Memphis, Tennessee has a long history of distinctive contributions to the culture of the American South and beyond. Although it is an important part of the culture of Tennessee, the history, arts, and cuisine of Memphis are more closely associated with the culture of the Deep South (particularly the Mississippi Delta) than the rest of the state. For example, the city's influence on 20th-century music has had worldwide impact. Memphians have had an important role in founding or establishing several important American music genres, including blues, gospel, rock and roll, and "sharecropper" country music.
As of the American Community Survey of 2011, there were 652,050 people, 245,836 households, and 141,199 families residing in the city. In 2012, the Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was the 41st largest in the United States, with a population of 1,341,690.
Memphis in May is an annual, month-long festival that promotes many aspects of Memphis' cultural heritage. Each year a different nation is partnered as a theme of the festival. Once the featured nation is announced, there is an open call for poster design, and the selected official festival poster becomes a treasured collectible, prestigious for the collector and the artist/creator. In 2011, 250,000 people attended the festival.
Memphis has long been home to persons of many different faiths. An 1870 map of Memphis shows religious buildings of the Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational, and Christian denominations and a Jewish congregation.
Memphis is frequently noted as an affordable place to live.
Demographics Source:
As of the census of 2011, there were 652,078 people and 245,836 households in the city. The population density was 1,881.3 people per sq mi (726.4/km) spread over 294,145 housing units. The average household size was 2.59 and the home ownership rate was 49.3%. Of Memphians, 78.91% have lived at the same house for at least one year.
The racial makeup of the city was 62.4% African American, 29.6% White, 2.0% Asian, 0.2% Native American, 4.0% from other races, and 1.8% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.3% of the population.
Foreign born persons composed 6.6% of the population. Ethnically, Memphis' population consists of a variety of immigrant groups. In addition to a sizable Hispanic (mainly Mexican-American) population, major ethnic backgrounds include Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian, and Persian. Historically, many residents identify themselves with African, English, Irish, Italian and German ancestry. Memphis is also home to a large Jewish community of 9,000, most of whom are Ashkenazi Jews with Central and Eastern European ancestry.
Twenty-five percent of Memphis' population is under the age of 18, 10.4% are 65 years of age or older. Children under the age of 5 are 7.6% of the city's population. Women made up 52.4% of the population. The median income for a household in 2011 was $34,960 and the mean household income was $51,105 in the City of Memphis. Of the population 27.2% and 22.6% of families were below the poverty line in 2011.
Metropolitan area The Memphis Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the 41st largest in the United States, has a 2012 population of 1,341,690, and includes the Tennessee counties of Shelby, Tipton, and Fayette, as well as the Mississippi counties of DeSoto, Marshall, Tate, and Tunica, and the Arkansas county of Crittenden. In 2013, Benton County, Mississippi was added to the MSA Definition.
Crime Launched in late 2006, Operation: Safe Community is an historic and ambitious crime reduction initiative. Since the launch, Memphis and Shelby County has seen a 25.4% reduction in major violent crime and a 32.6% reduction in major property crime.
In 2005, the Memphis Police Department initiated Operation Blue C.R.U.S.H. (Crime Reduction Using Statistical History), which targets crime hotspots and repeat offenders. Operation Blue C.R.U.S.H. has resulted in 30% reduction in serious crime overall; a 15% decrease in violent crime and a 400% increase in the percentage of cases solved by the Felony Assault Unit.
In 2011, Memphis was ranked as the 4th Most Dangerous City by Forbes Magazine based on the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports. The FBI strongly cautions against such rankings.
Sports and recreation In 2011, Memphis ranked 44th overall out of the largest 50 cities for overall fitness and health by the American Fitness Index. Memphis was ranked 40th out of 50 for personal health indicators and 39th for community health indicators.
Memphis is home to the University of Memphis Tigers, the Memphis Grizzlies NBA team, and the Memphis Redbirds, a Triple-A minor league baseball team. The Memphis Grizzlies were ranked 5th among 122 sports teams in ESPN's 2012 Ultimate Standings, a ranking of all sports teams. The Grizzlies ranked 1st in the category "Bang for the Buck".
The City of Memphis hosts several national sporting events annually. Events include the PGA Tour St. Jude Classic, US National Indoor Tennis Championships, the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend, the Memphis in May Triathlon, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl and the Southern Heritage Classic. Sporting facilities include the FedEx Forum, Autozone Park, , Mike Rose Soccer Complex, and over 30 golf courses including TPC Southwind, home to the St. Jude Classic.
Memphis is home to Shelby Farms Park, a 4,500 acre park that receives about 500,000 annual visitors. The park is the 2nd largest urban county park in the United States according to the Trust for Public Land. In October 2010, the Shelby Farms Greenline opened, providing bike access from Midtown to Shelby Farms. Greater Memphis Greenline, Inc. has proposed further expansion of the Greenline, providing access to Overton Park, Uptown Memphis and the development of a multi-use Harahan Bridge Boardwalk, connecting downtown Memphis to West Memphis, Arkansas. In 2012, Bicycling magazine named Memphis "America's Most Improved Bike City", citing 35 miles of new bike lanes. 65 miles of bike lanes were expected to be completed by summer 2012.
