Memphis police joined a mob that destroyed four churches and twelve schools in 1866

Evidence

One episode took place in Memphis in 1866, when the city’s police department, along with a mob of white men, attacked Black neighborhoods and contraband camps of formerly enslaved people. The white mob burned down four Black churches, destroyed twelve schools, killed forty-six African Americans, and raped five women. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 1038