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Corner of Adams and B.B. King.
A new historic marker will be placed in Memphis at the site of the slave market operated by Nathan Bedford Forrest.
The marker will be placed at the corner of Adams and B.B. King. It is a collaboration between Calvary Episcopal Church and Rhodes College.
The marker will be dedicated at noon on April 4 as a part of Calvary’s “Service of Remembrance and Reconciliation.”
The text for the marker will explain that the site was a slave market run by Forrest from 1854 to 1860. A marker on the site now says only that Forrest had a home there and that he became wealthy from his “business enterprises.” The property, once owned by Forrest, is now part of Calvary’s parking lot.
”As a slave trader, Forrest sold thousands of enslaved men, women, and children at the site,” reads a news release from Calvary. “It is believed that most ended up on plantations in the Mississippi Delta region.”
Text for the new marker was researched and written by Rhodes students in in Timothy Huebner’s “Historical Methods” class. They found the names of some of the people sold by Forrest and some of those will be read during the dedication service.
The marker was supported by grants from the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area and the National Park Service. The dedication is an MLK50 Event, part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis.
