Ladyman 1
Bo Ladyman
Poverty Studies
Final Paper
April 30, 2009
Poverty and Crime in Memphis: a Historical Search for Solutions
Introduction:
Although Memphis may be known best for its barbeque and music, Memphis also is the
home of high crime rates, poverty, and poor race relations. To fully understand these current
social and economic problems, Memphis must be placed in its context; hence, this paper first
looks at the history or Memphis to contrive a complete understanding of the city’s current
situation. Also, through theory and empirical evidence, it will show that these three problems –
high crime, poverty, and poor race relations – are all connected and have feasible solutions.
History:
Much of Shelby County (the county that Memphis belongs to) in the early 1800s was
owned by Miss Frances Wright. Her husband purchased the land, naming it Nashoba, ironically
with the purpose of making a utopian community where blacks could be freed, own land, and be
educated. After four years, the utopian community failed as Miss Wright grew ill and moved
back to Europe. Since this time Memphis has seen continued racial strife and inequality.
Memphis was founded in 1819 and began to function in May 1820. The city grew
extremely fast, and over the next ten years the population of West Tennessee expanded from
2500 to 100,000. The majority of families at the time took to farming, and with the help of the
fertile land, Memphis soon became the center for growing and trading cotton in the Southeast.
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Indeed, cotton became king in Memphis, bringing in black men and women to work forced labor
on plantations. According to the census of 1820, 20% of the population of Memphis were slaves,
and that number is said to have risen throughout the 19th century.
Racial tension in Memphis began with its first and second mayor. Marcus B. Winchester
was the first mayor of Memphis and is said to have committed political suicide when he married
a woman who was a quarter black. The second mayor of Memphis, Isaac Rawlings, had a
common-law marriage with black woman, having multiple children with her. These encounters
were socially unacceptable and looked down upon by white plantation owners, even though the
majority of whites in Memphis at the time favored the gradual emancipation of slaves. As the
civil war approached, the black population grew as more black slaves were brought to Memphis
to work the cotton fields.
During the Civil War, Memphis sided with the Confederates, but it was quickly captured
by the Union who strategically wanted the town as the sight of a naval yard. The Union also
made Memphis a freedman’s colony, and many neighboring black slaves came to Memphis once
they were emancipated to partake in education and paid labor. Memphis fell so easily to the
Union that most of its infrastructure remained in place. For a brief moment, Memphis became a
city of opportunity to black Americans and a place where black communities thrived. Yet as
white Memphians saw themselves competing with former slaves, tensions ran high resulting in
race riots. “In 1866 ... struggling Irish residents turned their frustrations on many of their newly
arrived black neighbors in a riot that left forty-six dead, nearly twice that many injured, five
women raped, approximately 100 blacks robbed, and ninety-one homes, four churches, and all
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twelve black schools destroyed.”1 The riots did not stop until martial law was declared and
troops from Nashville arrived in Memphis to force peace. For a good many years, the black
community suffered and struggled to regain prominence, most of them being too poor to move
away for new opportunities. With all the schools destroyed, the educational opportunities
vanished and the ability of black to become literate and contribute to society became almost
impossible. Yet this would not be the only disaster in Memphis.
In the 1870s, a series of yellow fever epidemics plagued the city. In 1878, the worst of
the yellow fever epidemics hit, and 25,000 people fled. 17,000 contracted the fever and over
5,000 died in the summer of 1878. Of the population that would remain in Memphis, 70% of
those would be blacks who were too poor flee. The city of Memphis, which was already in debt,
lost much of its tax base and went bankrupt. At the end of the 1800s and the early 1900s,
Memphis would turn around again economically, yet many of the areas social problems would
remain. “Memphis fared reasonably well in addressing the problems of its white community, but
the city’s black citizens were shunted aside, their civil rights and their human dignity
subordinated to a cult of white supremacy.”2 Around this time, railroads connected Memphis to
the Atlantic Ocean, allowing it to become one of the largest manufacturers and shippers of
hardwood in the United States. The cotton industry also continued to thrive during this time.
1
Marcus D. Pohlmann, “Memphis, Tennessee” (Encyclopedia of African-American
Culture and History), p. 1.
2
John E. Harkins, Metropolis of the American Nile (Oxford, MS: Guild Bindery Press,
1991), p. 92.
