Memphis, Tenn. (TN Tribune)-The Memphis Memorial Committee will hold a groundbreaking Saturday, July 16 and announce plans for the second phase of the development for the Ida B. Wells Plaza, located on the east end of Beale Street.
Although the Ida B. Wells statue was installed in July 2021, the Committee always envisioned plans to educate visitors and activate the site. The plans will transform this location from a site that houses the statue of a historic figure, to a significant tourist attraction which will give visitors another important reason to extend their stay in Memphis.
Renderings of the $300,000 plaza upgrade are to be unveiled during the ceremony in Downtown Memphis at the corner of Beale Street & Ida B. Wells Ave (S. 4th St.) Saturday, July 16 at noon.
Ida B. Wells is nationally recognized as an anti-lynching advocate and a champion of civil rights and women’s suffrage. Born in Holly Springs, MS in 1862, she made Memphis home in 1882 and began teaching at Woodstock School in Shelby County. As an educator and journalist, she stood up for justice. Her life was threatened and her office on Beale Street destroyed for reporting on the brutal Memphis lynching of three men in 1892; Thomas Moss, a good friend who owned the People’s Grocery, and his business partners, Will Stewart and Calvin McDowell. She risked her life to oppose oppression, racism, and violence in America and deserves to be recognized for her fight against segregation.
