Introduction
A vibrant downtown with a rich history, Memphis is a unique mix of small southern town and major tourist attraction. The Capital of the Mid-South has recently undergone somewhat of a makeover -- as the city’s history and important role in the Civil Rights Movement has come to the fore.
While Memphis is second only to New Orleans as the south’s biggest party town, known around the world for its home-style food and bluesy rock and roll music, Memphis was one of the first cities south of the Mason-Dixon Line in which blacks and whites socialized and reached out to one another. As Elvis Presley offered previously “black only” gospel and rhythm and blues mu-sic as rock n roll, while Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marched the nation toward his dream of equality, Memphis’s own shook up the world.
That sense of racial and economic cooperation exists to this day, as more than than 61% of the city’s population is African American -- many the direct descendants of slaves.
Fast Facts
Named for an ancient Egyptian capital on the Nile, Memphis is located in west-ern Tennessee on the Mississippi and Wolf Rivers. With a population of more than 1,055,000, Memphis has all the businesses and opportunities of any major city. But, its culture was forged around the turn of the century as the city hosted the birth of the blues. Legends like Robert John-son and WC Handy composed the first published blues tunes around the First World War.
With its downtown overlooking the river, downtown is fed by the north-south Mid-America Ped Mall, a no-cars-allowed pedestrian throughway equipped with a busy trolley system. The inter-section of Beale Street and 3rd is the center of the tourist district, packed with clubs, bars, restau-rants and unique southern shopping.