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Rebounding from the devastation of the yellow fever epidemics, the city’s population
soared in the last two decades of the 19th century.... The growth of the Memphis-area
economy, the prospect of jobs, the glittering attractions of the city life, and the high birth
rate plus grinding poverty in the hinterland, all combined to bring in 50,000-60,000 rural
migrants.... The resulting sense of disorientation and alienation may have contributed to
the high rates of crime and violence, which troubled Memphis well into the 20th century.3
Memphis continued to be a very poor city with very high crime even with a booming cotton and
hardwood economy. The gains from free trade did not reach everyone in the late 1800s.
Business would continue during the first half of the 20th century, but the opportunities
available for black to own businesses and be a part of government were nonexistent with the
enactment of the Jim Crow laws, enforced between 1876 and 1965. “Separate but equal” was
anything but equal, and black Memphians suffered. Edward Crump, progressive for his time,
came to dominate Memphis politics from 1909 to 1954. Despite his efforts at reform, Memphis
was named “murder capital” of the nation twice in the 1910s and 1920s. This high crime rate was
for the most part blamed on the black population. Inequality continued until tensions exploded in
the 1960s with the Sanitation Worker’s strike.
In the 1960s, Memphis was a city “of 540,000 people, some 40 percent of them black,
nearly 60 percent of African Americans lived below the poverty line. Blacks suffered
disproportionately high mortality rates and deficits in basic education in a highly segregated
3
John E. Harkins, Metropolis of the American Nile (Oxford, MS: Guild Bindery Press,
1991), p. 103-104.
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school system. Mechanization undercut jobs in cotton production in the rural areas and factory
employment in the city, worsening the plight of the working poor.”4 Opportunities for blacks in
Memphis were slim to none. “African Americans quickly came to see the sanitation strike of
1968 as symbolic of the strivings of the working poor and a representation of the general demand
by African Americans for civil equality and economic opportunity.”5 After years of inequality
blacks grouped together to protest more than the conditions of the sanitation workers, they
protested basic rights and equality of all those living in Memphis. The working conditions of the
sanitation workers were horrible. “They lived below the poverty level, many of them qualifying
for welfare while working full-time jobs. They received almost no health care benefits, pensions,
or vacations, worked in filthy conditions, and lacked a place to eat lunch or to shower after days
when they carried leaky garbage tubs that spilled maggots and refuse on them.”6 These workers
did not work for a private company; they worked for the city picking up trash and working with
sewage. The city government was enforcing inequality. “The 1968 walkout [of the sanitation
workers] occurred spontaneously after supervisors sent blacks home without pay during a
rainstorm, while keeping white supervisors on at full pay. A malfunctioning garbage compacter
had recently crushed two black men to death, highlighting the unsafe conditions.”7 These
workers had no other better, safer jobs to move on to. They were only able to ascertain jobs in
4
“Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike of 1968" (Civil Rights in the United States), p. 2.
5
“Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike of 1968" (Civil Rights in the United States), p. 2.
6
“Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike of 1968" (Civil Rights in the United States), p. 2.
7
“Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike of 1968" (Civil Rights in the United States), p. 2.
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Memphis under these working conditions. One month into the strike, these events had caused
Martin Luther King, Jr. to come to Memphis as he was organizing his Poor People’s Campaign.
King wanted to bring into the light the unemployed and the plight of the working poor, yet at his
speech in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis he was assassinated by James Earl Ray.
“Shock waves of anger, grief, remorse, and guilt smote the nation. Riots broke out in 172
American cities, resulting in 43 deaths, 3,500 injuries, and 27,000 arrests. Memphis was in the
forefront of the rioting, and a curfew had to be imposed to curb the lawlessness which King’s
murder unleashed.”8 Memphis was on fire. Racial tension heightened all the more and polarized
the two races more from moving together.
Since the 1960s the city has seen a few major businesses founded in Memphis: FedEx,
Morgan Keegan, International Paper, AutoZone, and First Tennessee Bank. Yet these
corporations often favor white collar positions, reinforcing the wedge between the upper and
lower classes in Memphis. David K. Shipler, in his book The Working Poor, points out that
market forces drive corporations to maximize profit and often leave the poor behind. The poor
blacks in Memphis seem to be left behind in this private sector expansion.
Racial tensions and an increase in crime rates have also caused “white flight” in the
Memphis area. From 1980 to 1990, around 75,000 more white left the city than came into the
city. Memphis also saw 15,000 more black enter into the city, yet for the first time since the
yellow fever epidemic, the population of Memphis decreased. From 1990 to 2000, the white
8
John E. Harkins, Metropolis of the American Nile (Oxford, MS: Guild Bindery Press,
1991), p. 148.
