SUMMER 2025

Dr. Canada welcoming Commissioner Lowery to the Memphians Clubhouse during our June Meeting

Commissioner Mickell Lowery is special guest of The Memphians Inc. for June 2025

COMMISSIONER LOWERY HAS PROVEN HIMSELF TO BE A FRIEND TO THE MEMPHIANS INC., AND THE COMMUNITY

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Dr. Anthony Boyce Canada

As a Memphian Club member, I felt profoundly humbled to be immersed in the organization's rich heritage. With over 70 years of service, this organization has provided indispensable support to the less fortunate and underserved, leveraging their resources to drive meaningful change.

It was also deeply humbling to consider the historical context in which these visionary men founded the organization - the 1950s, during the Jim Crow era, when secret gatherings were necessary to carry out their social and community activities. Throughout its 70-year history, the Memphian Club has steadfastly stood in the gap for local schools, churches, and causes, offering unwavering support.

As we move forward, we are committed to expanding our membership base and outreach efforts to further our mission of standing in the gaps to address pressing community needs, in partnership with men who exemplify the values of our Founder and distinguished past and present members.

We stand ready to collaborate with any organization that shares our core principles.

Dr Anthony Boyce Canada

President

For the Sake of Memphis

There is a hum in Memphis—
not from machines, nor men in towers—
but from the soul of the street itself.
The blues still linger where Beale breaks open,
where W.C. Handy played songs soaked in sorrow
and stitched with brass joy.

We are a city of echoes.
Of Robert Church Sr., who built sanctuaries not made of stone,
but of resilience and vision—
a Black man whose currency was courage,
whose shadow still walks near Church Park.

And yes, of Elvis, too—
the boy who bent sound to a wail,
who learned from the corner chords of gospel and grit,
who moved the hips of a nation
because Memphis first moved him.

And always, the River.
The Mississippi does not judge what drinks from it.
It carries the cotton and the dreams,
the driftwood and the prayer,
the runaway child and the tired song.
It knows us—
our sin and our sanctity, our failure and our fire

And still, it flows.

This city—
is not blue or red, not Baptist or Buddhist,
not born of lines but of hearts.
Here, we say you matter
not because of how you vote
but because you breathe.

So let the slogans fall aside.
Let the names on ballots fade.
Let church doors open without fear of difference.
Let mosques, synagogues, sanctuaries, and open skies
all find room on the map of this city’s soul.

Let every Memphian say:

One Memphis. One Mission. Right Now.

Not someday, not maybe—
Now.

For the sake of the child walking alone to school,
for the elder with no kin,
for the brother whose record shadows his future,
for the sister who dreams but doubts.
For the quiet neighbor, the loud neighbor,
the neighbor we never bothered to meet.

Let us meet.

Let us gather not around causes,
but around compassion.
Not for applause, but for purpose.
Let the blues remind us of beauty.
Let the River remind us of motion.

And let Memphis—
finally, fully—
remember itself.

Poetry by Memphian Edgar Hampton, II.

Edgar Hampton, II

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