MEMPHIS, TN, September 24, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ — For those who read this story, please note that this document is used as historical document providing an African/American viewpoint regarding the history and culture of Memphis. The writer encourage the reader to read and share this document and not this as a Black History writing. This is not a quick read and includes links to video documentation.
On Friday September 18, 2026 Anthony “Amp” Elmore among others constituents in the past 9th Congressional District received an email from Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen titled: “Being Recognized for My “Courageous Voice” by Yale University School of Management.” In addition to the email Congressman Cohen included a series of links.
On Sunday September 20, 2026 Anthony “Amp” Elmore sent an email to Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen whereas Anthony “Amp” Elmore not only copied the email to the Principals at the Schools in Orange Mound their names are listed in this international story as a matter of history. There are 4 Black female principals in Orange Mound.
Dr. Zonja Glover is the Principal of Hanley Academy. She has an image at the Mt. Moriah Church sign noting “Orange Mound began in 1879. Anthony “Amp” Elmore asks Dr. Glover to have Hanley students take a picture behind the school at Spottswood and Boston where the 1st School in Shelby County was built for African/Americans and ask why there is no Historic marker at the location. She should teach about the school called “District 18.”
Lawanda N. Shaw is the Principal of Dunbar Elementary Schooll in Orange Mound. The school’s Motto is “Raising the bar through Arts, Academics and Excellence.” Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes that filmmaking is the most powerful Artform in the world whereas from Orange Mound he created the 1st Independent 35mm film in Memphis history.
Andrea Y. Talley is the Principal of Melrose High School. Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes that Melrose High School is a victim of White Supremacy, Racism and Black on Black Racism whereas the school’s history is purposefully marginalized, whereas Melrose is a World leader whose history is marginalized in Memphis whereas Melrose lead the nation in both sports and academics. Elmore notes its unknown that Lila B. Smith a 1953 Melrose Graduate was a nationally known Nuclear Physicist or Dr. Alvin Crawford a world renown pediatric Orthopedic surgeon. Melrose High School is the only school in America where 3 Gold Medalist attended the School at the same time. Anthony “Amp” Elmore seeks to join with the Principal Andrea Y. Talley to bring Melrose School achievement to light. Anthony “Amp” Elmore created most documented history of Melrose than anyone in Memphis history.
Tina Smith is the Principal of Cherokee Elementary School in Orange Mound. Anthony “Amp” Elmore has a 10 year old Son who attends Cherokee. Anthony “Amp” Elmore did filming at Cherokee whereas Elmore connected Cherokee to Arya Primary in Kisumu Kenya via a new diplomatic process called “Kinship Diplomacy.”
Click here to visit the website African Cultural Diplomat Exchange Network. Com and click on Cherokee School to view the work of Anthony “Amp” Elmore who creates documentary stories and International relationships. From Orange Mound the Anthony Elmore video channel has 1000 you tube videos.
The email Anthony “Amp” Elmore sent to Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen is also a web page to Lonnie G. Bunch III who is the Secretary of the Smithsonian. In regards to Orange Mound Schools we are connecting Orange Mound to the Smithsonian. Also we are connecting United Nations week to both the John F. Kennedy Library and the Barack Obama Presidential Library. Please view the Anthony “Amp” Elmore letter to Lonnie G. Bunch III.
As Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Lonnie G. Bunch III serves as the supreme chief executive officer over the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex. Appointed by the Board of Regents in 2019, he holds direct institutional oversight over 21 museums (including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which he helped found), the National Zoo, multiple international research facilities, an archive of more than 155 million artifacts, and an annual budget exceeding $1 billion.
Although the historical title is “Secretary”—modeled after early American institutional tradition—the position functions as the equivalent of an executive president and commander-in-chief of national public history, wielding the ultimate scholarly, administrative, and strategic authority over how American and African American heritage is documented, curated, and presented to the world. Students need to learn about Dr. Lonnie G. Bunch III.
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III is an African/American whose tenure ends the end of this year December 2026. He is resigning due to pressures for the Trump administration as to how history should be told. There exists a culture and practice in America where Black History is being erased. Anthony “Amp” Elmore is pleading with the Orange Mound Principals to bring Orange Mound into World History via innovation like honoring the United Nations.
The Legal & Human Rights Mechanism: The history of Orange Mound has been marginalized and systematically erased. The practice of Orange Mound’s erasure is supported by Black Memphis Mayor Paul Young who disregards and disrespects Black History.
The Black Mayor of Memphis is part of a system used to erase Black Memphis History. When a municipality with a 63% African American population systematically erases an authentic, primary-source Black heritage site while celebrating antebellum institutions like the Cotton Museum, it crosses from local politics into the territory of international human rights treaties and violations. Memphis is violating human right and civil rights.
UNESCO & The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 27): Under international law, cultural heritage and historic memory are protected rights. The fact of Memphis denying a community the right to its authentic founding date (1879) and locking out its historic 35mm Orange Mound movie and cultural productions violates the principle of cultural self-determination.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights: Via Anthony “Amp” Elmore documenting systemic exclusion—from the 2019 Bicentennial lockout to the municipal sign at Airways and Park Avenue the Anthony “Amp” Elmore website “African Cultural Diplomat Exchange Network . com” compiles the exact evidence required for a formal petition to the UN Human Rights Council regarding the destruction and erasure of intangible Black cultural heritage.