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population in Memphis decreased again by 45,000 people. “The local black population had been
growing faster than that of whites within the city for many decades, but its impact was masked
by the voracious annexations of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s and its visibility was hidden through the
crowded living that poverty and segregation had dictated.”9 Through this demographic change,
economic and social inequality still abounds in a city that had just recently seen its first black
mayor elected. Throughout Memphis’ history, there have not been ample opportunities for the
city’s majority black population to succeed, even with a black mayor in power. Hence, there
must be structural burdens in the way of black making progress.
Currently, Memphis’ population is 61.4% black and 34.4% white. Although its
population is majority black, only 29% of businesses in Memphis are black-owned. Also, median
income for black Memphians is $28,245, more than $20,000 less than the median white income.
Almost a third of families in Memphis have incomes less than $25,000 a year, and 20.6% of
individuals live below the poverty line (7 percentage points higher than the Tennessee average).
The median household income in Memphis is more than $4000 less than the median income of
Tennessee. Why is Memphis doing so poorly? This paper looks at Memphis history for answers,
and looking with a renewed perspective at Memphis and the problems that has confronted it, how
shall the city proceed? This paper seeks to answer these through a combination of theory and
empirical evidence.
Theory:
9
John E. Harkins, Metropolis of the American Nile (Oxford, MS: Guild Bindery Press,
1991), p. 162.
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Crime and poverty and inseparably connected. One of the best statistics that evaluates the
psychological health of a society in the United States is the crime rate. In other countries, other
statistics may gauge a society’s health better – possibly the number of political upheavals or civil
wars, inflation rates, infant mortality rates, et cetera; but in the United States these variables have
been somewhat stable over the last one hundred and fifty years. Crime, on the other hand, is a
continuing social problem in the United States. Difficult psychological and economic
circumstances drive individuals to commits crimes, crimes that infringe upon other’s
constitutional rights. Crime, therefore, not only provides a characteristic for the state of the
offender's health, but also influences the victim’s as well.
Crime and, in particular, violent crime continues to plague cities in the United States,
causing families to move out of cities into nearby suburbs. Crime destroys a city’s social fabric
and directly influences the quality of life for persons in that community. It has been one of the
leading causes of “white flight” in the Memphis area. Are there any actions that the local
government can take in order to reduce the amount of violent crime in the area? How can the
public best respond to the reality of crime in Memphis, TN?
Benjamin M. Friedman’s book, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, states
that “the value of a rising standard of living lies not just in the concrete improvements it brings to
how individuals live but in how it shapes the social, political, and ultimately the moral character
of a people. Economic growth … more often than not fosters greater opportunity, tolerance of
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diversity, social mobility, commitment to fairness, and dedication to democracy….”10 His
statement would mean that if individuals in Memphis were improving their income, people in the
area would be more tolerant and caring and commit fewer crimes. He adds on to this statement
by saying that “merely being rich is no bar to a society’s retreat into rigidity and intolerance once
enough of its citizens lose the sense that they are getting ahead.”11 Hence, if the majority of
Memphians saw their standard of living improve, society would function better on average.
In Thierry Verdier and Yves Zenou’s article Racial Beliefs, Location, and the Causes of
Crime, they aim to explain how location and beliefs influence blacks being on average more
criminal that whites. This paper is especially pertinent to Memphis, which has a majority black
population. The paper assumes that crime in cities is due to the inequality of income across race
10
Benjamin M. Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth (New York:
Random House, 2005), p. 4.
11
Benjamin M. Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth (New York:
Random House, 2005), p. 5.
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lines. The paper’s theory is actually very simple. If blacks are believed to produce more crime,
they will be excluded from certain jobs that they may be qualified for. Because of this, average
income for blacks will be lower. In addition, the distance traveled to and from jobs will also
increase because jobs for blacks are more scarce. This will decrease disposable income and make
blacks in general more impoverished. Studies show that (statistically) discrimination does occur
in the labor market, and hence the group which produces higher crime in general will be paid
less. Blacks will end up segregating themselves from whites because their ability to pay for land
will be lower because of anticipated lower wages. As a result, blacks become more criminal than
white, and the cycle repeats itself.12
In addition to “white flight,” Memphis has also seen a pocketing of communities along
race and income lines. Many whites have moved out to the suburbs, but those in the upper class
who have stayed in the city tend to create communities with walls. The poorest and richest
neighborhoods in Memphis back into one another, divided only by walls and railway lines.
Although Memphis is not politically segregated anymore, income capabilities and crime has
divided the city along these lines.
