People’s Grocery

People’s Grocery is a Tennessee historical marker in Shelby County.

Shelby Co, Memphis, southeast corner Mississippi Blvd & Walker St.

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Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart, all African-Americans and co-owners of People's Grocery (located at this site), were arrested in connection with a disturbance near their store. Rather than being brought to trial, they were lynched on March 9, 1892. Moss' dying words were, "Tell my people to go west--there is no justice for them here." This lynching prompted Ida B. Wells, editor of Memphis Free Speech, to begin her anti-lynching campaign in this country and abroad.

TodayHistorical map

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1886 · Ark., Miss., La. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1886 · Arkansas. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1903 · Arkansas. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1916 · Memphis, Tennessee (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)
1925 · Memphis, Tennessee (USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection)

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

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