Turner Partners with Franklin to Restore Life to 'Death' Park

 

Atty. Van D. Turner Jr. turns over management of Health
Sciences Park to well-known personality Telisa Franklin.
(Photo by Wiley Henry)

MEMPHIS, TN – Dead people from the 1870s yellow fever epidemic were reportedly buried in unmarked graves on parkland that once stood a hospital and a memorial to an infamous Confederate general, Atty. Van D. Turner Jr. discovered during his research.

“It's just been quite interesting learning the full history of the park,” said Turner, referring to the former Forrest Park, now Health Sciences Park. 

That parcel of land is in the medical district. Once a memorial to Nathan Bedford Forrest, a slave trader and Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, now brims with new life.

“The park has always been a park of death,” said Turner, president of Memphis Greenspace, Inc., a nonprofit maintaining the park. “Now it’s become a park of life and vibrancy…of new beginnings…and celebrates life.”

“Life and vibrancy” were on display during Father’s Day weekend when the Memphis Juneteenth Festival celebrated “freedom” and “life” on the grounds that Turner once avoided and protested “what it stood for and how painful it was for my father and his generation.”

On Friday, June 24, Turner announced that Memphis Greenspace is partnering with Telisa Franklin Ministries to manage Health Sciences Park. Franklin is a businesswoman, a well-known marketer, and the festival’s president. 

Turner is still president of Memphis Greenspace, which he formed in October 2017 to legally remove the Confederate monuments to Forrest and Jefferson Davis, formerly known as Confederate Park and renamed Fourth Bluff Park. 

“We're happy with this new partnership with her,” said Turner, now contracting with Franklin to promote Health Sciences Park and enrich the green space with various activities throughout the year. 

The treelined park is conducive for all kinds of events and activities. “I think this is really a goldmine for the city,” Turner said. “I think Mrs. Franklin is the right one to carry that vision forward.”

Franklin has accepted the challenge. Now she’s gung-ho about bringing her ideas to fruition. Two callers, she said, have already expressed interest in renting the park. Turner, in his appraisal of Franklin, touted what she’s already done to unite people around an idea.

“That spot of land represented death,” Franklin said. “But in the last two years (during Juneteenth festivities), we were able to see people laugh…hug…people of different races coming together.”

Franklin said the park is for everybody in Memphis and Shelby County. “We're not excluding anyone,” she said. “We're going to create synergy and positive energy in that park.”

The stigma no longer vexes Franklin. However, in past years, she said she’d park her vehicle along the fringes of the park and just sit there. Like Turner, she was protesting, refusing to take a stroll.

The memorial to Forrest would kindle Franklin’s ire, often reminding her of what the Confederate general and slaveowner stood for. Now the equestrian statue of Forrest is gone, along with the remains of Forrest and his wife. 

While it wasn’t widely known, Turner said Forrest was exhumed and buried four times. 

After his death in 1877, Forrest was buried at Historic Elmwood Cemetery, then in Forrest Park. Then he was reburied in an unknown location in the county. Finally, Forrest and his wife were reinterred in Columbia, Tenn. 

“It's been quite the journey,” Turner said, adding, “If the park could only talk, (stories about it would unfold).”

Turner is telling a different story now: death is no longer a sidebar. He is giving Franklin the leeway to create new life in the park with monthly events and activities. 

“From this point going forward, it’s really going to be a story of joy. It’s going to be a story of resilience,” he said.  

Franklin said she’ll work to heal the land and mend hurting hearts. Education is the key, she said. But she won’t dwell on the dead. 

The aura of death will fade eventually, she said, and “life will return to the park.” 

Abraham and Franklin Tout Loving Friendship Ahead of Juneteenth

Telisa Franklin and Dr. Jane Abraham

Dr. Jane Abraham grew up in the late 1950s and ‘60s when animus towards Black people was as American as apple pie. “It was horrific,” she said. “I’m 72 years old and I grew up in the middle of all that mess.”

It may come as a surprise, but Abraham is not Black. Her father was full-blooded Lebanese and her mother had come from the oil fields in Louisiana, she said, adding they were very poor.

“We’re brown skins,” Abraham, a licensed clinical social worker specializing in addictions, noted. “The Middle-Easterners have no designation. [So] we’re called Caucasians.”

When Abraham met Telisa Franklin, president of the annual Memphis Juneteenth Festival, “we just fell instantly in love with each other, and it's just been incredible ever since.”

