B.B. Kings guitar on Beale Street in Memphis
Memphis
Cultural Sites
A Black heritage destination par excellence, Memphis boasts the National Civil Rights Museum, Stax Museum of American Soul Music, W.C. Handy Monument, LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis Black Repertory Theatre … More
Restaurants and Nightclubs
Great Soul Music, Blues, Barbecue, Soul Food and nightclubs compose to an exciting array of dining, listening and dancing options in the Mid-South, including … More
History
European immigrants arrived in larger numbers in the early 1800s, when Tennessee was admitted to the Union. Slavery came with it to drive the local cotton plantations. Memphis’ early economic infrastructure … More
Historic Sites
A slave auction block and Underground Railroad Station are within a mile of each other. Two of the largest black church congregations were founded here. The Civil Rights Movement would not … More
The Last Days of MLK in Memphis
In death, Dr. King achieved more human and labor rights breakthroughs than he could in life. His posthumous civil rights and labor achievement was a lightening rod that spread to other municipalities … More
Beale Street
In 1869, during the Reconstruction Era, First Baptist Church, with a Black congregation opened on Beale Street. In the 1870s, Robert Church began acquiring properties in the area surrounding and including Beale Street … More
Memphis Barbecue
Meat lovers, rejoice! On par with Kansas City’s Beef Barbecue Tradition vs. Pork Barbeque Tradition is best expressed at the Memphis in May Barbecue Festival and number of great barbeque restaurants … More
General Attractions
Always lively Beale Street headlines a list of attractions that include Peabody Place, Orpheum Theatre, The Pyramid, Canon Center for the Performing Arts, Gibson Guitar Factory tour, Southland Greyhound Park … More
Family Attractions
Mud Island River Park, Zoo, Children’s Museum of Memphis, Autozone Baseball Park, Memphis Pink Palace Museum & Planetarium, FedEx Forum and Autozone Baseball Park provide many … More
Shops and Galleries
A small, but valuable collection of gift shops, bookstores, boutiques and record shops with vast collections of hard-to-find music will tickle the fancy of seasoned travelers and shoppers of a specific mission to find … More
Places of Worship
One of our nation’s standard-bearers for the Black Church, the city hosts the mother churches for Church of God in Christ (COGIC) and Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) denominations … More
Rock n’ Roll
Sam Phillips, a former DJ and record producer in town, entered the Rock n’ Roll picture in the early 1950s. He was arguably, the first white southern record producer to hire African-American Blues artists … More
Blues and Early R&B
The Blues originated in hundreds of juke joints in the Mississippi Delta region, triangle between here, Jackson and Natchez, Mississippi. This authentic American musical form is a 12-bar verse with repetitive chorus … More
STAX Records Impact on Soul Music
In the 1940s, Early R&B artists born in the Deep South migrated to Memphis, St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia and LA to meet innovative record companies, radio station DJs and perform in … More
Arts
Rock n’ Soul Museum, Center for Southern Folklore, Graceland – Elvis Presley estate, Sun Studio, Brooks Art Museum, Memphis University Art Museum, Cannon Center for the Performing Arts, Pyramid Arena … More
Trivia, Radio Stations and Famous Residents
New Orleans has over 35,000 structures on the National Register of Historic Places. Thats 15,000 more than its closest national competitor. Quite few are below sea level, like 80% of the city … More
Events
Events held in Memphis unless otherwise indicated … More
