Cotton Exchange Memphis

In the barbecue joints and plate lunch cafes off Memphis’ Front Street, an almost hidden society existed. It was a society peopled with characters and cads, the big and the small time, the rich and the richer, the hangers-on, the anointed, the powerful and the busted. It created empires in agriculture, transportation, banking, warehousing, merchandising, textiles, and a hundred other businesses. Though Front Street’s 'King Cotton' culture is no longer in its heyday, its influence remains… in the technological advances that changed the soul of the South… in the birth of blues and jazz and rock and roll… in the migration of millions of blacks and poor whites that changed northern cities forever… and in the work of countless writers, artists, photographers and cultural chroniclers around the world."