“She shared with me her story of growing up and how we can become friends,” Franklin said. “She understands that it’s going to take different colors to bring about unity.”

Abraham describes diversity as a big salad with all the ingredients. “We don't want everybody to be the same,” she explained. “We want everyone to keep their own culture and to be who they are and to share, learn and grow.”

Now three months into their friendship, Abraham has found common ground with Franklin, who shared with Abraham the message and meaning of Juneteenth, a national holiday commemorating the end of slavery.

“Juneteenth means freedom to me,” declared Abraham, when asked what she’d gleaned from Franklin’s history lesson about Juneteenth, now in its 28th year in Memphis. 

Formerly held at the historic Robert R. Church Park on Beale Street, Franklin engineered a move this year to Health Sciences Park at the corner of Madison Avenue and South Dunlap Street.

Slated Friday and Saturday, June 18 and 19, revelers will commemorate Juneteenth at the park where slave owner and trader Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife were interred in 1904. 

A crew has begun exhuming their remains and will reinter them at a Confederate museum 200 miles away. The move is being celebrated by many in the Black community as a resounding victory that had been a long time coming. 

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization of descendants of Confederate veterans, are overseeing the move. The group had been embroiled in a legal battle to keep the former name of Forrest Park in place and bar the removal of Forrest’s equestrian statue, under which the Forrests were interred.

“Dr. Jane wanted to know how we can learn from the past and how we can embrace the future,” Franklin said. 

Abraham’s own family history is inextricably linked to the terror that the “brown skins” and Black people had to grapple with along with other societal ills that were intended to thwart their advancement.

Her Lebanese father, she said, “…came over on the boat from Beirut in his mother’s belly. He had gone through a lot of prejudicial things growing up in the [Mississippi] Delta. [And] he was really quick to share his experience with us”

There are other experiences that Abraham won’t forget. “My sister and I were reared by African-American women. So, my real first mother was an African-American woman who came in, took care of me, and loved me as her own child, which was an amazing experience.”

Abraham was devastated after “Miss Mattie” died. She was six years old. “That's when I started waking up and realizing that there needed to be some changes,” she said, and decided to take a stand.

She has an affinity for humanity, no matter the person’s race, creed or nationality. But then she is quick to challenge the status quo that Black people are inferior to white people. 

“The African American race is super intelligent,” she said. “But they've been oppressed for so long. That's part of what frightens white people. They're scared. I'm sorry for them.

“A lot of it is based on the fact that many white people are terrified that Black people are going to take over everything and they won't have anything left for themselves. That's just ludicrous.”

Abraham hopes that people will see each other as friends instead of enemies. Juneteenth is just the beginning.

“My life experience has brought me to a place where I’m going to live by it and die by it,” she said. 

Interpreting the Fort Pillow Massacre with art

Aisha Raison marvels over a Confederate battle scene created by artist Ronald C.
Herd II in mixed media. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

“If you don’t tell their story, the ancestors get no glory,” said Ronald C. Herd II, expounding on the Fort Pillow massacre of 1864, the year Fort Pillow, a Union garrison in Henning, Tennessee, fell to Confederate troops.

Fort Pillow wasn’t the only casualty during the Civil War. That year on April 12, nearly 300 Union prisoners were shot to death. Most of them were black soldiers, said Herd, an artist, musician and activist speaking to a small group at Art Village Gallery in Downtown Memphis. 

“Nathan (Bedford Forrest) gave the order even though he wasn’t there,” said Herd, holding the Confederate general, slave trader and reportedly the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan culpable.

The art gallery was the destination for some observers and a pit stop for others who sauntered in on March 31 to view a collection of paintings, drawings and other media based on the artists’ interpretation of the massacre.

The exhibit will run until April 14. The contributing artists are Darlene Newman, Frank D. Robinson, Carl E. Moore, Roy Hawkins Jr., Marion Joyner-Wilson, Iris Love Scott, Sr. Walt, and Ronald Herd, the exhibit organizer.

 “Using Our Art to Tell Our Stories: Remembering Fort Pillow” is the title of the art exhibit, which kicked off the Fort Pillow Massacre Commemorative Project honoring the black soldiers and civilians who died on that fateful day. 

The project commenced last year on April 12 when the Memphis Area Branch of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History (ASALH) held a wreath laying ceremony to honor the fallen soldiers.

A memorial service will be held on April 11 this year at Christian Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, the church that the late Dr. W. Herbert Brewster, a composer, poet, lyrist and dramatist, pastored when it was named East Trigg Baptist Church.