Zoos and museums The Memphis Zoo is one of only four U.S. zoos to house giant pandas. The zoo has over 3,500 animals representing 500 species.
In 2008, the Memphis Zoo was ranked "#1 Zoo in the U.S." by TripAdvisor.com based on visitor opinions.
Memphis is home to several nationally recognized museums. National Civil Rights Museum - Housed at the Lorraine Motel, the site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, provides a full overview of the Civil Rights Movement and details the events that transpired on and prior to April 4, 1968. Stax Museum - The world's only Soul museum Dixon Gallery and Gardens Brooks Museum of Art - Tennessee's oldest and largest museum of fine and decorative art National Ornamental Metal Museum - the only museum in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to fine metalwork Chucalissa Archaeological Museum Art Museum of the University of Memphis Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum - The first and only exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Institution in partnership with another museum
Cultural events and fairs
Carnival Memphis Carnival Memphis is an annual series of parties and festivities held in early summer to salute various aspects of Memphis and its industries. Begun in 1931 as the Memphis Cotton Carnival, it is organized by the Carnival Memphis Association and its member krewes, private societies similar to those of the New Orleans Mardi Gras. A secretly selected King and Queen of Carnival reign over the festivities.
Memphis in May
Memphis in May promotes Memphis' musical and culinary heritage. The month-long celebration is the largest annual series of public events put on in Memphis. Each year it features a different country, highlighting aspects of the honored nation's history and culture.
Each spring since its founding in 1977, Memphis in May has had a significant economic and educational impact to the city. The celebration includes a diverse mix of events, beginning during the first weekend of the month at Tom Lee Park on the Mississippi River, the site of the Beale Street Music Festival.
During International Week, the city focuses on its honored country, part of a larger program in coordination with area schools to broaden cultural awareness among students, as well as a good deal of business linkage. Other signature events of Memphis in May include the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (the largest pork barbecue cooking contest in the world) and the closing event of the month—a performance of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra on the river called the Sunset Symphony, also featuring a performance by musicians from the honored country.
Memphis in May sprang from the Cotton Carnival festivities, which began holding big musical events at the Fairgrounds. In the early 1980s the idea of Memphis in May got started. Germany and Japan were the first two nations to be honored. Events were scattered around the city. A barbecue contest was held in tents in downtown parking lots. The contest proved very popular and has grown substantially, with a dedicated volunteer corps, corporate sponsorship, school involvement, and general citizen attendance. Contestants travel from afar to compete in the barbecue contest and to enjoy the Beale Street Music Fest—originally held in vacant lots on that storied street.
Cooper-Young Festival
An arts festival, the Cooper-Young Festival, is held annually in September in the Cooper-Young district of Midtown Memphis. The event draws artists from all over North America, and includes art sales, contests, and displays.
Since the late 1980s the Cooper-Young Festival has grown into one of Memphis' most anticipated events, with over 50,000 guests in recent years enjoying a mix of art, music and crafts presented by over 300 artisans from around the country. The festival celebrates the arts, people, culture and Memphis heritage. In addition to art, the festival includes sales of clothing, jewelry, live music, and gay novelty items.
Music and the arts
Music
After the Yellow Fever epidemics of the 1870s, Memphis' population was very low, and it slowly started being replenished by country people from the Mid-South. Farmers and freed slaves alike brought their musical roots here, and the commercial hurly-burly created a polishing of this talent and heritage, best exemplified by bandleader and composer W. C. Handy.
Memphis is the home of founders and establishers of various American music genres, including Blues, Gospel, Hip-Hop, Rock n' Roll, and "rockabilly" country music (in contrast to the "rhinestone" country sound of Nashville). Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and B. B. King all got their starts in Memphis in the 1950s. They are respectively dubbed the "King" of Country, Rock n' Roll, and Blues.
Other famous musicians who either grew up or got their starts in the Memphis area include the Box Tops with Alex Chilton, the Gentrys, the Grifters, Nights Like These, Aretha Franklin, Carl Perkins, John Lee Hooker, Justin Timberlake, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Charlie Rich, Lucero (band), Al Green, Muddy Waters, Big Star, Tina Turner, Roy Orbison, Willie Mae Ford Smith, Sam Cooke, Booker T. and the MGs, Otis Redding, Arthur Lee, The Blackwood Brothers, Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, The Staple Singers, Sam and Dave, Three 6 Mafia, 8 Ball & MJG, Tommy Wright III, Yo Gotti, NLE Choppa, Young Dolph, Key Glock, Moneybagg Yo, Elise Neal, Shawn Lane, Terry Manning, The Sylvers, Aquanet, Steve Cropper, Oblivians, Jay Reatard, Anita Ward, and Andrew Vanwyngarden.