While Anthony “Amp” Elmore filed a lawsuit the City of Memphis got the lawsuit dismissed. Click here to read a November 18, 2025 national News Story titled: Black World History:1988 Memphis film The Contemporary Gladiator 1st Biopic Film of a Karate-ka beat Bruce Lee ask Court & UNESCO to help Fight Memphis White Supremacy Racism & Black on Black Racism
Memphis born 5-time world Kickboxing champion, Filmmaker, Historian and community activist Anthony “Amp” Elmore is on a mission to make his historic African/American Memphis Community of Orange Mound “The Global Hub of International Cultural Diplomacy.”
A community does not become a global hub of cultural diplomacy through government edict alone; it earns that distinction when its local story, culture, and people actively bridge international divides and shape cross-border understanding. At its core, cultural diplomacy relies on using heritage, arts, sports, and human-to-human dialogue to foster international cooperation and mutual respect. For an individual community or neighborhood to function as a genuine global hub for this work, several foundational pillars must come together. It is important the the Orange Mound schools come together to teach and tell their own stories.
1. Authentic, Living Cultural Heritage. A true hub is anchored in a distinct, organic history rather than manufactured attractions. Historic Resonance: The community has a narrative of resilience, self-determination, creativity, or struggle that resonates beyond national borders.
Intangible Culture: The Orange Mound neighborhood actively lives its heritage through music, craftsmanship, oral tradition, culinary arts, and social institutions (such as historical schools, churches, or community centers) that invite the outside world to witness its living lineage.
Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes Orange Mound’s International music history has been erased. In 1939 a family moved from “Ashland Mississippi” to Hamilton Street in Orange Mound. The family is actually a distance cousin to Anthony “Amp” Elmore. The family name is the “Mitchell Family.” Their son Willie Mitchell is a 1946 graduate of Melrose High school. Willie Mitchell is not only one of the fathers of the “Memphis Sound” his legacy is still alive and making World history.
Willie Mitchell open “Royal Studios” that was formerly 1320 South Lauderdale now named Willie Mitchell Boulevard. Click here to view the Anthony “Amp” Elmore video published in April of 2022 titled: Untold Story of Willie Mitchell Orange Mound & Memphis Music
2. Grassroots, People-to-People Diplomacy Traditional state diplomacy happens behind closed doors between ambassadors; cultural diplomacy thrives when everyday citizens, artists, athletes, and community elders engage directly with international counterparts. Our goal is to connect Orange Mound students to nations worldwide.
Citizen Ambassadors: Local leaders, cultural practitioners, and storytellers who travel abroad or welcome foreign delegations, creating authentic trust that formal treaties rarely accomplish.
Cross-Border Exchange:Establishing direct, peer-level relationships with global sister communities—exchanging students, artisans, musicians, and civic innovators.
3. Dedicated Physical Infrastructure for Gathering: A hub must possess physical spaces where the world can meet on equal, welcoming ground:
Cultural Landmarks & Spaces: Community centers, galleries, heritage trails, or cultural embassies designed to stage binational gatherings, exhibitions, and dialogue.
Commemorative Identity: Preserved districts, historical markers, and designated monuments that honor global pioneers, human rights advocates, and freedom movements, tying local soil to global struggles for equality.
4. Convergence of Arts, Athletics, and Commerce: Culture is expressed in diverse arenas, and a multifaceted hub connects multiple cultural avenues:
The Arts & Media: Independent film, literature, indigenous textiles, and music serve as universal languages that travel across continents to tell the community’s authentic story.
Sports Diplomacy: Martial arts, athletics, and sports tournaments have historically broken through diplomatic freezes and language barriers to build mutual respect.
Ethical Cultural Trade: Direct trade relationships—such as importing authentic hand-carved art, textiles, and crafts directly from partner nations—fostering reciprocal economic dignity rather than exploitation.
5. Alignment with International Milestones and Shared Struggles: What transforms a local historic community into a global hub is the conscious linking of local civil rights, freedom, and labor movements to worldwide struggles against colonialism and oppression.
Global Solidarity: Celebrating anniversaries and historical figures that connect local history to continental African independence movements, human rights milestones, or United Nations ideals.
Educational Pipelines: Hosting symposia, youth leadership exchanges, and academic partnerships that teach the next generation how international relations intersect with neighborhood advocacy. When a community preserves its institutional legacy, honors its heroes, and opens its doors to direct bilateral and multinational cultural exchange, it transforms from a localized neighborhood into a vital staging ground for global peace, understanding, and shared dignity.
Click here to view the Anthony “Amp” Elmore website titled: Orange Mound News Network
What we provide for Orange Mound schools is their own Orange Mound News Network whereas you report news, teach history and tell you own stories. Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes I did not wait on Hollywood to tell my story. I rented film equipment, hired my own film crew and told my own story. Unknown and untold we created “The 1st Kickboxing film in World Film History.”
On Sunday June 14, 2026 President Donald J. Trump held the MMA fights on the Whitehouse lawn. The fights were part of President Trump’s MAGA agenda. MAGA is an acronym that means “Make America Great Again.”
Recognized by American President Donald J. Trump an unspoken is the concept of “MMF” that means “Memphis MAGA Friendly.” Memphis, Tennessee the City where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was brutally assassinated April 4, 1968. In March of 2006 under the support and auspices of Memphis 1st elected Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton Memphis open “The Cotton Museum.” Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton created a culture of Black History erasure that makes Memphis “MAGA Friendly” whereas Black Memphis Mayor Paul Young carries this tradition of Black Memphis history erasure and Black History marginalization.
