
^Harkins, John E. (2010)."Fort San Fernando De Las Barrancas".Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Knoxville, Tennessee, USA: University of Tennessee Press, Tennessee Historical Society. Archived fromthe original on March 3, 2016. RetrievedDecember 2, 2015.Louisiana Governor-General Carondelet sent Lieutenant Governor Manuel Gayoso de Lemos to secure the Chickasaws' consent and then erect a fort on the bluff site.
^"USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map". Agricultural Research Center, PRISM Climate Group Oregon State University.Archived from the original on February 27, 2014. RetrievedFebruary 24, 2014.
^"Southern Press".The South in the Building of the Nation. Vol. 7. Richmond, VA: Southern Historical Publication Society. 1909. pp. 402–436.hdl:2027/yale.39002004114386.Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. RetrievedAugust 26, 2020.Date of establishment of leading Southern newspapers
^"Members". Knoxville: Tennessee Press Association. Archived fromthe original on March 21, 2017. RetrievedMarch 21, 2017.
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Haynes, Stephen R. (2012).The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation. New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
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Rushing, Wanda (2009).Memphis and the Paradox of Place: Globalization in the American South. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA: University of North Carolina Press, 2009.
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