Site 1: Ellis Auditorium Corner of Poplar and Front Streets
Ellis Auditorium was located in downtown Memphis on the corner of Poplar and Front Streets. When the 12,000-seat auditorium opened in 1924, Memphis had a venue for movies, music, and graduations. Elvis Presley, who attended high school in Memphis and recorded his first songs at Sun Studio on Union Avenue in 1954, played his first big homecoming concert at Ellis on February 6, 1955. Black and white Memphians alike attended Elvis’s sold-out show to see the local star perform his unique mix of Country, Blues and R&B music, but they could not comingle. African Americans used a separate side entrance and sat in a separate balcony.
WWW.TEACHROCK.ORG
Site 2: Currie’s Club Tropicana 1331 Thomas Street
Photos: Ticket for Bobby Blue Bland at Currie’s; Images from inside Currie’s, Memphis Tri-State Defender, 1955
The downtown scene on Beale Street is the historical hotspot of Memphis’ music, but tucked away in the northern part of the city is Thomas Street: a respectable hub in its own right of blues, jazz, rock and roll, and soul (and the former stomping grounds of artist and producer Isaac Hayes when he was a student at Manassas High School).
Currie’s Club Tropicana was located at 1331 Thomas Street. It was a noted venue of the national “chitlin’ circuit”: clubs that featured African-American performers and catered to a black audience. The most prominent black artists of the day played Currie’s: Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, and Ray Charles among them. The Mar-Keys, an all-white R&B group, also toured the “chitlin’ circuit” venues at the beginning of their career.
“We had a hit record...Somebody bought us some clothes, gave us a little money, and we just thought we were going to be stars forever, we were just having the biggest time in the world. We worked the chitlin circuit -- black -- that’s why there weren’t any publicity pictures of the group. One place in Texas I remember in particular...they didn’t believe we were the Mar-Keys. ‘You can’t be the Mar-Keys!’ ‘Well, we are,’ we said. ‘Here’s our agent’s number, you can call him.’ Well, at first they were a little hostile (this was before integration, you know, before a lot of things), but then, when we started playing, they loved us.”
- Wayne Jackson, Mar-Keys trumpet player
WWW.TEACHROCK.ORG
Site 3: Stax Records 926 E. McLemore Ave.
Photo Source: Special Collections, University of Memphis Libraries
Stax Records opened its offices at 926 E. McLemore Ave. in 1959, welcoming both black and white musicians. It became one of the most celebrated recording studios in the country. Integrated bands such as Booker T. and the MGs and the Memphis Horns, as well as major Soul artists like Otis Redding and Sam and Dave, recorded for Stax. It also housed the Satellite Records Shop, where people of all races could browse, listen to, and purchase music together.
No longer an active recording studio, Stax reopened its doors in 2002 as a music school and in 2003 launched the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.
“[Stax] was my college. I didn’t go to college, but I learned what I learned in my life there. I was part of something in musical history that made a difference.” - Wayne Jackson, Stax trumpeter Member of the Mar-Keys and the Memphis Horns
WWW.TEACHROCK.ORG
Site 4: City Hall 125 Main Street
Photo Source: Special Collections, University of Memphis Libraries
City Hall, located at 125 N. Main St., is the administrative center of Memphis city government. It is home to the mayor’s office and has been the site of many high profile political battles, including issues related to school desegregation.
Memphis City Schools maintained widely segregated throughout the 1960s, despite the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional. On October 9, 1969 more than 20,000 students staged a citywide walkout, forcing the closure of 21 campuses. The walkout led to weekly “Black Monday” protests: every week students walked out of class and gathered outside City Hall to highlight the substandard conditions in all-black schools and stalled integration efforts.
The “Black Monday” protests continued for approximately a month, by which time the school board had met most of the protesters’ demands, including a promise to hire more African-American teachers and administrators.
WWW.TEACHROCK.ORG
Site 5: Booker T. Washington High School 715 S. Lauderdale St.
Photo Source: Special Collections, University of Memphis Libraries
Booker T. Washington High School opened in 1926 at 715 S. Lauderdale St. It remained largely a segregated school throughout the 1960s, even though Brown v. Board of Education had ruled segregation unconstitutional in 1954. On November 11, 1969, 734 of the school’s 1,922 students participated in the “Black Monday” school boycott, which called for integrated schools and more African-American administrators and teachers.
A number of Stax employees attended Booker T. Washington High School, including musician Booker T. Jones and songwriter David Porter. At the age of 16, Jones caught the ear of Stax founder Jim Stewart, who quickly hired the high school student as a session musician. Along with other Stax musicians, he credits much of his music education to the Satellite Record Shop, attached to the recording studio.
“Most all our musical ideas and influences came out of that little record shop in the first couple years. It was like having a library right next to the studio.” - Booker T. Jones, Stax studio musician Founder of Booker T. and the MGs Booker T. Washington High School, Class of 1962
WWW.TEACHROCK.ORG
Site 6: Messick High School 703 S. Greer St.
Photo Source: Messick High School Yearbook, 1961
Messick High School opened in 1908 at 703 S. Greer Street outside of West Memphis. It was an all-white school throughout the 1950s. Alumni of Messick include Stax guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, who both graduated in 1959.
Prior to Booker T. and the MGs, Cropper and Dunn were also members of a Stax band called the Mar-Keys. The Mar-Keys record “Last Night” reached No. 3 on Billboard’s Pop singles chart in 1961. Several members of the original Mar-Keys also attended Messick High School.
“We played anything from Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard to Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. We were a white band trying to play Rhythm and Blues music, kinda the first in Memphis to do that.”
- Donald “Duck” Dunn, Stax bassist Member of the Mar-Keys and Booker T. and the MGs Messick High School, Class of 1959
WWW.TEACHROCK.ORG
Site 7: WDIA Radio 2265 Central Ave.
Pictured Left to Right: Rufus Thomas; WDIA building; On-air quiz champions, 1958 (Photo Source: WDIA Archives)
In 1948, white-owned WDIA (AM 1070), located at 2265 Central Ave., became one of the first radio stations in the United States to direct their programming entirely to African Americans. The station’s powerful signal reached all the way to the Mississippi Delta, thus it became known throughout the South as the “Mother Station of the Negroes.”
WDIA helped launch the careers of several notable on-air personalities, including B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, who both went on to become recording artists. The station exposed listeners to new African-American artists and also informed its audience of upcoming elections and political rallies.
White listeners also tuned into WDIA, including Stax guitarist Steve Cropper.
“When I finally had my own radio, I used to listen to WDIA and at midnight they would play Gospel music. That really turned me around… I had never really heard black Gospel music and it just blew me away. This was when I was in probably about sixth grade.”
- Steve Cropper, Stax guitarist and songwriter Member of the Mar-Keys and Booker T. and the MGs
WWW.TEACHROCK.ORG
Site 8: Lorraine Motel 450 Mulberry St.
Photo Source: Special Collections, University of Memphis Libraries
The Lorraine Motel, located at 450 Mulberry St., was one of the few upscale businesses in Memphis that catered to African-Americans from the 1940s through the 1960s. Several African-American musicians stayed at the Lorraine Motel, including Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett, who visited Memphis to record at Stax Records.
The motel was also the tragic site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination on April 4, 1968. The Lorraine Motel is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.
“Dr. King was preaching what we were about, where you judge a person by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. Well, we were living that inside of Stax Records.”
- Al Bell, co-owner of Stax Records as of 1969 Producer and songwriter for many Stax recordings
WWW.TEACHROCK.ORG