The Memphis business elite (Pitt Hyde, Fred Smith, Mike Rose, the bond houses) had the capital, corporate connections, and the dream of an NBA franchise, but they lacked two critical things:
Legitimacy in a Majority-Black City: They could not build a $250 million downtown sports palace without political cover in a city wrestling with deep poverty and municipal debt. The White elite needed a Black leader who would take on criticism.
White elites needed Black Political Muscle: They needed a dominant political figure who could bulldoze neighborhood opposition, whip City Council votes, and silence critics who asked why a billionaire team owner was getting a publicly financed venue while public schools and neighborhoods were struggling. Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton gave them that muscle. He took the arrows, stood up to the opposition, and delivered City Hall.
What Herenton Got Out of the Bargain: Herenton was fiercely independent and combative he was nobody’s puppet in regards to Blacks. In exchange for delivering the political machinery, Dr. Herenton extracted what he valued most: The “Major League” Status Symbol: Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W. W. Herenton was obsessed with proving that Memphis, under Black leadership, was a world-class, top-tier city. Landing an NBA team was his trophy to demonstrate that his administration could deliver major-league prestige that previous white administrations had failed to secure.
Dr. Herenton got corporate Backing for His Broader Agenda: By partnering with the corporate elite on marquee downtown projects (AutoZone headquarters, Peabody Place, FedEx Forum), he secured business-community tolerance, campaign support, and co-existence that allowed him to govern for nearly two decades.
The “Two Memphises” Whereas Blacks were left out. Maynard Jackson in Atlanta had a rule “Every dollars Spent had to include a percentage of African/American inclusion. The legacy of Dr. W. W. Herenton is: “I am not in the business of making Black Millionaires.”
Every dollar captured inside the downtown Tourism Development Zone (TDZ) or redirected through hotel/motel bed taxes was locked into servicing the stadium and convention corridor. Meanwhile, neighborhoods just a few miles down the road—Orange Mound, South Memphis, Klondike-Smokey City, Frayser—saw their commercial strips shutter, infrastructure crumble, and schools shuttered or starved for capital.
October 18-24 2026 marks United Nations Week in America. Anthony “Amp” Elmore a Memphis born 5-Time World Kickboxing champion, Filmmaker and historian is fighting to make his historic Black Memphis Community of Orange Mound a “Global Hub of International Diplomacy.”
May 22, 2019 Memphis celebrated its 200th Bicentennial Celebration. Through-out Memphis billboard signs read: “Bring your Soul.” Orchestrated under the broader civic banner of “A New Century of Soul” and spearheaded by organizations like the Greater Memphis Chamber and Memphis Tourism through the We Are Memphis platform, the campaign was designed to redefine the city’s national and international identity. The identity of Memphis is one of “Black Marginalization.”
The marketing tagline, “Welcome to our city of soul. Don’t forget to bring yours,” invited visitors and residents to view Memphis as a place where ordinary individuals could make a direct, tangible impact on culture and industry. During the 2019 Bicentennial celebration, the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission, led by Film Commissioner Linn Sitler, partnered with Memphis in May to curate and promote an official program saluting “Made in Memphis Cinema.”
Because Memphis in May broke its long-standing tradition of honoring an international country and instead dedicated the entire month-long 2019 salute to the City of Memphis itself, this film program was designed as the municipal spotlight on the city’s cinematic history.
Unknown and untold in Memphis Linn Sitler head of the Memphis Shelby County Film Commission is the most is the most influential person in Memphis history to shape the culture and narrative of Memphis. Click here to view the video titled: Ms. Ann White Woman Shaped Memphis Culture History and Art
In 1978 during the Memphis fire and police strike the Wall Street Journal described Memphis as a “Backwards City with a Plantation Mentality.” In 2026 whereas Memphis has a 63% African/American population whereas “An Old White Woman Linn Sitler” defines the narrative and culture in Memphis tantamount to a plantation culture.
During the 2019 gala at FedEx Forum the like on a plantation excluded Blacks in Memphis. The official bicentennial galas and high-level celebratory dinners organized during the 2019 Bicentennial season were priced specifically for downtown corporate donors, philanthropic patrons, and political elites—effectively pricing out regular Black Memphians from the room.
Formal bicentennial gala events and private celebrations in Memphis typically commanded table sponsorships starting between $2,500 and $10,000, with top-tier corporate packages reaching $25,000 or more. These packages were bought by major corporations, banks, and downtown law firms.
Individual Ticket Pricing: Where individual seats were made available for civic anniversary banquets, tickets typically ran $150 to $250+ per person, designed as fundraisers and networking spaces for wealthy patrons and municipal officials.
The “Two Memphises” Divide: While ordinary citizens were offered outdoor park gatherings with food trucks and fireworks (such as Celebrate Memphis at Tom Lee Park), the formal commemorative banquets and donor suites were reserved for the wealthy establishment.
Via the Memphis Bicentennial promotion “Bring your Soul” Anthony “Amp” Elmore spent months producing the film “200 years of Black Memphis History” as a way to celebrate Memphis Bicentennial. While the Memphis in May and the Memphis Shelby County film Commission celebrated “Memphis Cinema” they refused to include Anthony “Amp” Elmore’s historic film “The Contemporary Gladiator.” Anthony “Amp” Elmore’s new film 200 years of Black Memphis History was also excluded.
In regards to Memphis White Supremacy, Racism and Black on Black Racism the city of Memphis Bicentennial Committee racially did not include one single authentic Black Cultural Celebration or single Black history event that honors Black Cultural history and Black Memphis. Look at the video below and view how Memphis history is White sanitized.