On April 12, at 10 a.m., a national wreath laying ceremony will be held at the Memphis National Cemetery at 3568 Townes Ave., where the soldiers were buried in 1867. ASALH again is organizing this ceremony along with W.E. A.l.l. B.E. Group, Inc.

The acronym stands for World, Enriching, Activating, Liberating, Love, Beautification, and Experience.

Ronald Herd is the founder of W.E. A.l.l. B.E. Group, Inc., an umbrella organization advocating responsible social entrepreneurism and activism via the arts, media and education.   

He and his mother, Callie Herd, who spawn the idea to educate people about the massacre through the arts, thought it would be a fitting tribute to the soldiers. The historic significance of the project is “God-ordained,” she said.

“We wanted to create a story through the eyes of the artists to allow the audience to see the importance of knowing one’s history so that we will learn from the negatives,” said Callie Herd, an activist and author of a college preparation blog.

 “These are black artists paying homage to their ancestors,” said Ronald Herd, a social justice artist, blogger, and jazz aficionado known by the moniker “R2C2H2 Tha Artivist.”

Aisha Raison was smitten by the artwork and the controversial imagery emanating from the surface of the paintings and drawings.

“There is so much history behind this exhibit,” said Raison, including the sordid history surrounding the Fort Pillow massacre.

Her grandmother, she said, lived in Fulton, Tenn., one of the oldest settlements in Lauderdale County, and talked about finding skulls along the banks of the Mississippi River.

Fort Pillow, also in Lauderdale County, is nearby.

“They were kids playing by the riverbanks,” said Raison, an author, poet and essayist who works at WABN Radio, a gospel station in Southaven, Miss.

Stanley Campbell noted the importance of the exhibit and its attraction. “I feel the energy from up high,” said Campbell, the proprietor of the House of Mtenzi (Swahili for artist), a museum and venue for the performing arts.

“I’m delighted to be a part of the past history, the presence, and what’s to come,” he said.

Defending Nathan Bedford Forrest

     

Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. (Photo: Wiley Henry)

      Calling for the removal of the Confederate flag and the disinterment of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate general and grand wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, is conjuring up mixed feelings and myriad opinions.

      The quagmire has even snagged the attention of an African-American professor at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas, whose opinion may surprise those on both sides of the debate when putting the legacy of Forrest and the Confederate flag in context.    

      “It’s sad in a way that they’re bringing down the Confederate flag,” said Stan Armstrong, an instructor in African-American Film and Ethnic Studies at UNLV and an African American and Choctaw filmmaker.

      “The Confederate flag is a religious flag,” said Armstrong, noting that the “stars and bars” design is an X-shape crucifixion of St. Andrews. It also was the battle flag of the Confederate States of America and used by hate groups as a symbol of racial hatred and bigotry.

      “It’s sad that people are being forced to do something that they don’t want to do. I’m neither pro nor against the Confederacy. It’s about understanding culture,” said Armstrong, who has studied the Civil War extensively and wrote his thesis on Forrest.

      The flag debate has been simmering since Memphis removed a huge granite marker to Forrest in January 2013 and since the city renamed three Confederate-themed parks in advance of a legislative vote to block the name changes.

      Republican state legislators subsequently filed The Tennessee Heritage Protection Act of 2013, but not before Confederate Park was changed to Memphis Park, Jefferson Davis Park to Mississippi River Park, and Nathan Bedford Forrest Park to Health Sciences Park.

      The descendants of Forrest also jumped into the fray. They vehemently resisted the removal of Forrest’s granite marker – paid for by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) – and moved to stop the city in court.

      The Confederate flag debate, however, resurfaced after 21-year-old Dylan Storm Roof, the accused shooter of nine parishioners at historic Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., was seen in several photos waving the battle flag and burning the American flag in another.

      The Confederate flag has since caused a ripple of anti-sentiment and bitter discontent across America, particularly among African Americans, who are demanding the removal of all Civil War symbols from public places.

      South Carolina responded swiftly to the demand and henceforth ended the Confederate flag’s 54-year reign over the state’s capitol grounds. Memphis along with other cities are following suit to begin the process of removing anything that is deemed racist and offensive.  

      It is nothing more than a “knee-jerk” reaction to the horrific shooting of those nine African-American parishioners at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., said Lee Millar, a spokesman for SCV, a group of male descendants of Confederate veterans.

      “It is really, actually disgusting that people would use what happened to the nine victims to forward their own agenda about getting rid of the Confederate flag and other historic symbols like that,” said Millar, offering his condolences to the bereaved families and a sharp rebuke of Roof, who admitted that race motivated him to kill.

