TO: Dr. Lonnie G. Bunch III, Director of the Smithsonian Institution
FROM: Anthony "Amp" Elmore, Orange Mound Historian & Advocate
SUBJECT: Rectifying the Historical Foundation of Orange Mound (1879) and Centering Black Agency
Dear Director Bunch,
This letter to you is more than a letter whereas I am making this letter a webpage to share globally. My name is Anthony "Amp" Elmore I first want to say that you are a hero to me. On September 18, 2026 our Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen shared a link where he honored your work. There is not a person in America who understands the challenges you are facing as the "1st African/American Director of the Smithsonian Museum." Via a happy note on his 1st day in office President Donald J. Trump erased D.E.I. what I did for my historic Black Community of Orange Mound in Memphis we documented Orange Mound as the 1st Community in America to challenge President Trump's erasure of D.E.I. via a video.
Click here to see our video titled: From Orange Mound to the World A D.E.I. Celebration
When you inaugurated the National Museum of African American History and Culture, you reminded our nation: "There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering."
FROM: Anthony "Amp" Elmore, Orange Mound Historian & Advocate
SUBJECT: Rectifying the Historical Foundation of Orange Mound (1879) and Centering Black Agency
Dear Director Bunch,
This letter to you is more than a letter whereas I am making this letter a webpage to share globally. My name is Anthony "Amp" Elmore I first want to say that you are a hero to me. On September 18, 2026 our Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen shared a link where he honored your work. There is not a person in America who understands the challenges you are facing as the "1st African/American Director of the Smithsonian Museum." Via a happy note on his 1st day in office President Donald J. Trump erased D.E.I. what I did for my historic Black Community of Orange Mound in Memphis we documented Orange Mound as the 1st Community in America to challenge President Trump's erasure of D.E.I. via a video.
Click here to see our video titled: From Orange Mound to the World A D.E.I. Celebration
When you inaugurated the National Museum of African American History and Culture, you reminded our nation: "There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering."
Unknown and untold in Memphis, Tennessee in 1986 Spike Lee made the Black and White Film "She's Gotta Have It" whereas I became inspired. Six months later Robert Townsend using credit cards created the movie "Hollywood Shuffle." I was a skinny little kid who became a 5-Time World Kickboxing Champion. As a youth I lead the 1st 18 year old voter registration in the state of Tennessee. In 1972 I was a delegate for the 1st Black Political Convention in Gary, Indiana.
While others read about Black History I quit college in 1972 to join Rev. James Bevel the strategist of the Civil Rights movement. I am connected to Queen Mother Moore and the Pan African movement. I lived in America as a youth whereas learned "Eastern Philosophy." I learned Martial Arts and became a 5-Time World Kickboxing Champion. I was the 1st to bring E.S.P.N. to Memphis in 1981. I was the 1st Kickboxer in American history to be sponsored by a major America Corporation whereas Coors Beer allowed me to promote Black History Nationwide whereas I was in ads in every major Black publication in America.
In 1986 I met with Black Entertainment President Bob Johnson whereas I produced my Kickboxing bouts on Black Entertainment Television. In 1987 when I started the production of my 1988 Film release "The Contemporary Gladiator" I had no idea of the historical impact I was making and the roadblocks and erasure I would face.
Unknown and untold to me I was Memphis 1st Independent 35mm Theatrical Filmmaker. I later came to realize that the "Memphis Shelby County Film Commissioner Linn Sitler along with other Memphis leader used their function and authority to erase my film history in Memphis. I received brutal media assaults and a plan to destroy our movie and its history in Memphis. In 2026 in Memphis, Tennessee not one single African/American elected official has the courage to speak up or acknowledge that we in 1988 via our Movie "The Contemporary Gladiator" created a "Black World Heritage Asset" erased in Memphis. We in Orange Mound created "World Film History" becoming the 1st Kickboxing film in World Film History.
While my film history was erased in Memphis; in 1990 my film premiered in Nairobi, Kenya whereas I was given a Hero's Welcome. While I encountered roadblocks in Memphis, the Country of Kenya opened its doors whereas in 1992 I met Kenyan President the late Daniel Arap Moi. In 1994 I introduced Kickboxing in Kenya.
Unknown and untold to me I was Memphis 1st Independent 35mm Theatrical Filmmaker. I later came to realize that the "Memphis Shelby County Film Commissioner Linn Sitler along with other Memphis leader used their function and authority to erase my film history in Memphis. I received brutal media assaults and a plan to destroy our movie and its history in Memphis. In 2026 in Memphis, Tennessee not one single African/American elected official has the courage to speak up or acknowledge that we in 1988 via our Movie "The Contemporary Gladiator" created a "Black World Heritage Asset" erased in Memphis. We in Orange Mound created "World Film History" becoming the 1st Kickboxing film in World Film History.
While my film history was erased in Memphis; in 1990 my film premiered in Nairobi, Kenya whereas I was given a Hero's Welcome. While I encountered roadblocks in Memphis, the Country of Kenya opened its doors whereas in 1992 I met Kenyan President the late Daniel Arap Moi. In 1994 I introduced Kickboxing in Kenya.
