[African Americana]: [Memphis Five Defense Committee]:

The Memphis Five. Five Days After the Memphis Police Killed Elton Hayes, the Red Lantern Lounge Was Firebombed... [caption title and beginning of text].

[Memphis, Tn.]: Typeset & printed at SCEF by volunteer labor, [1972]. [4]pp., on a single folded sheet. Light toning. Near fine. Item #4886

A rare circular asking for support, trial attendance, and financial contributions for the Memphis Five, a group of five African American men arrested for the alleged firebombing of the Red Lantern Lounge as revenge for the killing of a young Black man in the city named Elton Hayes. Hayes had been beaten to death by a mob of Memphis police officers after riding in a car engaged in a high-speed chase with the law. Once the car crashed into a ditch, a swarm of Memphis's finest descended on Hayes and his friends, killing Hayes and injuring his two friends. Hayes was seventeen years old. Hayes' death caused a firestorm of resentment among the local Black community, and the case still reverberates today. When the Red Lantern Lounge was firebombed five days later, local police used the moment to blame the event on five local Black kids between the ages of 17 and 31, even though an eyewitness described the bomber as a young white male. The present circular prints the background on the story, a detailed listing of six facts about the case, a section on how interested parties can help the case, and a form to be used for financial contributions to the defense committee working for the five defendants. The inner two pages reprint an article about the case from the Tri-State Defender, an important local African-American newspaper founded by the owner of the Chicago Defender. Eventually two of the defendants were convicted of first-degree murder and three were acquitted. Justice, to no one's surprise, was not served in this case.

Price: $150