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Orange Mound Information
Orange Mound is an impoverished neighborhood in Memphis, Tennessee and was
the first African-American neighborhood in the United States to be built by
African-Americans. It is bounded by Lamar/Kimball on the south, Southern on the
north, Airways on the west and Semmes on the east. The neighborhood has a
population of approximately 14,800, of which 11,700 are of African-American
heritage.
Churches have always played a prominent role in the life of Orange Mound,
helping to develop community leaders and fostering community stability.
Particularly important has been Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, a
125-year old church that has been located at the corner of David and Carnes
Streets since 1926. This church played a role in the American Civil Rights
Movement by assisting activists jailed for their activities in support of racial
equality.
Orange Mound is also a center of rap music activity, fostering underground rap
as well as launching stars into the national hip-hop music scene. Rappers 8 Ball
& MJG (Premo Smith and Marlon Jermain Goodwin) grew up in Orange Mound and met
in junior high school.
Melrose High School is located in Orange Mound and serves as a source of pride
and focal point for the community.
Tyler Glover, who operates Tyler's Place restaurant at 2481 Park Avenue, has
been dubbed the "Mayor of Orange Mound," and his restaurant the unofficial
Orange Mound "city hall." During the first term of Memphis Mayor W. W. Herenton,
Glover presented Herenton with an orange "key to Orange Mound." Glover's words
convey the love that Orange Mound's long- term residents feel for Orange Mound:
"This is the greatest community in the world.... It is the greatest community
because I know everybody here and I love working on committees and making this a
better place in which to live. I don't want to live any other place than Orange
Mound. I have had numerous opportunities to move some place else, but there is
no other place in the world I want to live, but Orange Mound, Tenn."
In recent decades, Orange Mound has been the focus of a variety of
revitalization efforts. One such effort, the Orange Mound Collaborative, was
funded by a Ford Foundation grant and stresses "education through empowerment."
The Orange Mound Collaborative's projects include an Early Childhood Institute,
and an oral history project in which researchers conduct videotaped interviews
with Orange Mound's older residents.
In 2003, Orange Mound was named one of 21 areas in Memphis that are the focus of
the S.M.A.R.T. Revitalization Plan ("Servicing the Metropolitan Area through the
Redevelopment of Targeted neighborhoods"), a public-private partnership to
create vibrant neighborhoods in declining areas.
In a 2004 editorial in the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Robert Lipscomb, director
of Memphis's Housing and Community Development division, wrote that much
progress has been made in revitalizing Orange Mound, through a combination of
code enforcement, tenant education programs, and neighborhood cleanup efforts.
A group called the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center helped neighborhood
residents to create the Orange Mound Community Garden. Organizers of the garden
project hoped the project would help beautiful the community, provide a source
of nutritious food, teach leadership skills, and encourage self-reliance.
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