ABOUT REVIVAL MEMPHIS

Revival Memphis is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the mission to elevate Memphis through programs that enable new visions for the city, establish productive connectivity among Memphians from all walks of life, and provide platforms that create opportunities for all.

How It All Began

The founders of Revival Memphis were, as significantly, founders of the original Memphis in May, launched in 1977 in the devastating aftermath of the tragic deaths of sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker, followed by the Sanitation Workers Strike and the I AM A MAN movement, which brought our nation’s most inspiring Civil Rights visionary, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, where he made his historic Mountaintop oratory, only to have his life suddenly taken by an interloper from another part of the country. After the consequent riots all over the country, downtown Memphis fell into deep decline, where residents and businesses left the city, people from outside of town no longer wanted to visit, causing our landmark Peabody Hotel to close, with the venerable Orpheum Theatre struggling to survive, and Beale Street structures literally crumbling into ruin.

All of this of course occurred during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, which was itself the culmination of centuries of discord between Blacks and whites in America. What made the founding of Memphis in May completely pivotal and transformational is that it brought together the two cultures who had been in historic conflict — Black and white men and women — to work together on the creation of major events to bring people back downtown, and to establish economic bridges to foreign nations around the world that resulted in many businesses and thousands of jobs in Memphis and ultimately Tennessee.

COUNTRIES HONORED BY MEMPHIS

These events and bridges restored confidence in residents and businesses moving back downtown. The Peabody reopened in 1981. Beale Street and the Orpheum were restored in 1983. And to date, Memphis in May has built bridges with 40 different nations, and counting. Faith in our city, and Faith in our citizens, was restored.

Along the way, the founders, early board members and committee chairs learned many valuable lessons in the first decades of Memphis in May. These lessons have now been formulated to be shared by Revival Memphis to other cities, states, nations, and organizations of the world, where people from all walks of life, including those who’ve been in perpetual conflict, can use the lessons and methods learned, working together for the mutual benefit of all. This is being implemented by the forward-looking programs of Revival Memphis Vision 2.0:  https://revival-memphis.org/programs/

Riverfront events such as Memphis in May’s Beale Street Music Festival now attract 1000s of people to downtown Memphis, its hotels, restaurants, entertainment and new homes.

PURPOSE:
To help diverse groups accomplish their goals as a team and avoid conflict. To give people hope that they can work together — it’s possible!

VALUES:
Inclusion • Respect • Positive Change • Develop Leaders • Align opportunity with talents

SHARING THE MODEL:
This Memphis Model can be used by groups and cities globally. Can we change the world with this model? Yes, but there is much work to be done.

Financials/990: Revival Memphis, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, headquartered in Tennessee.

• 2019 Revival-Memphis 990 report: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/364866056/202021969349202802/IRS990EZ

 For current news, press releases & our newsletter, visit our contact page.

 Our partners and advisors include but are not limited to:

• Memphis Tourism (Calvin Taylor)
• Beale Street Developer, John Elkington
• Realty and Financial Services, CEO Bill Martin
• Trust Marketing CEO, Howard Robertson
• Tom Hutton, Co-Founder, Memphis In May