Following the Civil War, Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, thrived as a cauldron of sex and song, violence and passion. But out of this turmoil emerged a center of black progress, optimism, and cultural ferment. Preston Lauterbach tells this vivid, fascinating story through the multigenerational saga of a family whose ambition, race pride, and moral complexity indelibly shaped the city that would loom so large in American life.
Having survived a deadly race riot in , Church constructed an empire of vice in the booming river town. He made a fortune with saloons, gambling, and—shockingly—white prostitution. But he also nurtured the militant journalism of Ida B.
Wells and helped revolutionize American music through the work of composer W. Handy, the man who claimed to have invented the blues. In the face of Jim Crow, the Church fortune helped fashion the most powerful black political organization of the early twentieth century.
Robert and his son, Bob Jr. However, the Church family operated through a tense arrangement with the Democrat machine run by the notorious E. The battle between this black dynasty and the white political machine would define the future of Memphis.
Aucun appareil Kindle n'est requis. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? The vivid history of Beale Street—a lost world of swaggering musicians, glamorous madams, and ruthless politicians—and the battle for the soul of Memphis.