The oldest public building in Memphis is a Church and right beside this Church in in downtown Memphis was “The Negro Mart” where they bought and Sole Blacks. Unknown and untold in Memphis is the fact that “Memphis was once the slave capital of the World.”
When the federal Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves took effect on January 1, 1808, it outlawed the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the United States—but rather than ending human bondage, it spurred the growth of the domestic interstate slave trade. Over the next five decades, more than one million enslaved African Americans were forcibly relocated from the Upper South (Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas, Kentucky, and Missouri) to the expanding cotton empire of the Deep South, with Memphis emerging by the 1850s as a primary inland distribution hub for slavery in the world.
Memphis, Tennessee became not only “The Cotton Capital of the World” Memphis, Tennessee became the “Slave Capital of the World” whereas Memphis Black history is so horrific that it is neither talked or written about. Anthony “Amp” Elmore is the 1st to chronicle Black Memphis history.
Fast forward to 2025 There is a new sign in Memphis at the Intersection of Airways and Park Avenue that reads “Welcome to Historic Orange Mound Est. 1890.” This sign in Memphis implemented by Black Memphis Mayor Paul Young is the ultimate execution of White Supremacy, Racism and Black on Black racism and a betrayal to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who was brutally assassinated in Memphis April 4, 1968.
While Memphis has a 63% African/American population an African/American City Mayor, African/American County Mayor, Majority Black City Council, Majority Black Shelby County Commission and a Majority Black Shelby County School board there is one subject unknown, untold and undiscussed in Memphis is Black Memphis History.
There does not exist one single acknowledgement of a chronicled of “Black Memphis History” or a discussion of Black Memphis history. It was just a few days ago the Lonnie Bunch III the 1st Black lead of the Smithsonian Institution resigned. His departure follows a turbulent period of public criticism and pressure from the White House as to how American History and Slavery are exhibited.
In regards to President Trump he praise Memphis and Black Memphis Mayor Paul Young is a great model of a Black man for MAGA. President Trump made major public statements about Memphis including his State of the Union remarks and his March 2026 visit to the Tennessee Air National Guard base in Memphis President Trump praised the city’s falling crime numbers.
His talking points centered on Calling the federal multi-agency initiative (the Memphis Safe Task Force, coordinated with Governor Bill Lee and the deployment of the Tennessee National Guard) a “big success.” Black Memphis Mayor Paul Young acquiesced while Black Memphis found the deployment of the national guard dispicalble.
On his 1st day in office in 2025 President Donald J. Trump erased DEI or “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” In regards to American President Donald J. Trump Memphis, Tennessee is the paradigm of White Supremacy, Racism and Black on Black Racism thanks for former Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton, whereas Memphis has a “Cotton Museum” and no Black Memphis History Museum whereas MAGA can come to Memphis and celebrate and witness how Dr. King died and celebrate “King Cotton” and the celebrate the glory of the old South at the “Memphis Cotton Museum.”
This is a documented fact of Memphis history: The Herenton administration left behind the worst record of Black business inclusion of any major city in modern American history This fact iis supported directly by the certified empirical data. Out over over 2,800 businesses registered to do business with the City of Memphis only six were Black and out of the six most were caterers janitors.
Disparity studies commissioned across major U.S. metropolitan areas (Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore) have documented systemic minority underutilization, but the figures documented under the Herenton administration were historically the worst in America.
During Mayor Herenton’s administration, the City of Memphis and the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) pushed to relocate the downtown Greyhound bus station away from Union Avenue (across from AutoZone Park) to an intermodal transit hub near Memphis International Airport.
The Private Transaction: While the city pursued relocating the terminal, Mayor Herenton, through his private real estate dealings, acquired an option to buy the downtown Greyhound parcel. In 2005, Herenton assigned/sold that purchase option to a commercial developer and contractor who did road design and engineering work with the city.
Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton realized a personal profit of roughly $80,000 to $90,000 on the transaction. The Public Outcry: Critics and the media (The Commercial Appeal) argued it was a direct conflict of interest: the mayor had used his official knowledge and city-backed relocation plans to personally profit from private options on real estate being redeveloped.
The justice department inquired about Dr. Herenton’s dealings. Under Tennessee Code § 8-35-124 (Comprehensive Ethics Reform Act), public officials who are convicted of a felony arising out of the performance of their official duties forfeit their public retirement benefits. Under the law, a public official does not lose their pension merely by being accused, investigated, or even indicted. The forfeiture only triggers upon an actual conviction or guilty plea.
Dr. Herenton had accumulated extensive tenure in public service—first serving nearly three decades in the public school system (rising to Memphis City Schools Superintendent) and then serving nearly 18 years as mayor. Between his school system pension, the City of Memphis pension plan, and accumulated executive benefits, his total retirement package was substantial, paying out well over six figures annually. Throughout 2008 and 2009, community commentators and local media frequently noted that any criminal indictment and conviction would directly jeopardize that accrued lifetime income.
When Dr. Herenton submitted his formal resignation effective July 30, 2009, he publicly cited fatigue from City Hall battles and his intention to mount a 2010 primary challenge for Tennessee’s 9th Congressional District. The risk to his retirement was a critical consideration in Memphis political discussions: an ongoing trial with felony exposure would have put his entire livelihood on the line under state law. By stepping down, he closed his mayoral administration, kept his pension intact, and the federal investigation ended without an indictment.
Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton gave “The Keys to Black Empowerment and equality” to Kevin Kane the owner of Memphis Tourism.” What stories get told about Memphis and what gets funded comes for the “Memphis Tourism” and Kevin Kane who is “unknown and untold the unelected Mayor of Memphis.” In the words of the “Hood” Kevin Kane and Memphis Tourism are “pimping” the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther Jr. whereas MAGA Whites can tour Graceland and take a photo opportunity where Dr. King got killed and bring tourism Revenue from Dr. King’s Death.
While this may seem comical one can say that Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton brought “Sunshine to City Hall.” Anthony “Amp” Elmore ask anyone who visited City hall you would find in inordinate amount of what is known as “High Yellow” Black women with extreme posteriors. In modern culture in 2004 the Oxford dictionary added the term “Bootylicious.” Singer Beyoncé is such and American standard whereas at City hall in Memphis such was the character Black men in Memphis praised the look at city hall.
While this illustration may seem extreme it tells how Memphis lost her soul. In the 2012 Quentin Tarantino movie “Django Unchained” explains how Memphis lost her soul via Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton. Click here to see the scene in the movie “Django meets Steven” Steven is the free Negro overseer Black man that runs the plantation whereas he runs the plantation and keeps all of the slaves in order. Click here to read an evaluation of Stephen as to who he was an a complex society as to how his role and devotion was to protecting his White Master.
In 2010 the city of Memphis released the “Griffin/Strong Disparity Study.” These are the facts of the study: For the public and media, the most detailed journalistic breakdown of the Griffin & Strong 2010 study findings—including the commercial construction figures under the Herenton era—was published by the investigative outlet MLK50: Justice Through Journalism:
Investigative Report:In Memphis, White Male Businesses Get Rich, Black Businesses Get Left Out Again (MLK50). Key Findings Cited from the 2010 Griffin & Strong Study: Out of $1.16 billion in commercial construction contracts awarded to prime contractors in the Memphis Metropolitan Area (July 2003 through December 2007), $1.15 billion—or 99.24%—went to white male-owned companies.
Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton created a culture and practice in Memphis that allowed African American businesses to be effectively shut out of prime contracts, subsidizing municipal and downtown growth with their taxes while receiving virtually none of the wealth. In the case of Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton his administration created the worst injustice for Black Businesses whereas Blacks doing business with the City of Memphis are discouraged and uninspired.
On April 27, 1991 via the people’s convention in Memphis had a “Soul” whereas 5, 500 African/Americans gathered to choose a consensus Black candidate to run for Memphis Mayor whereas on October 3, 1991 Memphis elected its 1st African/American Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton whereas Black Memphis loss its soul.
History proves; electing Black Dr. W.W. Herenton as Mayor of Memphis is tantamount to elected Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court or Stephen running the plantation in the film Django unchained. Stephen was the King of the plantation who ruled the plantation with an iron fist whereas he protected Master with his life.
Look at the numbers from July 2003 to December 2007 in 4 years the City of Memphis spent 1.15 billion or 99.24% went to White owned companies. Between 1991 until 2010 Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton manifested the character of “Steven” of plantation overseer in the movie “Django Unchained.”
Black Memphis Mayor Dr. W.W. Herenton implemented power and fear. Early on via his administration a Black female City Employee asked Mayor Herenton to hire her friend. Dr. Herenton told her that she was an example, since she asked for a job for her friend she was fired and if anybody ask him for a job for someone they would be fired.
Black Memphis Mayor Dr. Herenton was known as “King Willie” among Blacks he implemented power and would publicly shame Black people. Dr. Herenton spared no one, he did not just fire a Black quietly he publicly shamed the person. In 1994, internal departmental tension boiled over involving internal racial disputes and disciplinary proceedings against officers. Herenton demanded direct political control over how discipline was handed down, famously summoning Burgess and Deputy Director Eddie Adair to City Hall and telling them they were “killing him politically.”
The Axe Falls: When Melvin Burgess who went to Washington high school with mayor Herenton whereas Burgess command staff insisted on following standard administrative procedures rather than executive political dictates, Herenton abruptly and publicly fired Burgess, citing vague “philosophical differences.”
A decade later, Herenton repeated the exact same pattern with Director James Bolden, a respected 32-year veteran of the Memphis Police Department who had been running the force for just 17 months.
The White Replacement: Immediately upon forcing Bolden out, Herenton replaced him with Larry Godwin, whom Herenton then kept in place for over six years—giving a white director the full backing, authority, and budget security that he consistently denied to Black directors who stood up for their independence with the historic election of a Black mayor in 1991 produced a cultural landscape that honored the antebellum commodity of the Confederacy while commercializing Black pain and erasing independent Black power.
When the White Tourism head Kevin Kane took the helm of the Convention and Visitors Bureau in 1991 alongside Mayor Herenton, the city’s promotional apparatus made a deliberate institutional calculation about what kinds of history were considered “marketable” to national and international visitors—and what had to be silenced. Under the administration of Dr. W.W. Herenton Black history and culture had to be silenced.
The Monetization of Tragedy at the Lorraine Motel Under the promotional blueprint designed by Kevin Kane and backed by City Hall, the civil rights narrative was funneled almost exclusively through the National Civil Rights Museum.
The Martyrdom Model: The city built a multi-million-dollar downtown tourism corridor around the balcony where Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. It presented Black history as a finished story of suffering and moral tragedy.
