Clayborn in the News
City moves to heart of bicentennial observance
5.22.19 It was 200 years ago Wednesday that Memphis was founded, at least by the judgment of historian James Roper. Fifty years ago, he wrote the definitive story on untangling how the city came to be.
“We have wanted to activate that area,” said city communications chief Ursula Madden, comparing the new Memphis sign to the “I Am A Man” sculpture next to Clayborn Temple.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
Landscape architects honor attorney for his support of public spaces
4.26.19 A Venice, California-based firm, Cliff Garten Studio, received a Merit Award for its design of I AM A MAN Plaza at Clayborn Temple. The plaza and landscape sculpture honor the members of the 1968 sanitation workers’ strike and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
The Memphis 10: Vanishing outdoor basketball hoops, pedestrian safety on the Highland Strip and more
4.25.19 Higgins was the front person for Chinese Connection Dub Embassy, a popular local reggae band that preceded Negro Terror. The two bands showed his range, musical and otherwise. This is a big cultural loss for Memphis, one that’s really hit people hard, including people who didn’t personally know Higgins. I’m among that group. Elle Perry has news on Higgins' memorial service, at Clayborn Temple on Tuesday, April 30.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
Memphis musician Omar Higgins' funeral set for Clayborn Temple
4.24.19 A Beale Street procession starting at 10:30 a.m. April 30 will honor musician Omar Higgins, who would have turned 38 on April 26. The memorial march for Higgins will be followed by an 11 a.m. visitation and reception at Clayborn Temple, with a funeral there at noon.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
Musician Omar Higgins' funeral set for Tuesday at Clayborn Temple
4.22.19 Higgins’ funeral is set for Tuesday April 30 at Downtown's historic Clayborn Temple at 294 Hernando St.
Read more, via the Commercial Appeal.
Second Memphis Cares reflects on Memphis of 1968 and change
4.8.19 The son of the union leader who led 1,300 city sanitation workers on a wildcat strike 51 years ago on Sunday marked its anniversary and aftermath with a prayer from 1968.
The prayer by Rev. Malcolm Blackburn, the pastor of Clayborn Temple AME Church in 1968, wasn’t what a group of several hundred people gathered Sunday at St. John’s United Methodist Church might have been expecting in terms of a relic of the strike.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
SCLC to march in Memphis to Commemorate MLK Anniversary
4.4.19 Thursday is the 51st anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference will march in King’s footsteps to commemorate the date. The march begins at 11 a.m. at Clayborn Temple at 294 Hernando St. near the FedExForum, and ends at the Lorraine Motel on Mulberry Street.
Read more, via WREG.
WKNO Spotlight for the Week of April 1
4.1.19 Some heavy hitters are coming to town this week. On Friday, April 5th from 6:30-9, the Historic Clayborn Temple will host its final installment of the “In This Place” speaker series. To commemorate the MLK anniversary, they welcome legendary civil rights activist Reverend James Lawson, Jr., one of the great theorists and practitioners of non-violent resistance, who pioneered the strategy of the sit-ins. Dr. Lawson will engage the audience in a conversation about the future of Memphis, share the stories of his work in the Black freedom struggle, consider how it applies to Memphis today, and discuss what communities can do to ensure a bright future for all across race and class.
Read more, via WKNO.
StoryBoard 30: Our Talk With Clayborn Temple Executive Director Anasa Troutman
3.26.19 When Anasa Troutman walked into the historic Clayborn Temple, “I could literally hear the building talking to me,” she said. “I knew I was meant to do something in that space.”
Listen to this episode of StoryBoard 30 and our interview with Ms. Troutman, Executive Director of the Clayborn, and hear how she came to Memphis to help continue the building’s historic resurgence. You will be inspired.
Read more, via StoryBoard Memphis.
Memphis Jewish Community Center -The Power of the Collective
3.20.19 The MJCC is inspired by the ideal that there is power in the collective and as such facilitated bringing together a broad group of organizations from throughout the Memphis area to create a celebration and exploration of exacting social change. They are hosting several events themed “The Power of the Collective” during the month of April and are committed to making all these programs free of charge and open to the entire Memphis community.
This event is in partnership with The National Civil Rights Museum, Clayborn Temple, Facing History & Ourselves, Latino Memphis, Memphis Women in Film, OUT Memphis, ArtsMemphis, Tennessee Arts Commission, and Paragon Bank.
Read more, via cityCURRENT.
Clayborn Temple Presents In This Place Speaker Series
3.12.19 Clayborn Temple's In This Place speaker series is a way to build relationships and have authentic conversations around restoration, as well as the social, racial, and economic injustice that has plagued the city of Memphis. The third event in the series will take place on Monday, March 18, 2019, from 6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m. at Clayborn Temple (294 Hernando Street, Memphis, Tennessee 38126).
