Memphis Greenspace

{{short description|Non-profit corporation based in Memphis, Tennessee}}

Memphis Greenspace Inc. is a non-profit corporation started in October 2017 in Memphis, Tennessee. The issue that led to its creation was the unanimous decision of the City Council of Memphis and Shelby County to remove statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest from public parks. However, under the new Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, they could not do so without permission from the Tennessee Historical Commission, which refused permission.

Memphis Greenspace purchased Health Sciences Park (formerly Forrest Park) and Fourth Bluff Park, which housed the two statues, for {{US$|1000|2017}} each, and immediately removed the statues.{{Cite web|title=Confederate statues removed after Memphis sells public parks|url=https://apnews.com/994d0c83cd0f4336a657b5d6e2423598|date=2017-12-21|website=AP NEWS|access-date=2020-06-01}} According to the terms of the sale, the land must continue as parks.

The president of Memphis Greenspace is Van Turner, a Shelby County Commissioner. He announced that it plans to buy more parks in the future.{{cite news

|title=Removing Confederate statues 'only the beginning' for Memphis Greenspace

|first=Ryan

|last=Poe

|newspaper=Memphis Commercial Appeal

|access-date=January 2, 2018

|date=December 21, 2017

|url=http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/government/city/2017/12/21/closer-look-memphis-greenspace-nonprofit-took-down-confederate-statues/972535001/}}

In 2019, a legal action brought against Memphis Greenspace's removal of the statues was dismissed by the Tennessee Court of Appeals.{{Cite web|first=Tonyaa |last=Weathersbee|title=Weathersbee: Now that Memphis' racist statues won't return to its parks, wanna know where they can go?|url=https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2019/10/16/confederate-statues-removal-memphis-greenspace-future-location/4003826002/|website=Memphis Commercial Appeal|language=en|access-date=2020-06-01|date=December 10, 2019}}

In 2020, Memphis Greenspace agreed to the removal of the remains of Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife Anne, which had been buried beneath the equestrian statue of Forrest in Health Science Park, to another site.{{Cite web|title=Forrest reinterment plans being made following end to lawsuits|url=https://dailymemphian.com/article/13922/nathan-bedford-forrest-statue-memphis-greenspace-van-turner|website=The Daily Memphian|language=en|access-date=2020-06-01}}