      “They ought to take the guy out and hang him,” said Millar. “Unfortunately, there are nut cases like that all over the country in all races.”

      The Confederate flag had nothing to do with the church shooting, Millar protested. He also said Forrest and his wife, Mary Ann, who are buried underneath a bronze statue in Forrest’s honor in Health Sciences Park, should not be disinterred. 

      Forrest died in 1877. He was originally buried in Elmwood Cemetery among other Confederate war veterans before his remains were moved in 1905 to the newly created Forrest Park. After the Charleston shooting, Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and City Council chairman Myron Lowery issued a proposal to have Forrest and is wife returned to Elmwood.

      In early July, the Memphis City Council voted unanimously to remove the remains of Forrest and his wife back to Elmwood Cemetery and to sell or relocate the equestrian statue of Forrest. The Tennessee Historical Commission and Forrest’s descendants, however, would have to grant the city permission before the move is made.

      “The city collectively as a whole has expressed concern about the presence of the monument,” said Wharton, following a recent news conference to talk about the burning of African-American churches. “It’s the right thing to do.”

      Plans also are afoot to remove the bust of Forrest from the Tennessee state capitol and to stop the state from issuing SCV vanity license plates featuring the Confederate battle flag, which Gov. Bill Haslam has said he supports.

      The whole Confederate shebang is throwing the country into a tailspin and leaving Millar and other Confederate supporters making a last ditch effort to save the last vestiges of the antebellum South from being banished to a museum.

      Millar is trying to make a case for the Confederate flag. “It means heritage. It does not mean hate. And it does not mean slavery,” he said, noting that 60,000 African-American southerners served among the Confederate forces, including those Forrest commanded.

      The facts surrounding the Confederate flag and Forrest’s exploits in and off the battlefield are often skewed. Millar and Armstrong, also a member of SCV, want to set the record straight. They’re trying to educate, clarify and debunk any myths surrounding the flag and the infamous general, slave owner and Klan leader.

      “The education system is very poor,” said Millar. “The kids in school learned that the South succeeded, that (President) Lincoln freed the slaves, and that the war was over. They don’t learn about the cause of the secession.”

      Millar argued that the secessionists broke away from the Union to start an independent country. “They broke away because of what they thought was a tyrannical government – exactly what the colonists did in The Revolutionary War.”

      Forrest rose to the rank of general after displaying military prowess. His reputation, however, was sullied after the slaughter of African-American Union soldiers who were allegedly surrendering at Fort Pillow, a former Confederate stronghold only 40 miles north of Memphis.

      “It’s a shame that his record had to be blackened by events at Fort Pillow,” said Armstrong, noting that people often listen to sound bites and don’t seek the truth when historical events are called into question.

      Forrest’s slave-trading business prior to the Civil War is another serious bone of contention that is still troubling to African Americans. While the facts are indisputable to some people, Armstrong said Forrest was a product of his time.

      “To me, slavery was about status and classism…just like it is today,” said Armstrong, calling Forrest a “descent guy” and “humanitarian.” “He was a slave trader who didn’t separate families. A lot of slaves probably lived better than white trash in Memphis. When he died, he probably had more black people in attendance than whites.”

      Both Armstrong and Millar dispute Forrest’s complicity in the dreaded Klu Klux Klan, purportedly a “social club” that six ex-Confederate soldiers founded in Pulaski, Tenn. Forrest was not the founder, said Millar, pointing out that the general was recruited because of his influence.

      Armstrong backs up Millar’s assertion, saying Forrest, who was the grand wizard by proxy, led the group until he disbanded them after they’d begun running amok and wreaking havoc among African Americans.

      There were three Klans, Millar said. The first was formed after the Civil War in December 1865 as a secret social group; the second, created around 1915, attempted to scare immigrants and African Americans away from jobs; and the third, formed in the 1950s, morphed into today’s hate group.

      “If you look at that Klan, they carried the American flag. None of them carried the Confederate battle flag,” said Millar. “People remember the third Klan because they were so radical.”

      Armstrong said he’s always been fascinated with Forrest, even though votes have been cast to disinter Forrest and his wife and relocate his bronze statue. Moreover, in city after city, the Confederate flag is now becoming a museum relic. 

      “It’s sad that it took nine lives to bring down the Confederate flag,” said Armstrong. “I believe we’ll never understand the Civil War in our lives.”