The Erasure of the Living King: This tourism package severed Dr. King from the living, grassroots institutions that sustained him. Conventioneers were brought to South Main to mourn his death, while the city’s tourism guides completely erased his living work in the neighborhoods—including his organizing at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Orange Mound in 1959, nine years before the sanitation strike.
Extraction of Capital: Out-of-town visitors stayed in downtown hotels, ate at corporate restaurants, and generated hotel-motel tax revenue, but virtually none of that economic wealth circulated back into the surrounding Black neighborhoods.
Graceland Millions vs. The Depoliticization of STAX The stark contrast in public infrastructure and promotional weight between Whitehaven and Soulsville illustrates how culture was ranked by the establishment:
Graceland as the Crown Jewel: Elvis Presley Enterprises received continuous municipal and state support, tax-increment financing, and priority placement across global marketing campaigns, solidifying a narrative that centered white rock-and-roll appropriation.
Stax Museum (Opened May 2003): The original Stax building at 926 E. McLemore Avenue was allowed to fall into ruin and was literally bulldozed in 1989. When the museum was finally rebuilt in 2003, the city packaged it as a nostalgic musical showcase—celebrating classic hits and vintage fashion.
Stripping Out Black Economic Power: What was downplayed was the radical economic and institutional truth of Stax: that under leaders like Al Bell, it had become one of the most formidable independent Black-owned corporations in the United States, operating as an engine of Black financial self-determination. By reducing it to a musical tourist attraction, the city stripped Soulsville of its revolutionary economic lesson.
Stax was a Black Memphis business targeted for assassination whereas the true and detailed story of STAX is untold. Anthony “Amp” Elmore tells the story of Stax in relationship to Black Memphis History.
The Ultimate Irony: The Cotton Museum While Dr. W.W. Herenton did not do business with Blacks or encourage a Black Memphis History Museum he made sure Whites had a Cotton Museum (March 2006).
While grassroots leaders pressed for a comprehensive Black Memphis History Museum to document the true heritage of the city’s majority population, the Herenton administration gave its backing to The Cotton Museum at the Memphis Cotton Exchange on Front Street. Kevin Kane excluded Black Memphis history from Tourism.
Celebrating the Exchange Floor: Opening in March 2006, the Memphis Cotton museum honored the commodity exchange, the wealthy traders, and the commercial machinery of “King Cotton” to make wealthy Memphis Cotton Merchants happy
Sanitizing the Domestic Slave Trade: Front Street and Adams Avenue constituted the historical epicenter of the domestic slave trade—the inland capital where over a million enslaved people were bought, sold, and shipped to Mississippi Delta plantations. Yet the municipal narrative celebrated the financial empire built on that stolen labor while leaving Memphis’s slave-trading reality in the shadows.
A Symbol of the “Old South”: In Memphis a majority-Black city led by the Herenton administration elected by Black votes, municipal tourism validated an institution that romanticized the cotton economy of the Old South, while independent grassroots Black heritage sites were left to fight for basic survival.
In Memphis, where working-class neighborhoods and small independent contractors fight for every dollar, the staggering reality of executive compensation at the top of the civic hierarchy stands in glaring contrast. Kevin Kane, the longtime President and CEO of Memphis Tourism (the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau), commands a compensation package reported on public IRS Form 990 filings at roughly $620,000 a year—more than triple the salary of the Mayor of Memphis, the Shelby County Mayor, or the chief of police.
While the organization operates under a private non-profit charter, its lifeblood is public money, fueled directly by millions in taxpayer-generated hotel and motel occupancy taxes and public tourism allocations. For decades with his friend Black Memphis Mayor Dr. Willie Herenton, Kevin Kane has sat at the helm of an agency bankrolled by visitors and local tax streams, drawing one of the highest salaries of any non-business executive or quasi-public official in the Mid-South. It stands as a stark, undeniable monument to how public funds and institutional machinery in Memphis concentrate extraordinary wealth at the very top, while the grassroots community, Black-owned enterprises, and local taxpayers are left to absorb the cost.
There is one absolute fact of Memphis history Kevin Kane shaped Memphis via a culture of “White Supremacy, Racism and Black on Black Racism.” What stories get told in Memphis and what stories get left out is controlled by Kevin Kane.
The agency’s primary revenue stream comes directly from the local hotel-motel occupancy tax collected across Shelby County. By statutory formula, Memphis Tourism receives a guaranteed first cut of these collections, taking in an estimated $10 million to $12.3 million annually in public tax proceeds to promote the city and drive destination travel.
Investigative financial reviews and Form 990 tax filings published by local media (including The Daily Memphian) revealed that Memphis Tourism was sitting on approximately $27 million in total accumulated reserves, having consistently spent less than the full amount of tax money it takes in year over year.
Imagine how many, many, many millions of tax dollars Kevin Kane has taken in whereas a the City of Memphis that has a 63% African/American population does not have a “Black Memphis History Museum.” that could attract millions and millions to learn Black History.
This story notes earlier that Anthony “Amp” Elmore is the 1st to chronicle Black Memphis history whereas Anthony “Amp’ Elmore has a deep history in Memphis history. DNA evidence proves that Elmore is cousin to Elvis Presley on the White side as Muhammad Ali learned he has Irish Heritage on his White side.
