Church’s striking and obscure story marked on Beale Street
David L. Acey (right) and his son David L. Acey II hang a banner of Robert R. Church Sr. as Toni Greene (top right) performs during a birthday celebration for Church Tuesday, June 18, 2019. Church, the son of a slave, became one of the first black millionaires in the United States. (Mark Weber/Daily Memphian)
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Robert Church Sr. Beale Street LaSimba Gray Jim Strickland
Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.