Two professors at The University of Memphis published a bookthis month entitled "Memphis in Black and White," based on thehistory of Memphis up through the 20th century.
Dr. Beverly Bond, a professor in African-American studies, andDr. Janaan Sherman, currently teaching a class on the 1960s, wrotethe book for the 'Making of America' series.
The series, created by Arcadia Publishing Company in SouthCarolina, produces books on the history of different citiesaccompanied by an assortment of rare photographs.
"Most of the books in the series were done for a local market. Ido think there is a real interest in Memphis and that people arecurious about it," Sherman said.
Bond wrote the first seven chapters of the book, which focusedon the founding of Memphis, the Civil War, Reconstruction and othernoted events.
The last seven chapters, written by Sherman, involved the timeperiod between 1900 and 2000 and also included aspects that Americadeals with today.
"Our contract with Drs. Bond and Sherman was a result of oursearch for authors in certain cities who met our criteria. We tryto find professional historians who can write a good story and whoare connected to the community they'll be writing about," said JimKempert, editor of the series.
Bond said the book ideas stemmed from a class she taught withSherman about black and white women in American history. The focus,she said, was the interactive relationship between the two racesand their growth throughout history.
"A lot of what Arcadia produces involves a visual history. Thisproject was different for us because it combined a stronghistorical narrative along with rare pictures," said Bond.
"Memphis in Black and White" took 18 months to write from thetime the professors signed the contract to when it was put onshelves in October 2003.
Sherman said they wanted to write a book that was packed withinformation but was also fun to read.
"One of the big issues was finding a lot of photographs," shesaid. "It took a lot of digging, since we tried to find ones thathad not been used."
Arcadia's 'Making of America' series began in 2000 with a bookon Detroit and has covered major cities like Monterey, CA;Cincinnati; and Tallahassee, FL. The company is the leadingpublisher of local and regional history, having published 2,000titles in 48 states.
Bond said the Memphis Public Library was a wonderful resource intheir quest to find unused pictures for the book. They also did atlarge amount of research at The U of M library.
Several local stores sell "Memphis in Black and White,"including Davis-Kidd, Burke's Books, Bookstar and the bookstore inthe Peabody hotel.
"Beverly and Jan, with their university and local historicalsociety connections, had no problem with (free access to historicphoto archives) and dug up some great, rare pictures for theirbook," Kempert said.