Read more, via the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Tami Sawyer Announces Candidacy For Mayor Of Memphis
3.7.19 A ‘Memphis Can’t Wait’ rally will be held Saturday, March 9 at Clayborn Temple where Sawyer will gather with supporters beginning at 5:00 p.m. to share her vision for Memphis with the larger community.
Read more, via Local Memphis News.
Memphis Black Restaurant Week back for biggest year yet
3.1.19 At the truck festival Sunday, food trucks will line Hernando Street, while a concert is held outside Clayborn Temple. This year’s concert features singers Carmen Hicks, Courtney Little and Keia Johnson. The participating food trucks are Fabulous Flavors, Smashed Eats, Chef TNT, Louisiana Hot Boil Memphis, Fantasy Food Truck, Crumpy’s On Wheels, Lil Miracles is Better Than, Monette’s Munchies, and Owl’s Nest. Festival tickets are available online.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
Jimmie Tucker elected into esteemed group of architects
2.27.19 Among its current projects, Self+Tucker Architects is designing the renovation of historic Clayborn Temple, which played a prominent role for those in the struggle for civil rights.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
Clayborn Temple Hosts In This Place Speaker Series
2.18.19 Shelby County Commissioner, Tami Sawyer, talks about Clayborn Temple’s second In This Place event: 200 Years of Race & Place.
Read more, via Bluff City Life on WMC Action News 5.
Clayborn Temple to host free speaker event for Black History Month
2.18.19 Black History Month is well underway and if you’re looking for a way to celebrate there are two separate events happening Monday night.
Read more, via WREG.
The Weekly Memphian: ‘The Awful Truth,’ Soul Cinema 6, Songwriters Week and more
2.18.19 “Invisible: Imprints of Racism” at Clayborn Temple: Boston-based behearld.world combines performing arts, film and advocacy work. “Invisible: Imprints of Racism” includes nine dancers, three spoken-word poets – and music – in an hour-long performance.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
Biggs: Restaurant weeks starting and Destination: Delicious events coming
2.14.19 The event has grown every year, and this year it’s March 3-9. In 2017, they tacked on the Soulful Food Truck Festival at Clayborn Temple, which is back this year on March 10. We’ll remind you about all of it when it’s time, but you want to go ahead and get reservations now if you know where you want to eat. This is a popular week and restaurants fill quickly. Every place offers a different special, some for lunch, some for dinner and some at both meals.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
'Unlike anything else in the northern half of Memphis': city asks developers to mold eight sites
2.13.19 The two-acre site in Downtown Memphis is adjacent to Clayborn Temple and I AM A MAN Plaza. The city is looking for a master developer for a mixed-use project that could include commercial, retail and residential elements.
Read more, via The Commercial Appeal.
Clayborn Temple Presents In This Place Speaker Series
2.8.19 Clayborn Temple's In This Place speaker series is a way to build relationships and have authentic conversations around restoration, as well as the social, racial, and economic injustice that has plagued the city of Memphis.
Read more, via the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Clayborn Temple approved for $42K renovations
2.5.19 A historic Memphis landmark is in line for a big boost. The Memphis City Council is scheduled to approve and award a $42,000 grant for historic preservation and renovations at the historic Clayborn Temple downtown. The Civil Rights landmark recently hired a new executive director who said she is focused on preserving the decades-old building.
Read more, via WMC Action News 5.
Here are the 8 sites Memphis city officials want developers to dream up plans for
1.29.19 Memphis city officials want developers to float their best ideas for eight sites that stretch across the city, from Raleigh to Midtown and over to the Pinch District.
Read more, via The Commercial Appeal.
In State of City, Strickland proposes ways to jump-start private development
1.28.19 Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland proposed two new ways that the City plans to jump-start private development in certain areas of town as part of his 2019 State of the City Monday evening.
Read more, via Memphis Business Journal.
Women's March moves from streets to midterms and beyond
1.26.19 A dozen local organizations rallied Saturday at Clayborn Temple in a follow up to last weekend’s Memphis Women’s March that focused on influencing the broad ideological course of state and federal government past the 2018 midterm elections.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
Mid-Southerners Participate In Memphis Women's March
1.26.19 Mid-Southerners gathered at Clayborn Temple to discuss continuing the positive momentum in local and statewide activism on Saturday.
Read more, via Local Memphis.
#IAmAPoet project pays tribute to MLK with words and images
1.25.19 Writeous Soul brought together a host of Memphis poets to take unified photos and re-enact some of the iconic Ernest Withers photos from the 1968 sanitation strike. They photographed at three historic locations around the city: The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Reflection Park and the #IAmAMan plaza at Clayborn Temple.
Read more, via Pride Publishing Group.
Permit Shows $1.5M Renovations for Clayborn Temple
1.25.19 Major renovations appear to be getting under way at Clayborn Temple. A $1.5 million building permit was pulled Thursday for the building, located at 294 Hernando. The church and community gathering place was scheduled to close this spring for renovations. The permit did not include any details of the work to be done.
