It’s been almost 50 years since Elvis Presley passed away. Apart from a yearly August event marking the anniversary of his death, we don’t hear much about Presley or Graceland, his estate, which became a National Historic Landmark in 2006. So, in late May 2024, fans were surprised when an unknown private investment firm announced plans to foreclose on Graceland because an almost US$4 million loan had not been paid. It looked like a historical landmark could be lost at an auction. Although many details about the incident remain unclear, the courts quickly halted the sale due to suspected fraud. Later, an identity thief claimed responsibility for the attempted deceit from the dark web. The concern over the potential loss of Presley’s home to outsiders raises an important question: Why is Graceland significant? It’s the second-most-visited home in the United States, after the White House.
According to the U.S. Interior Department, which gave Graceland its landmark status, “American culture and music were irreversibly changed because of Elvis. Discussing the 20th century without mentioning this iconic artist’s contributions would be incomplete.” While this statement is correct, the story of Graceland is more complex than it suggests. In my two books on Elvis, I argue that he indeed made major contributions to American society. However, his life and legacy have often been viewed disdainfully. This attitude is most apparent in the patronizing comments about his home. Graceland wasn’t the first house Elvis purchased. In 1956, he bought a home for his parents in an affluent East Memphis suburb. The family had moved 16 times since Elvis was born, mostly living in boarding homes, subsidized apartments, and rental houses. At each place, the Presleys continued to uphold their cultural traditions. These practices didn’t sit well with the new East Memphis neighbors, even though Elvis had become a major star with his music, TV appearances, and films. When his affluent neighbors objected to his mother hanging laundry and keeping chickens, Elvis looked for a home where he wouldn’t experience class-based judgment. In 1957, at just 22 years old, he chose Graceland.
Built in 1939, Graceland was a colonial revival “mini-mansion” with five bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms, situated on 13 acres that were once part of a large cattle farm. Despite not being a plantation, it was located in Whitehaven, several miles from downtown Memphis, a neighborhood developed as a retreat for the Memphis elite. By the 1950s, the area began to evolve into a typical middle-class suburb. By the late ‘50s, Whitehaven and the nearby Levi neighborhood were predominantly white with a significant Black minority. In 1970, Memphis annexed Whitehaven. A year later, the City Council named a section of U.S. Route 51 after Elvis, during a period of desegregation that brought more Black residents and businesses to the area and led to white flight, turning Whitehaven into a predominantly Black suburb. Today, visitors to Graceland find it in this largely Black community with many Black staff at the tourist center.
Once he moved into Graceland in 1957, Elvis started renovating. He added rooms, a pool, stone fencing, and the famous gates with musical notes. Like his fashion choices, Elvis approached home decor with enthusiasm as a postwar American consumer. If he liked something he saw, it might appear in one of Graceland’s 23 rooms. Inspired by President Lyndon Johnson’s three TV sets in the Oval Office, he put the same number in his downstairs media area. Influences from his time in Hawaii inspired the decoration of a den with waterfalls, faux ferns, and tiki-style items, with green shag carpeting. The result was an eclectic mix of styles and quality in his furniture, decor, and art. This unexpected modesty surprised many visitors, including Prince Harry, who was not impressed by Graceland. Graceland’s bold and unrestrained character mirrored Elvis himself. Though he was a leading artist of his time, the cultural elite saw him as an outsider, too Southern and provincial for mainstream acceptance, which was predisposed to negative views of the South. Success for Elvis came with an unflattering note, branding him a “Horatio Alger with a Southern accent.” For Elvis, Graceland was a haven, a connection to his mother, Gladys, who died in 1958. It was where he felt at ease with his Southern roots without fear of scorn.
Yet, it also led to his isolation. Both Elvis and Graceland epitomized a dual nature: reflecting a rags-to-riches American Dream while simultaneously exposing cultural traits that were seen as undignified. This duality sheds light on cultural tensions of the 20th century, which persist into the 21st. Critics challenged Elvis for maintaining his rural, working-class culture, suggesting it limited his artistic success. In a country that celebrates progress, his attachment to past traditions was viewed as unacceptable, and his extravagant tastes as vulgar. However, to many inside and outside the U.S., wrestling with the balance of tradition and modernity, Elvis represented something different. They respected his loyalty to his roots, family, and the idea of not forgetting where you came from, all while selling over a billion records.