page_title: History of Memphis, Tennessee
section_title: Crump machine
hierarchical_section_title: History of Memphis, Tennessee / 20th century / Crump machine
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Memphis in 1911 originally listed at https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/tennessee.html
context_page_description: The history of Memphis, Tennessee and its area began many thousands of years ago with succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples. In the first millennium, it was settled by the Mississippian Culture. The Chickasaw Indian tribe emerged about the 17th century, or migrated into the area. The earliest European exploration may have encountered remnants of the Mississippian culture by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Later French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle likely encountered the Chickasaw.
  The European-American city of Memphis was not founded until 1819. The city was named after the ancient capital of Egypt on the Nile River in North Africa. It rapidly developed as a major trading center for cotton cultivated at the region's large plantations and dependent on the work of enslaved African Americans. In the 19th century, and especially 1878 and 1879, the city suffered severe yellow fever epidemics. In 1878 tens of thousands of residents fled and more than 5,000 died, with hundreds more dying in the next year's epidemic, causing the city to go bankrupt and give up its charter until 1893.
context_section_description: From the 1910s to the 1950s, Memphis was a locus of machine politics under the direction of E. H. "Boss" Crump, a Democrat. He obtained a state law in 1911 to establish a small commission to manage the city. The city retained a form of commission government until 1967 But Crump was in full control at all times, Using all the familiar techniques of the big city boss, who is willing to engage in ballot manipulation, patronage for friends, and frustrating bureaucratic obstacles for the opposition.  Crump build a complex alliance with established power figures at the local state and national levels. He ensured the dissidents had little or no voice.  At the center of his network was Cotton Row—The business elite that dominated the cotton industry. Second he included the modernizers, the business-oriented progressives who were most concerned with upgrading the infrastructure in terms of the waterfront, parks, highways and skyscrapers, as well as a moderately good school system. Working-class whites got their share of jobs. AFL labor unions were of marginal influence; CIO unions were not tolerated.  Roger Biles argues that the political system was virtually unchanged from 1910 into the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to Crump's wire-pulling. Crump Was the leading Tennessee supporter of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal . In turn the city received ample relief programs – which provided jobs for the unemployed, as selected by local machine lieutenants. As well the city was provided with major federal building projects, which helped fund the business community.  Crump incorporated the black leadership in his outer circle, dispensing patronage in return for the black vote. Memphis was one of the largest southern cities in which blacks could vote, but segregation was as rigid as anywhere. Crump successfully lobbied Washington for large-scale public housing projects.
  The city installed a revolutionary sewer system and upgraded sanitation and drainage to prevent another epidemic. Pure water from an artesian well was discovered in the 1880s, securing the city's water supply. The commissioners developed an extensive network of parks and public works as part of the national City Beautiful movement, but did not encourage heavy industry, which might have provided substantial employment for the white working-class population. The lack of representation in city government resulted in the poor and minorities being underrepresented. The majority controlled the election of all the at-large positions.
caption: Map of Memphis in 1911
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