In contrast, white views of Forrest have long been mixed. The decision to rename Forrest Park brought these polarities into the public eye. The Ku Klux Klan immediately organized a large protest rally to be held next month. The Sons of Confederate Veterans announced their own plans to protest the name change in "a gentlemanly fashion" but asked the Klan not to get involved. Forrest's controversial status can be traced to three distinct phases of his life. Born in , he rose to become one of the wealthiest slave traders along the stretch of the Mississippi River from his home in Memphis to New Orleans.
With the wealth accumulated on the backs of slaves, Forrest organized his own cavalry regiment for the Confederacy at the beginning of the war. By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of lieutenant general.
Forrest then distinguished himself in a number of small battles, but at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, in April , his men committed one of the worst atrocities of the war against U. Colored Troops.
It is unclear whether Forrest issued the orders to massacre these men once they surrendered; however, it is likely that he knew what was taking place inside the fort. Forrest served for a short period before losing interest, but during that time, the Klan and other white supremacy organizations committed ferocious acts of violence against newly freed slaves in an attempt to maintain antebellum social and racial norms. The Tennessee area leader known as the "Exalted Cyclops" did not want to be fully identified when he agreed to speak with Action News 5 about the renaming of three city parks.
He said he began contacting fellow Klansmen even before the city council's decision Tuesday night. That's where former "grand wizard" and confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest is memorialized. In addition to Forrest Park, Confederate and Jefferson Davis Parks downtown were temporarily renamed and may never go back.
Little said signage will probably be replaced when permanent names are decided. Part of the reason council members took on the park issue was to combat an effort in Nashville to preserve the confederacy-related names. All rights reserved. Skip to content. Watch Live. Not In Our Town covered this protest and response here. In response to the park renamings, the Ku Klux Klan has applied for a permit to hold a protest in Memphis on March University of Mississippi: Facing the Change.
At the University of Mississippi, a segregationist chant and Ku Klux Klan rally threaten to divide the campus community, but student leaders and their chancellor take a stand against hate and intolerance. He was a slave trader before the war and an early member of the KKK, although his rank in the organisation is the subject of debate. Memphis city council decided it would rename the Nathan Bedford Forrest Park in February, giving it the temporary name of "Health Sciences Park" until a permanent one is chosen.
It also changed the names of Confederate Park and Jefferson Davis Park in a move which the Memphis Daily News said was hastened by a bill in the Tennessee legislature that would have forbidden the renaming of military or war memorial parks. The Memphis president of the NAACP has urged residents not to "give the Klan an audience" and encouraged "the citizens of Memphis" — the American Community Survey said the city had a population that was But the KKK may still be thwarted, after the council voted on Tuesday to change the city's ordinance on parades and public assemblies.
Council members voted to ban the wearing of masks "for the purpose of civil rights intimidation" and the same proposal would require groups from outside Memphis to cover the cost of providing additional police security at public assemblies.
0コメント