What is important about the above image I am at "The New Stanley Hotel in Kenya." In October of 1964 Civil Rights leader John Lewis met Malcolm X at the "New Stanley Hotel." Thirty years later I am at the hotel where I say my goal is to bring Africans and African/Americans together.
May 22, 2019 was Memphis "200th Birthday." The City of Memphis advertised "Bring Your Soul." In the history of Memphis no one has ever chronicled Black Memphis History. I decided I would create a movie titled: "200 Years of Black Memphis History." While Memphis has a majority African/American population my movie was not allowed to be a part of the Memphis Bicentennial Celebration. I rented the Malco Theatre in Memphis and I released the film concurrently on You Tube Wednesday May 22, 2019 to date the movie and fight Memphis White Supremacy and Black on Black Racism whereas my film history remain erased in Memphis, but not the world stage.
Please note both Black and White leaders shut me out in Memphis. Congressman Cohen's office presented a resolution at the theatre in 2019. The Congressman could have raised hell. While being shut out in Memphis I decided that I would cut the movie into hundreds segments whereas I created the Website "Black Memphis History . Com."
Now we come to why I am writing you who is the Director of the "Smithsonian." In 1878 Memphis experienced "The Yellow Fever Epidemic" whereas 30,000 Whites left Memphis in 3 days. In 1879 two Black Churches formed in what was Shelby County. The 1st Church is Mt Moriah Baptist Church and the Second Church is MT. Pisgah CME Church.
May 22, 2019 was Memphis "200th Birthday." The City of Memphis advertised "Bring Your Soul." In the history of Memphis no one has ever chronicled Black Memphis History. I decided I would create a movie titled: "200 Years of Black Memphis History." While Memphis has a majority African/American population my movie was not allowed to be a part of the Memphis Bicentennial Celebration. I rented the Malco Theatre in Memphis and I released the film concurrently on You Tube Wednesday May 22, 2019 to date the movie and fight Memphis White Supremacy and Black on Black Racism whereas my film history remain erased in Memphis, but not the world stage.
Please note both Black and White leaders shut me out in Memphis. Congressman Cohen's office presented a resolution at the theatre in 2019. The Congressman could have raised hell. While being shut out in Memphis I decided that I would cut the movie into hundreds segments whereas I created the Website "Black Memphis History . Com."
Now we come to why I am writing you who is the Director of the "Smithsonian." In 1878 Memphis experienced "The Yellow Fever Epidemic" whereas 30,000 Whites left Memphis in 3 days. In 1879 two Black Churches formed in what was Shelby County. The 1st Church is Mt Moriah Baptist Church and the Second Church is MT. Pisgah CME Church.
Per the Mt Moriah Baptist Church sign this Church located at its present location at Carnes and Boston Street in 1883. Please look at the image of Carnes and Boston Street in Orange Mound. In the rear you see MT Moriah Baptist Church. In January of 1889 the Shelby County Quarterly Court passed a resolution to build the 1st School for Blacks in Shelby County called "District 18" directly behind Mt. Moriah Baptist Church. Schools are built only where there are tax paying citizens. What we know as Orange Mound started in this area. In regards to African American elected officials in Memphis none will ask the question why there is no Marker at the Corner of Spotswood and Boston noting the 1st School for African/Americans in Shelby County.
In January of 1889 when the Shelby County Quarterly Court passed the resolution to build the school that school. In December of 1889 a White Real Estate Salesman named E. E. Meacham purchased 64 acres of land 1.8 miles away whereas he registered to sell 984 plots of land 25 x 100. He registered his plans as Orange Mound the name Blacks used.
In January of 1889 when the Shelby County Quarterly Court passed the resolution to build the school that school. In December of 1889 a White Real Estate Salesman named E. E. Meacham purchased 64 acres of land 1.8 miles away whereas he registered to sell 984 plots of land 25 x 100. He registered his plans as Orange Mound the name Blacks used.
In the African/American Community of Orange Mound in Memphis Whites via the silence of Blacks in Memphis used the narrative of the White Supremacist historian Barron Deaderick to get its history of Orange Mound. We show two Black Churches starting in Orange Mound in 1879. In 1883 MT Moriah purchased the land where the Church sits today. In 1889 the community petition and was approved for a school in January of 1889. A school proves a community. Dr. Charles Williams in his 2013 book writes "This dream deferred did not become a reality until Elzey Eugene Meacham, a local real estate broker developed a subdivision for African Americans which he named Orange Mound in 1890.
The most important fact about Dr. Charles Williams Speech about E.E. Meacham Dr. Williams shows "academic malfeasance." The E.E. Meacham plans negate simple math. Science proves that you cannot put 984 single story homes 25 x100 on 64 acres of land. Fitting 984 homes measuring 25 by 100 feet onto just 64 acres is a physical impossibility because land is not just empty floor space. While 984 lots of that size mathematically eat up almost 87% of the entire 65-acre tract, real-world living requires streets, side paths, and service alleys for horse-drawn wagons, which alone eat up roughly a third of any neighborhood's ground.