Read more, via The Memphis Flyer.
$1.5M building permit filed for Clayborn Temple exterior work
1.25.19 According to executive director Anasa Troutman, Clayborn Temple plans to begin work on the building’s exterior, namely the roof and trusses, in April. At that time, the building will close. Clayborn Temple will open the project for bids in a couple of weeks, she said. On Jan. 24, a building permit application valued at $1.5 million was filed for “alterations.”
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
The 'history of racism in the U.S.': Memphis lawyer Jeff Robinson returns home for volatile documentary
1.24.19 Robinson and a small crew of filmmakers were in Memphis this week, to shoot footage at places public (the National Civil Rights Museum, Clayborn Temple, the sites of the relocated Confederate statues) and personal (Robinson's childhood home on Yates Road, and the East Memphis church and school he helped integrate). They also met and interviewed such people as Elmore Nickelberry, one of the striking sanitation workers whose plight brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, and Carolyn Payne, sister of Larry Payne, a teenager shot and killed by a Memphis police officer in 1968, not long after a sanitation strike march.
Read more, via The Commercial Appeal.
King Day observances feature different interpretations of civil rights leader's Memphis legacy
1.21.19 As a much larger crowd streamed into FedExForum Monday evening for the NBA’s annual Martin Luther King Day game marking the federal holiday in his honor, a small group of 140 people gathered across MLK Avenue from the forum at Clayborn Temple.
Read more, via The Daily Memphian.
Clayborn Temple Backdrop To New Conversation Series On Social Justice
1.21.19 After a full day of events commemorating the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memphians sat down for food and conversation at historic Clayborn Temple. Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer partnered with Clayborn leaders for the first in a series of conversations on important social themes. The ongoing event is called In This Place.
Read more, via Local Memphis.
Ten Ways to Get to Know Memphis
1.20.19 Once a staging ground and gathering place for the civil rights movement, Clayborn Temple’s restorations are currently underway with the goal of making black arts thrive again. Once dedicated to the worship of God in 1893, the church was sold to the AME Church in 1949 and then renamed Clayborn Temple. Today the mission is to transform the historic space into a community center for the neighborhood. Former UVA research professor Greg Thompson is at the helm of the transformation. His soul rap-based musical, called Union, began here inside Clayborn Temple before touring nationwide.
Read more, via Money Inc.
Memphis Women's March to strive on despite national denouncement
1.18.19 The Women’s March is coming back to Memphis to host both the Memphis Women’s March on Jan. 19 and the Legislative Action Rally on Jan. 26 to advocate for reform on a variety of issues in society. The Memphis Women’s March will begin by City Hall on Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. and end at the Judge D’Army Bailey courthouse. The Legislative Action rally will take place on Jan. 26 at the Clayborn Temple.
Read more, via The Daily Helmsman.
The MLK Day Weekender: January 18-21
1.18.19 With all the great things going on in the 901 these days, have you ever been overwhelmed with choices? Well, you’re in luck! Every week we curate The Weekender, a post filled with a handy list to help you hit some of our best bets for an amazing weekend.
Read more, via Choose901.
The Tip Sheet: 1/18/19
1.18.19 Clayborn Temple announced its inaugural event for its “In This Place” speaker series. The initiative aims to build relationships across Memphis communities to address racial and economic injustice. The first event, featuring Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, takes place on Monday, January 21st at 6pm.
Read more, via Inside Memphis Business.
What would MLK think of Memphis, America today?
1.17.19 Dr. King would be pleased that Clayborn Temple, the base for the striking sanitation workers, is being reimagined and restored as part of Memphis’ multi-billion dollar downtown renaissance. In 1968 sanitation strikers and supporters gathered at Clayborn to pass out I AM A MAN signs and march to City Hall. Now there is the I AM A MAN plaza, which was dedicated last year. It is home to a large sculpture of that slogan and a wall with the names of the 1,300 strikers.
Read more, via The Commercial Appeal.
Grizzlies Discuss Leadership & Social Justice With Local Students On MLK's Birthday
1.15.19 Some Beale Street Bears took time Tuesday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his birthday. Memphis Grizzlies Jaren Jackson, Jr. and Joakim Noah hosted a panel discussion with 100 local students at Clayborn Temple.
Read more, via Local Memphis.
In This Place: Conversations for Restoration
1.7.19 Taking place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the first event of the series will carry the theme of MLK’s Birmingham Jail: Unpacking Lessons from King for Memphis in 2019. Tami Sawyer, Shelby County Commissioner and Managing Director, External Affairs at Teach for America, will be Clayborn Temple’s first In This Place Speaker in Residence and will curate and host events.
Read more, via The Memphis Flyer.
The Tip Sheet: 1/4/19
1.4.19 Cliff Garten Studio received the Quality of Life Honor Award in Landscape Art by the American Society of Landscape Architects for Clayborn Temple’s I AM A MAN Plaza.
Read more, via Inside Memphis Business.