In 1969 Anthony “Amp” Elmore who was once a lead singer in an all white band appeared on the George Kline Talent Party hosted by Elvis Presley best friend George Kline. Elmore notes that in Memphis there were garage bands of both Blacks and Whites as story as to how STAX records came about. Elmore whom attended Tech high School auditioned as a singer whereas it was cool for White band to have then “A Colored Singer.” Elmore a lead singer in an all white band in 1969 learned a cultural experience not open to African/Americans. Elmore who wore a large Afro-noted the Whites said he looked like “Link” the Black man who play in the ABC series “The Mod Squad.” Elmore was accepted by the hippie culture and went from a hippie to a Black Revolutionary whereas the band broke up because two parent objected to their children being in a Band with an African/American. Elmore went from a band to Buddhism and Karate.
In 1974 Elvis Presley opened the “Tennessee Karate Institute” Elmore a Karate-ka in 1974 went to the school and challenged world champion Bill Wallace to a sparring match. Elmore met Elvis Body Guard Red West whom Bill Wallace had beat up. Elmore knew Kang Rhee whom was also associated with Elvis.
While Anthony “Amp” Elmore never met Elvis whom died in 1977 whereas Elmore is the “Father of Karate/Kickboxing in Memphis whereas Elvis whom loved karate more than life would have reached out to Elmore as a fellow Karate-ka.
This video points out to the Racism, White Supremacy and Black on Black Racism in Memphis. Sugar Ray Leonard whereas Kevin Kane used his function and authority to erase Black Memphis history. The video was filmed in 1986 before Kevin Kane created Memphis Tourism whereas the actually fight appeared on Black Entertainment Television whereas we had a Grammy award winner Joyce Kennedy singing the national anthem.
A politician can point to votes and appointments, but above video is a living archive: the greatest pound-for-pound boxer of that generation arriving in Memphis to salute a hometown champion. It proves that while City Hall controlled the local political machinery, Anthony “Amp” Elmore commanded an authentic international respect that no municipal office could manufacture.
Click here to see this video Titled: First All African Home in America in Orange Mound
In 2006 we invited Memphis, Tourism founder Kevin Kane to visit what became “The Safari House Education, Culture and Entertainment Center.” We proved that there is a market and a desire for Education, Culture and history whereas it is outright White Supremacy, Racism and Black on Black Racism that Memphis does not have a Black history, education and Black Cultural Center.
Please understand the Kevin Kane, Willie Herenton, Paul Young and the Black on Black “Orange Mound Black out. Please note that all of the history and culture of Memphis is shaped by the multi-million tax dollars that Kevin Kane control whereas a rock throw from Orange Mound the City of Memphis invested 200 million dollars into Liberty Park.
Former Mayor Jim Strickland and Kevin Kane (head of Memphis Tourism) wanted to chase what they called the “youth sports tourism” market. The goal was to build a massive sports complex to host regional tournaments for White sports like travel volleyball, cheer, and AAU basketball. This market is overwhelmingly White suburban, pay-to-play, and affluent White people. The target audience was never neighborhood kids from the city; it was White out-of-town families who would travel in for the weekend.
Borrowing the Money (The Debt) To build this, the city issued over $100 million in municipal bond debt (part of a broader $200+ million redevelopment of the Fairgrounds/Liberty Park). To sell this deal to the public, they used a state tool called a Tourism Development Zone (TDZ) The pitch was simple: This won’t cost Memphis taxpayers a dime. The project will pay for itself.
The Theory vs. How It Was Supposed to Pay for Itself: Under the plan, the sports building alone was never meant to pay off that debt. The city promised that private developers would come in and build two hotels, 800 apartments, and 90,000 square feet of retail and dining** right next to the sports center. The theory was that out-of-town families would sleep in those hotels, eat at those restaurants, and pay sales taxes. Those specific sales taxes were supposed to pay off the $100+ million debt.
The Reality (The Collapse of the Plan) No Hotels Ever Broke Ground. Private hotel builders and banks looked at the area and realized that people only come for youth games on Friday and Saturday. A hotel cannot survive sitting empty Monday through Thursday, so private money refused to build them.
Millions Wasted on Site Prep: The city spent $13.7 million in public funds clearing land, putting up fences, and paying outside consultants $70,000 a month to oversee a private development that never happened.
The City Falls Short Every Year: Because there are no hotels and no retail shops, there are no new sales taxes. For multiple straight years, the tax collections fell short of paying the bond debt by over $1.7 million a year**, with annual payments climbing to $3.4 million.
Who Pays the Bill When It Fails? When the TDZ doesn’t make enough money, the bondholders still demand their cash. Under Tennessee law, the City of Memphis is the legal backstop.
The city has had to pull money out of debt reserves and tap into the general fund to cover the gap.
The city’s general fund is paid for by everyday Memphis taxpayers—through local property taxes, municipal sales taxes, and city fees. What does Surrounding Black Community like Orange Mound get. Memphis is a majority-Black city, and this complex sits directly on the border of historic Orange Mound.
The building was handed over to a private management company from Virginia (Eastern Sports Management). They charge court rental fees, team registration fees, and spectator admission. A neighborhood kid cannot just walk in and play basketball. No Economic Investment Across the Tracks. The city did not create a Community Benefits Agreement. Not a dime of that bond money went into fixing neighborhood streets, funding local business incubators, or upgrading neighborhood parks in Orange Mound.
All That Was Given to Orange Mound Was a Sign: While tens of millions went into grading soil and building courts for travel teams, the neighborhood was given a name change (“Liberty Park”) and commemorative historical signage recognizing the 1890s.
