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Civil Wrongs

Institute for Public Service Reporting

Civil Wrongs is a project of the Institute for Public Service Reporting in collaboration with WKNO-FM. Here, we analyze the present-day effects of historical cases of racial terror in Memphis and the Mid-South.

© 2023 Civil Wrongs

Civil Wrongs is a project of the Institute for Public Service Reporting in collaboration with WKNO-FM. Here, we analyze the present-day effects of historical cases of racial terror in Memphis and the Mid-South.

© 2023 Civil Wrongs
7hr 3min
Thumbnail for "S5E6: Tom Lee’s relatives reflect on 100th anniversary of heroic water rescue".
May 8, 20259min 9sec8.8 MB
Thumbnail for "S6E3: Unjust pursuit".
October 13, 202525min 45sec37.09 MB
Thumbnail for "S6E2: Silenced Bloodlines".
October 13, 202519min 9sec27.6 MB
Thumbnail for "S6E1: The Killer Wore a Badge".
October 13, 202522min 36sec32.57 MB
Thumbnail for "S5E7: Revisiting connections between lynching and the death penalty as Tennessee resumes executions".
May 14, 20253min 34sec5.17 MB
Thumbnail for "S5E5: Weaving history into community development".
May 6, 20255min 59sec5.77 MB
Thumbnail for "S5E4: Community sing-along honors ’68 Memphis sanitation strikers".
April 14, 20253min 25sec3.29 MB
Thumbnail for "S5E3: Healing from racial trauma through breathing".
Dwania Kyles, one of the Memphis 13 who integrated schools in 1961, shares her healing journey from racial trauma.
March 3, 20259min 14sec13.33 MB
Thumbnail for "S5E2: History embedded in the sidewalk brings attention to ‘Naked Truth’ of America".
Miniature paintings by artist Ephraim Urevbu are now embedded in the sidewalk with QR codes that link to difficult stories of America’s racial past.
February 20, 202518min 45sec18.02 MB
Thumbnail for "S5E1: Reconciliation group heals terror of the past one relationship at a time".
The Weakley County Reconciliation Project encourages conversations around race and works to memorialize lynching victims.
November 26, 20247min 16sec6.99 MB
Thumbnail for "Season 5 trailer: Everyday Connections".
How people are connecting past and present for a better future
November 24, 202439sec645.63 kB
Thumbnail for "S4E3: Gnat on an Elephant".
Elaine Massacre of 1919
September 28, 202436min 15sec34.83 MB
Thumbnail for "S4E2: A Changing History".
The Elaine Massacre of 1919
September 28, 202420min 46sec19.96 MB
Thumbnail for "S4E1: Silent No More".
The Elaine Massacre of 1919
September 28, 202424min 17sec23.34 MB
Thumbnail for "S3 E2: Treatment or Punishment?".
The racist caricature that Black people are inherently lazy and morally corrupt is also widely used to characterize people with addiction – and some treatment facilities may be capitalizing on that misrepresentation to pay for their programming through "work therapy."
January 16, 202432min 37sec31.34 MB
Thumbnail for "S3 E1: The Sheriff and the Sharecroppers".
Slavery was still happening in eastern Arkansas in the 1930s — seven decades after Emancipation.
January 16, 202432min 1sec30.75 MB
Thumbnail for "S2E4 Why don’t we know this history?".
After the Civil War, Black people had secured their freedom. But even though they were legally free, they were far from equal. Over three days in May 1866, these issues would come to a head in the streets when white citizens lashed out in what would become known as the Memphis Massacre.
June 6, 202322min 4sec21.21 MB
Thumbnail for "S2E3 “They violated my person”: Sexual violence survivors".
After the Civil War, Black people had secured their freedom. But even though they were legally free, they were far from equal. Over three days in May 1866, these issues would come to a head in the streets when white citizens lashed out in what would become known as the Memphis Massacre.
June 6, 202315min 45sec15.14 MB
Thumbnail for "S2E2 “Memphis exploded:” Police brutality and the massacre ".
After the Civil War, Black people had secured their freedom. But even though they were legally free, they were far from equal. Over three days in May 1866, these issues would come to a head in the streets when white citizens lashed out in what would become known as the Memphis Massacre.
June 6, 202322min 30sec21.62 MB
Thumbnail for "S2E1 Tragedy and Resilience: Stories of the Memphis Massacre ".
After the Civil War, Black people had secured their freedom. But even though they were legally free, they were far from equal. Over three days in May 1866, these issues would come to a head in the streets when white citizens lashed out in what would become known as the Memphis Massacre.
June 6, 202320min 30sec19.71 MB
Thumbnail for "S1E3: False confessions today".
S1E3: False confessions today
October 13, 202223min 34sec17 MB
Thumbnail for "S1E1: The Lynching".
S1E1: The Lynching
October 13, 202225min 12sec18.17 MB
Thumbnail for "S1E2: The Descendants".
S1E2: The Descendants
October 13, 202220min 49sec15.01 MB
Thumbnail for "Trailer: The Lynching of Ell Persons".
Trailer: The Lynching of Ell Persons
October 6, 20221min 35sec1.16 MB

S5E6: Tom Lee’s relatives reflect on 100th anniversary of heroic water rescue

Thumbnail for "S5E6: Tom Lee’s relatives reflect on 100th anniversary of heroic water rescue".
May 8, 20259min 9sec

One hundred years ago on May 8, a Black man who could not swim saved 32 white people from drowning in the Mississippi River. 

That heroic act got him a meeting with President Calvin Coolidge and a house in North Memphis. And one of Downtown’s most iconic parks honors his heroism. His name was Tom Lee.

The park was not always welcoming to Black people — even his own descendants. But those striving to keep his story alive, from relatives to park leaders, hope Memphians will be inspired by his willingness to lend a helping hand.

Resources mentioned in this story:

Thumbnail for "S5E6: Tom Lee’s relatives reflect on 100th anniversary of heroic water rescue".
S5E6: Tom Lee’s relatives reflect on 100th anniversary of heroic water rescue
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