Memphis has already released an article of its own with objectives to meet in order to
reduce crime called Operation Safe Community: A Strategic Initiative to Reduce Crime in
Memphis & Shelby County. This article, produced by a specific government group in Memphis,
looks at the problems specifically relating to Memphis and Shelby County. It offers an initiative
12
Thierry Verdier and Yves Zenou, Racial Beliefs, Location, and the Causes of Crime
(International Economic Review, 2004).
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to drastically reduce crime in the area through 15 different and costly strategies. Some of the
strategies proposed include higher-quality K-12 education, positive parenting, mentoring for
youths, and improved offender re-entry programs.13 Are these strategies cost-effective and are
they applicable to Memphis? Are these programs the first and best way to go about improving
Memphis as a community? It is important to look at the empirical evidence in order to see how
much these theories and policies may influence the Memphis area.
Empirical Evidence:
The format for this section is an empirical analysis. The data selected is cross-sectional in
nature from twenty-two different metropolitan cities in the United States. These statistics come
from the 2000 census. On the final two pages of this paper are two charts. The first is a list of the
twenty-two U.S. cities that have similar populations to Memphis. As one can see, Memphis has
higher crime than all other cities other than Detroit. It also has a relatively higher single mother
household percentage, a lower high school graduation rate, and a lower median income than
other cities of its size. The second is a table of correlations is provided among some of these
variables listed above. In this second table, one can see that median family income is highly
correlated with total crime rates. Therefore, one can see that an increase in the overall welfare of
the majority of Memphians should decrease the crime rate.
Analysis of Problems and Solutions:
13
Memphis City Government, Operation Safe Community: A Strategic Initiative to
Reduce Crime in Memphis and Shelby County (2005).
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Assuming that the theories laid out by Benjamin Friedman, Thierry Verdier, and Yves
Zenou are correct, what policies and actions both by the government and people of Memphis can
positively affect crime and poverty in the area? In economics there are two ways of making some
people better off: increasing the size of the economic pie and redistributing the portions of this
pie. At first, redistribution sounds like a quick fix to the problems in Memphis. According to
Friedman’s thesis, it may even be in the best interest of the minority of wealthy individuals to
redistribute some of their wealth to less fortunate people. This increase in the standard of living
for the majority should improve tolerance, helping racial tension and decreasing the crime rate.
Yet is redistribution a sustainable way to continue making sure poorer individuals are
improving?
A better, more sustainable way to increase the income and standard of living for poorer
individuals in Memphis is to make their wages more competitive. If the government offered
more incentives for private, blue collar businesses to move into Memphis, the wages of lessskilled workers should rise. As the supply of lower-wage jobs increases (holding the demand for
those jobs constant), the wage offered for those jobs will naturally rise. One way to do this is
through tax-free zones. China has seen huge foreign private sector development in areas which
they have declared Special Economic Zones. For companies choosing to expand, they should
naturally locate where they have the best incentives. A tax-free zone in downtown Memphis
should draw businesses that are looking to expand, also driving up wages in its particular
industry.
Another factor that needs to be addressed more fully in Memphis is retraining. With
globalization changing the economic climate in many regions (a trend that is out of the control of
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Memphis policy), the local government should be investing heavily in retraining individuals for
jobs in other sectors. These policies should also help those of all education levels, retraining
those who have lost skilled and unskilled positions alike. If the U.S. or Memphis is unable to
compete on a global scale, government investment should ease the burden for individuals to
move into other areas and jobs. This policy would allow individuals to become positive
economic contributors to the area and also raise the wage offered to them. As a result, crime
should once again decrease.
As a solution to the problems offered by Thierry Verdier and Yves Zenou, Memphis
should invest more heavily in public transportation. As white Memphians have moved farther
east, many of the higher paying jobs have move that way with them. An increase in the amount
and reliability of public transportation should make it easier for lower individuals to obtain jobs
wherever they may be. In addition to this policy, Memphians must release the stereotype that
blacks cause more crime. In order for this stereotype to be corrected upper class Memphians
must come to know black individuals in Memphis. This connection may be the hardest piece of
the puzzle to solve, but it should become easier as incomes improve for the majority of
Memphians, easing racial tensions and lowering crimes.
Conclusion:
Looking at Memphis in its full context, one sees that blacks in the area have not had
proper opportunities to succeed. One of the policies that many scholars have offered is increased
education in Memphis. Over the past thirty years, the city has poured money into its public
school systems with no improvement. Just two days ago, the mayor of Memphis wrote a letter to
the city council urging them to raise tax rates to put more money, a minimum of 66 million
Ladyman 14
dollars, into the public school system. An increase in education does seem to be the best way to
create future opportunities for an individual, but I do not think it should be the only option
considered. With the structural obstacles imposed by the government for so long, should not the
government help those they have pushed to the side? The government must talk with the
marginalized in Memphis to understand their needs. Too often do scholars and politicians
assume what the poor need. It is time that those who are in need decide how they will escape the
cycle of poverty and crime. The marginalized should wield the power.
