The ''Memphis Free Speech'' was an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

newspaper founded in 1881 in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, by the Reverend Taylor Nightingale, based at the Beale Street Baptist Church. In 1888 the publication's name was changed to the ''Memphis Free Speech and Headlight'' when Nightingale was joined by J. L. Fleming, a newspaperman from

Crittenden County, Arkansas Crittenden County is a county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 50,902. The county seat is Marion, and the largest city is West Memphis. Located in the Arkansas Delta, Crittenden County is Ar ...

, who had previously edited the ''Marion Headlight'' "until a white mob 'liberated' the county from black rule and ran him out of town." The following year

Ida B. Wells Ida B. Wells (full name: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett) (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for ...

was invited to contribute to the paper but declined to do so unless she was an equal partner, so with the agreement of Nightingale and Fleming she bought a one-third interest, becoming the editor while Fleming was the business manager and Nightingale the sales manager. As an investigative journalist and campaigner against lynching, Wells wrote articles for the ''Free Press and Headlight'', including a notable editorial on May 21, 1892, refuting what she called the "that old threadbare lie that Negro men rape White women. If Southern men are not careful, a conclusion might be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women." Days later, on May 27, 1892, a White mob ransacked the newspaper's office, destroying the building and its contents. As Wells would note in her diary: "I thought then it was the white southerner's chivalrous defense of his womanhood which caused the mob to destroy my paper, even though it was known that the truth had been spoken. I know now that it was an excuse to do what they had wanted to do before but had not dared because they had no good reason until the appearance of that famous editorial." Duster, Alfreda (ed.), ''Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells'', University of Chicago Press, 1970; quoted in Hardin and Hinton, p. 91. According to the ''

Tennessee Encyclopedia ''Tennessee Encyclopedia'' is a reference book on the U.S. state of Tennessee that was published in book form in 1998 and has also been available online since 2002. Contents include history, geography, culture, and biography. The original print ed ...

'', no copy of the ''Memphis Free Speech'' survives.

References

External links

"Chronicling America"
Library of Congress – search results for ''Memphis Free Speech''. Defunct newspapers published in Tennessee Newspapers published in Memphis, Tennessee 1881 establishments in Tennessee Publications disestablished in 1892 Publications established in 1888 African-American newspapers Defunct African-American newspapers {{Tennessee-newspaper-stub