A white mob seized three African American business men in Memphis and lynched them without trial.
On this date in history:
“Three African American men, Will Stewart, Tommie Moss, and Calvin McDowell, ran the People’s Grocery in a multiracial Memphis neighborhood known as the Curve.
“A white grocer in the same area, angered by the challenge to what had been his monopoly on the local grocery business, led a series of campaigns of harassment against the business.
“Refused protection by local law enforcement and fearing a mob attack, the Black grocers armed themselves and prepared for self defense. Sure enough, that attack came, and gunfire was exchanged. With multiple white men wounded, Stewart, Moss, and McDowell were arrested and jailed.
“A few days later, the jail was stormed by 75 men in black masks who took the men to a railroad yard. All 3 were shot and killed. According to a local newspaper, Moss was the last to be shot with these final last words:
“‘Tell my people to go West, there is no justice for them here.’”