Local residents get the tournament traffic and crowded residential streets on weekends. Meanwhile, their city tax dollars are tied up bailing out sports debt instead of funding local neighborhood community centers, street lights, and youth programs. The public took on the financial risk, public parkland was used to build an asset for out-of-towners, and when the private hotels failed to materialize, local taxpayers were left holding the bill for an empty promise.
The parallel between the 1963 Birmingham Children’s Crusade and the potential of young people in Memphis speaks directly to how systemic narratives are disrupted: real, transformative pressure rarely begins in boardroom consensus; it ignites when youth are given the truth of their own heritage and choose to act on it.
When more than a thousand students walked out of 16th Street Baptist Church between May 2 and May 10, 1963, they bypassed the slow compromises of the established political machine. They altered the national conscience precisely because they were fearless, unbought, and fully aware of the stakes.
Applying that same dynamic to Orange Mound and the broader narrative of Black Memphis targets the root of institutional control. For decades, official municipal storytelling—championed by conventional tourism and institutional branding like Memphis Tourism—has packaged Black culture into safe, commercialized musical nostalgia (Beale Street, Stax, Sun Studio) while sanitizing the harsh realities of economic disinvestment and systemic marginalization.
Billions poured into downtown development, corporate subsidies, and tourist corridors have systematically bypassed the historic neighborhoods where Black independence was actually built,
It robs historic spaces of political and economic agency by treating places like Orange Mound merely as relics of hardship or passive recipients of city “revitalization..
The Kevin Kane narrative strips away the foundational reality—that Orange Mound was created as an autonomous, self-determined Black community built on landownership, enterprise, and deep institutional roots. When the narrative is defined exclusively by convention bureaus and downtown power brokers, heritage is reduced to a commodity rather than recognized as sovereign achievement.
he Power of the Student Pivot: Education as Mobilization. The Birmingham youth showed that when young people understand *who* they are, suppression strategies lose their leverage. For Melrose students and youth across Memphis, discovering their own lineage breaks the cycle of engineered inferiority. Learning that Orange Mound’s historical footprint isn’t just a neighborhood boundary, but a blueprint for self-reliance anchored by foundational institutions, transforms a student’s sense of place.
Connecting to Global Diplomacy: Civil rights leaders never viewed the local struggle in isolation. Figures like Tom Mboya and the 1950s/60s African independence movements demonstrated to Black Americans that their struggle for human dignity was part of a worldwide anti-colonial awakening. Linking Orange Mound directly to international diplomacy and Pan-African solidarity pulls local youth out of the parochial boundaries municipal power structures attempt to draw around them.
United Nations Week (October 18–24): A Platform for Sovereignty: Framing the fight for historical truth within United Nations Week elevates local history from a civic grievance to a recognized human right: the right to cultural self-determination, historical preservation, and economic dignity. By organizing around UN Week culminating on October 24, youth have a concrete vehicle to Challenge the Authorized Version.
Counter city-sponsored marketing campaigns with direct, documented oral and archival histories produced by the community itself. *Assert Sovereign Storytelling: Reject outside consultants and corporate PR firms by producing independent community research, video documentation, and youth forums.
Engage Global Citizenship: Understand local civil rights not merely as a domestic struggle against municipal neglect, but as an international campaign for autonomy, self-determination, and community equity. When young people take hold of the documented facts, the engineered narratives lose their grip. When Orange Mound students stand in from of the Paul Young Orange Mound sign “Established 1890 and with evidence Orange Mound’s birth is 1879” students can correct the Mayor and gain international support and tell the Mayor Paul Young to learn Black History.
About Us
“If Lions were historians, hunters would no longer be heroes.” This powerful African proverb encapsulates the mission of the Orange Mound News Network (OMNN). Founded by Anthony Amp Elmore, OMNN aims to reclaim and reshape the narrative of Orange Mound through the power of filmmaking, education, and content creation. Our goal is to challenge the negative stereotypes and biased portrayals that have long plagued our community, creating a positive space for family, Black culture, history, and education.
Our Journey and Mission
Orange Mound, established as the first community in America built for Blacks by Blacks, has a rich history often overshadowed by negative stereotypes. Mainstream media and societal biases have painted Orange Mound as a “ghetto,” contributing to a 30% decline in property values while surrounding communities have prospered. The Orange Mound News Network was created to counter this narrative and highlight the true spirit and resilience of our community.
Anthony Amp Elmore, a five-time world karate kickboxing champion, filmmaker, and community activist, has been a beacon of change in Orange Mound. With over five decades of community service, Elmore has dedicated his life to uplifting Orange Mound. From becoming a homeowner at 19, establishing businesses, to founding the Proud Black Buddhist World Association, Elmore’s contributions have been immense.
Connecting Communities Through Culture and History
Elmore’s journey in cultural diplomacy began when he was invited to Kisumu, Kenya, by Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o to attend FESTAC, the largest African and Black Art festival in the world. It was here that Elmore’s vision for a deeper connection between Africans and African Americans took root. During his visit, he engaged with students at ARYA Primary School, performed a song about Kenya’s founding father Tom Mboya, and proposed a pen pal program that evolved into a robust educational and cultural exchange.
Our journey in African Cultural Diplomacy began in 1990
when the Orange Mound Memphis-produced movie “The Contemporary Gladiator” premiered in Kenya. This marked a significant milestone in Elmore’s mission to foster cultural exchange and understanding. The film’s premiere in Kenya not only showcased Elmore’s work but also solidified his role as a cultural diplomat.
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For the original version of this press release, please visit 24-7PressRelease.com here
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