More critically, in the late 19th century without city plumbing, every single home needed its own backyard outhouse for human waste and its own dug well for fresh drinking water. Squeezing nearly a thousand outhouses and a thousand drinking wells side-by-side onto narrow 25-foot strips would have caused immediate sewage contamination and deadly disease outbreaks. Once you carve out essential roads, drainage ditches, fire buffers, and sanitary separation, 64 acres could realistically hold fewer than 500 homes, proving the paper plan of 984 houses was an unbuilt developer fantasy that never physically existed on the ground. Dr. Charles Williams speaks about an E.E. Meacham plan that never happen. There is not a single shred of evidence that the E.E. Meacham Shot gun house Black community was ever built.
Because Anthony "Amp" Elmore is a Black man fighting for history of the Black community of Orange Mound facts and science does not matter. In the case of Lonnie G. Bunch III Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen who is Anthony "Amp" Elmore friend honored you for your service, whereas the Congressman who is also Anthony "Amp" Elmore's friend whereas Math, Science and History proves that E.E. Meacham a White real Estate broker did not create the Black Community of Orange Mound nor would Elmore friend Congressman Cohen ask why there is no historical marker at the Corner of Boston and Spotswood.
In the case of Anthony "Amp" Elmore it would be unfair for Elmore to expect Congressman Cohen to speak out when no Black Elected Official will stand up for the history of Orange Mound. As the Smithsonian continues to elevate the full, unvarnished truth of the African American experience, we ask: That the Smithsonian lend its institutional and scholarly voice to recognize the 1879 foundation of Orange Mound, elevating our archival record and primary sources into national African American historiography. The Smithsonian and Lonnie G. Bunch III could inquire or recognize Orange Mound 1879 would help.
The Smithsonian can open a curatorial dialogue with our community historians, preserving the authentic narrative where Black people are recognized not as passive recipients of an 1890 real estate venture, but as the 1879 founders of their own destiny. With Congressman Steve Cohen honoring your extraordinary legacy and our shared commitment to truth, we invite you to stand with Orange Mound in honoring our ancestors by remembering the true date: 1879. It would be an honor if the "Smithsonian Institution" to call leaders in Orange Mound to consider as you note: "Honor our Struggle Through Remembering." One last thing: in Memphis, Tennessee they show only how Dr. King died in Memphis and not how he lived. The image below shows Dr. King in Orange Mound at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in 1959 9 years before he died in Memphis in 1968. In Memphis they want Blacks to remember 1890 a false date to erase Black agency.
More critically, in the late 19th century without city plumbing, every single home needed its own backyard outhouse for human waste and its own dug well for fresh drinking water. Squeezing nearly a thousand outhouses and a thousand drinking wells side-by-side onto narrow 25-foot strips would have caused immediate sewage contamination and deadly disease outbreaks. Once you carve out essential roads, drainage ditches, fire buffers, and sanitary separation, 64 acres could realistically hold fewer than 500 homes, proving the paper plan of 984 houses was an unbuilt developer fantasy that never physically existed on the ground. Dr. Charles Williams speaks about an E.E. Meacham plan that never happen. There is not a single shred of evidence that the E.E. Meacham Shot gun house Black community was ever built.
Because Anthony "Amp" Elmore is a Black man fighting for history of the Black community of Orange Mound facts and science does not matter. In the case of Lonnie G. Bunch III Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen who is Anthony "Amp" Elmore friend honored you for your service, whereas the Congressman who is also Anthony "Amp" Elmore's friend whereas Math, Science and History proves that E.E. Meacham a White real Estate broker did not create the Black Community of Orange Mound nor would Elmore friend Congressman Cohen ask why there is no historical marker at the Corner of Boston and Spotswood.
In the case of Anthony "Amp" Elmore it would be unfair for Elmore to expect Congressman Cohen to speak out when no Black Elected Official will stand up for the history of Orange Mound. As the Smithsonian continues to elevate the full, unvarnished truth of the African American experience, we ask: That the Smithsonian lend its institutional and scholarly voice to recognize the 1879 foundation of Orange Mound, elevating our archival record and primary sources into national African American historiography. The Smithsonian and Lonnie G. Bunch III could inquire or recognize Orange Mound 1879 would help.
The Smithsonian can open a curatorial dialogue with our community historians, preserving the authentic narrative where Black people are recognized not as passive recipients of an 1890 real estate venture, but as the 1879 founders of their own destiny. With Congressman Steve Cohen honoring your extraordinary legacy and our shared commitment to truth, we invite you to stand with Orange Mound in honoring our ancestors by remembering the true date: 1879. It would be an honor if the "Smithsonian Institution" to call leaders in Orange Mound to consider as you note: "Honor our Struggle Through Remembering." One last thing: in Memphis, Tennessee they show only how Dr. King died in Memphis and not how he lived. The image below shows Dr. King in Orange Mound at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in 1959 9 years before he died in Memphis in 1968. In Memphis they want Blacks to remember 1890 a false date to erase Black agency.
Respectfully submitted,
Anthony "Amp" Elmore
Black Memphis History. Com Curator
Orange Mound News Network. Com
Anthony "Amp" Elmore
Black Memphis History. Com Curator
Orange Mound News Network. Com
