Black Memphians Heed Wells' Call, Leave City in Mass Migration

Following Ida B. Wells' editorial calling Black Memphians to leave a city that won't protect them, thousands of Black residents depart for Oklahoma and other destinations. White Memphis business owners, who depended on Black customers, beg Black leaders to stop the exodus. The streetcar company's revenue drops sharply. The economic leverage demonstrated by the migration is one of the earliest large-scale examples of Black economic boycott as a civil rights tool.