Arkansas Street and the Memphis Inferiority Complex

Last night a friend texted me, asking about my whereabouts. My response was "Driving around looking for the residences of fictional characters." Shelby Foote has long been one of my favorite historians/Memphians and I just finished one of his later novels- September, September. Set in Downtown in 1957, it is the odd and humorous tale of three cons who kidnap the grandson of a prominent black businessman and attempt to pin the crime on white supremacists. Since Foote is a much better historian than storyteller, the book is full of minutely detailed specifics of Memphis in the 1950s. It tickled me to no end to read a book set in my own neighborhood and of course I had to attempt to find the featured locations. The house inhabited by the kidnappers was set in the South Bluffs neighborhood Foote himself lived in when he first came to Memphis in the 1950s. Interestingly I found an interview with him from a 1954 Commercial Appeal where he makes eerily accurate predictions about the future of Memphis-- "Foote believes the area where he is living in Memphis-- on Arkansas St-- may well become the Sutton Place of Memphis. Sutton Place in New York City was once a slum area jammed against the side of the East River. However, it has been taken over by the very rich and is now probably the most expensive real estate site in Manhattan. 'It's going to be a nice neighborhood' said Foote." True to his prediction, Arkansas St, once a two block stretch at the west end of Carolina; has now been engulfed by high rise condominiums. The bungalow his September, September protagonist inhabits at 279 Vance is now an empty field.

In reading more of Shelby Foote's interviews I found him to be quite the kindred spirit as I could wholeheartedly relate to his love of Memphis-- a mature, realistic love where he recognizes the city's flaws and history, yet still sees the potential she has and the impact she has made on the world. Like us, Foote didn't move here until he was grown. This backs my belief that it takes an outsider to truly appreciate this city. Since our arrival we have seen much of the infamous Memphis Inferiority Complex, always from natives and interestingly enough always ones who live out east rather than Downtown or Midtown. When they learn we came from the Midwest we are met with raised eyebrows and disbelief that we would choose Memphis. They ask "why?" and our response is always "it's home." After they blink a few times they usually give us a few words of warning such as "Your car will get broken into!" or a patronizing "Well... I hope you stay..." with absolutely no faith that we will stay once we see the Memphis they know.

We see the bad parts of Memphis. We hear the tales and we watch the news and we walk past Jackie outside the Civil Rights Museum nearly everytime we walk our dogs. We see shady people case our neighborhood bar (and watch the bartender chase them out with a stick,) we padlock our grill to our patio, and never leave anything in our cars. We see panhandlers posing as tour guides and our neighbors calling the police on robbers breaking into businesses on our street. However, we were fortunate enough to have spent the 80s and 90s safely some 500+ miles away. We missed Memphis at her worst-- we never shopped at the Mall of Murder, we never even had Herenton as mayor. The Downtown we know is safe and vibrant. Had we grown up here I am sure we would suffer from the same jaded attitudes and inferiority complex that many locals harbor. Since we didn't, it is far easier to focus on the positives when you've never seen the negatives. Memphis is held hostage by its past to say the very least. On the Commercial Appeal boards recently I saw someone post "I never take my family Downtown because I love them too much for them to get shot." I can only assume the last time this person was Downtown was 1989. As long as Memphians keep their eyes on the past rather than the now and the future, the city will never reach its full potential. Don't get me wrong, Memphis' past will always shape it. As Shelby Foote said "I find it hard to think of Memphis without thinking in terms of the past." Unfortunately, letting the past shield them from the current reality robs these naysayer natives of the beautiful city that already surrounds them.