Memphis is a city of innovation and has reinvented itself time and time again. It has faced tremendous existential threats -- yellow fever, the Memphis Massacre, lynching, the Marting Luther King Jr assassination -- that would have devastated any other place. Yet, each time the city finds a way to turn the corner and order up a makeover. The inventions born from the struggles faced by everyday Memphians have changed the world. Memphis birthed the first grocery store (Piggly Wiggly), hotel chain (Holiday Inn), overnight shipping (FedEx), Rock N' Roll recording, the 'I Am A Man' march, and more. Memphis deserves a birthday. Birthdays are celebrations of history, progress, challenge, growth. As the chapters in this volume suggest, our community has had all that and more.

Memphis: 200 Years Together does what no other single book has ever accomplished: bringing together the best local writers and scholars to cover the breadth and depth of Memphis history, politics, culture, business, music, food, religion, sports, and art. From the Chickasaw Indians, the Civil War, and the yellow fever epidemic to the civil rights movement, blues to hip hop, and even a foray into barbeque and basketball, Memphis: 200 Years Together chronicles the triumphs and tragedies from the founding of Memphis to the present.

Rather than one unbroken narrative, this is a collection of key stopping points on the journey to Memphis' bicentennial celebration. Like Maysey Craddock's beautiful artwork on the cover, a thousand rivers 1, a visual celebration inspired by the Mississippi River, the stories in this volume flow across the Memphis landscape, taking readers on a deep-dive to explore where we have been over the past 200 years, what it has meant, and how it has shaped this community.