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Works Cited
Benjamin M. Friedman, The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth (New York: Random
House, 2005).
John E. Harkins, Metropolis of the American Nile (Oxford, MS: Guild Bindery Press, 1991).
Marcus D. Pohlmann, “Memphis, Tennessee” (Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and
History).
Memphis City Government, Operation Safe Community: A Strategic Initiative to Reduce Crime
in Memphis and Shelby County (2005).
“Memphis Sanitation Worker’s Strike of 1968" (Civil Rights in the United States).
Thierry Verdier and Yves Zenou, Racial Beliefs, Location, and the Causes of Crime
(International Economic Review, 2004).
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Table 114 (below)- data:
Cities
Austin
Albuquerque
Baltimore
Charlotte-Mecklenburg,
NC
Columbus
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fort Worth
Honolulu
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Louisville Metro, KY
Memphis
Milwaukee
Nashville
Oklahoma City
Portland, OR
San Francisco
San Jose
Seattle
Washington, D.C.
14
Census Bureau
Population
709,813
500,955
637,556
Total
crime
45231
36307
43137
699,398
731,547
568,465
884,462
615,553
641,752
912,693
800,969
795,822
626,018
680,828
581,005
560,813
536,016
542,174
746,085
920,548
583,772
581,530
56418
58046
30591
83732
22989
40682
41055
57288
49766
32972
70449
45931
41190
38593
35868
43525
27801
43684
34423
HS
Graduation
Rate (%)
Median
Family
Income
Singlemother
households
(%)
Police
Employees
86
85
86
54,091
49,677
38,510
6
8
8
1,946
1,384
3,712
85
88
87
87
68
83
89
87
88
85
83
87
85
85
89
87
86
91
90
54,294
49,046
51,686
30,520
36,338
45,492
60,348
50,587
50,551
49,161
35,309
39,443
51,055
44,565
51,543
67,809
73,978
66,752
50,243
7
8
6
8
11
9
5
8
9
8
11
8
7
8
6
6
9
6
8
2,007
2,178
1,824
3,509
1,444
1,733
2,532
2,434
2,858
1,408
2,440
2,415
1,526
1,233
1,259
2,541
1,749
1,746
4,342
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HS
Graduation
Total
Rate (%)
crime
45231
86
36307
85
HS 43137 Median 86
SingleMedian
mother
Family
households Police
Income
(%)
Employees
54,091
6
1,946
Single49,677
8
1,384
mother
38,510
8
3,712
Cities
Population
Austin
709,813
Albuquerque
500,955
Baltimore
637,556
Graduation
Family
households
Police
Charlotte-Mecklenburg,
Total crime
Rate (%)
Income
(%)
Employees
NC
699,398
56418
85
54,294
7
Total crime
1.00
Columbus
731,547
58046
88
49,046
8
HS Graduation Rate (%)
0.25
1.00
Denver
568,465
30591
87
51,686
6
Median Family Income
-0.40
0.41
1.00
Detroit households
884,462
83732
87
30,520
8
Single-mother
(%)El Paso
0.15
-0.65
-0.56 68
1.00
615,553
22989
36,338
11
Police
0.41
0.31
-0.23 83
-0.02
1.009
FortEmployees
Worth
641,752
40682
45,492
Honolulu
912,693
41055
89
60,348
5
Indianapolis
800,969
57288
87
50,587
8
Jacksonville
795,822
49766
88
50,551
9
Louisville Metro, KY
626,018
32972
85
49,161
8
Memphis
680,828
70449
83
35,309
11
Milwaukee
581,005
45931
87
39,443
8
Nashville
560,813
41190
85
51,055
7
Oklahoma City
536,016
38593
85
44,565
8
Portland, OR
542,174
35868
89
51,543
6
San Francisco
746,085
43525
87
67,809
6
San Jose
920,548
27801
86
73,978
9
Seattle
583,772
43684
91
66,752
6
Washington, D.C.
581,530
34423
90
50,243
8
Table 215 (above)- correlation.
15
Census Bureau
2,007
2,178
1,824
3,509
1,444
1,733
2,532
2,434
2,858
1,408
2,440
2,415
1,526
1,233
1,259
2,541
1,749
1,746
4,342