Beale Street & Robert Church : Preston Lauterbach
In 1865, Robert Church, an ex-slave, applied for a license to open a Memphis pool hall. Turned down by the county clerk, he built his establishment anyway. When the city took him to trial, Church's lawyer successfully invoked, perhaps for the first time, Congress's brand-new Civil Rights Act. That move helped trigger the 1866 riot. To this day, Robert Church's life remains a fascinating look into an earlier time on Beale Street.