The 100-year anniversary of Tom Lee’s heroic Mississippi River rescue was commemorated on May 8, 2025. This local and national hero was celebrated all across Memphis last week, as city leaders and members of his family revived the story of Lee’s courage, selflessness, and valor. But one celebration focused on his impact on future leaders and literary stars, and debuted a new film about the day Tom Lee saved 32 people from drowning.
The 4th Annual Tom Lee Poetry and Spoken Word Contest, hosted by Memphis River Parks Partnership, welcomes students to not only connect to the Memphis riverfront through poetic writing, but to connect to a piece of history that can be a guiding light as they come into their own. Since 2022, students have leaned on Tom Lee’s values of generosity, courage and humanity as inspiration for their original works. This year students from Hutchison, Central and Lausanne were recognized for their artistic prowess.
1st Place: Katie Phan, a freshman at Hutchison, won for her poem “What Kills a Wife.” It was a tale about domestic abuse from a child’s view and that child gaining the courage to no longer be silent. Phan and her teacher both took home a cash prize of $300.
2nd Place: Jericka Self, a junior at Central, won second place for her poem “2:40am.” Paying homage to her deceased sister, Self writes about drastically changing her own hair, and connecting the markings on her body into a neverending loop. She and her teacher both received a cash prize of $200.
3rd place: Christian Love, a sophomore at Lausanne won third place for his poem “Crease.” This was a self portrait of a young man who was bent but not broken. Love and his teacher both won a cash prize of $100.
At the celebration, which took place at Cossitt Library, each student read their poem before thunderous applause.
Another celebration highlight was the debut of “Shine On: The Story of Tom Lee,” the latest documentary from Last Bite Films, a local film company led by Molly Wexler.
In the opening scene, a familiar face appeared. That of Kenon Walker, the Peabody Hotel’s Duckmaster. He played Tom Lee in this 10-minute short film that re-enacted the day Tom Lee saved white passengers from drowning when the M.E. Norman went down into the Mississippi River. Though most in the room had heard the story, the film gave new vibrancy and poignancy to a nearly 100-person crowd, which included Tom Lee’s descendants and family members of the survivors. The film was produced, written and staffed by locals, including Anton Mack (actor, producer) and Amanzi Arnett Dowdy (writer and composer), and can be seen on WKNO.
Other celebrations were held at MLGW and in the Klondike neighborhood where Tom Lee’s house still stands. Klondike CDC has plans to renovate the house and make it a museum about Tom Lee’s life, his values and his heroic rescue.
DID YOU KNOW? One of the lives Tom Lee saved was that of a Dixon heir, Margaret Oates Dixon, who would later go on to establish the Dixon Gallery & Gardens in East Memphis.
