Crusades for Freedom

During the first half of the twentieth century, the city of Memphis was governed by the Shelby County Democratic Party controlled by Edward Hull Crump, described by Time magazine as “the most absolute political boss in the US.” Crusades for Freedom chronicles the demise of the Crump political machine and the corresponding rise to power of the South’s two minorities, African Americans and Republicans. Between the years 1948 and 1968, Memphis emerged as a battleground in the struggle to create a s