New marker notes Confederate general's role in slave trade
Source: Associated Press
Updated 3:32 pm, Tuesday, March 6, 2018
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A new historical marker in Memphis will point out that a famed Confederate general was a prosperous slave trader before the Civil War.
The marker near the site of Nathan Bedford Forrest's early home will be unveiled April 4 on the property of Calvary Episcopal Church, which is sponsoring it along with Rhodes College and the National Park Service, The Commercial Appeal reported .
A nearby 1955 historical marker dedicates 60 words to Forrest's early life, noting his Mississippi childhood and terms as an aldermen. It says "business enterprises" made Forrest wealthy, but fails to note that his primary enterprise was slave trading.
Efforts to set the record straight began in December 2015, when local clergy and members of the Memphis Lynching Sites Project held a "Prayer Service for Truth and Justice" at the foot of the 1955 marker.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/New-marker-notes-Confederate-general-s-role-in-12732402.php
Nathan Bedford Forrest
= new reply since forum marked as read
This was on of Ida B. Wells' missions as part of her anti-lynching crusade - to expose
"The way to right wrongs is to shine the light of truth on them."
–Ida B. Wells
(ad for Forrest's "business" from here - https://lynchingsitesmem.org/event/unveiling-new-historic-marker-nathan-bedford-forrest)
Mother Jones article on this and Wells' role during the time the statue was first erected - https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/notes-on-an-imagined-plaque-to-be-added-to-the-statue-of-general-bedford-forrest/
