(Continued from the March 2019 edition of NEWSCENE) This was in 1925, several years before the Memphis Cotton Carnival was organized and many years before Dr. Venson ever though about the Beale Street Cotton Makers Fiesta. I have concluded that Dr. Venson had long since had a desire to organize a celebration of sorts before viewing Carnival’s parade in 1934. By May of 1935, Dr. Venson had compiled a list of Black leaders in the Memphis community By this time, Dr. Venson and Ethyl had already gotten married. The members of this committee assembled by Dr. Venson represented the most influential and progressive group of black leaders ever assembled in Memphis for a single cause, “to organize a Negro celebration.” He called a meeting with these leaders to discuss organizing a Black celebration in Memphis. In Dr. Venson’s opening statement to this distinguished assembly set the tone for the meeting. His words were, “The idea of an organization doing unselfish service with no individual financial gain to its membership, is something in which our people have had little training. The strength of a group or Nation is determined through its ability to marshal its constituency behind a program for the benefit of the whole.” He met with this group and formed a Board of Directors to participate in organizing and promoting a celebration for the Black community in Memphis, This board was comprised of doctors, businessmen, ministers, homemakers, and educators. Robert R. Church Sr., a landowner, real estate investor, and the south’s first Black millionaire, was one of the members of the Board of Directors. When there was no place for the Black community to have public events in Memphis, Mr. Church donated land to the city of Memphis, and Robert R. Church Park was constructed. As a part of the Park, facing Beale Street, the city built the Beale Street Auditorium consisting of a gymnasium and office space. Mr. Church suggested they use the Beale Street Auditorium as a meeting place for the Board of Directors. During one of the meetings, a picture was made of the men and women serving on this board. The board members shown are (Front row from left) Mrs. Mable Love, Mrs. Walter Pamphlet, Mrs. Jackie Adams, Ms. Lucy Campbell, Dr. Benjamin F. McCleaves, Mrs. Ethyl H. Venson, Mr. Colorado Johnson, Mr. Clifton Satterfield, Mr. John McFathom, and Mrs. Sarah Gray. (Second row) Mr. Walter Pamphlet, Dr. Cooper E. Taylor, Mrs. Anne Stribling, Mrs. Mildred G. Lewis, Mrs. Annie Byrd Hickman, Mrs. M. S. Stuat, Mrs. Louis Swingler, and Dr. R. Q. Venson. (Third row) Mr. D. W. Cook, Mr. Hosea Bridges, Mr. John Brown, Mr. Irby Fogelman, Mr. Ossie Moss, Mr. J. D. Springer, Mr. Joseph Cotton, Mr. Martin Young, Mr. Roosevelt Hicks, Mr. Robert Morris, and Mr. J. A. Swaye. Not shown on the picture are board members Elder Blair T. Hunt, Mr. Robert R. Church Sr., Bishop Victor Williams, Mr. Eddie F. Hayes Sr., Mr. Nathaniel “Nat” D. Williams, Dr. J.J. Raines, Lt. George W. Lee, Mr. H. A. Hooks Jr., Dr. Sherman B. Hickman, and Mr. Jasper Duncan. 34
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