Orange Mound Juneteenth

MEMPHIS, TN, May 25, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ Click here to visit the website; orangemoundjuneteenth.com:

OrangeMoundJuneteenth.com stands as the first bilingual African American and Afro‑Mexican Juneteenth website in American history, created to unite two peoples who share a single, intertwined freedom story.

Built in both English and Spanish, the site honors the African Americans who fought for liberation in the United States and the Afro‑Mexican Mascogo community whose ancestors fought for Mexico’s independence and outlawed slavery in 1829. This digital cultural embassy, hosted by an African American community in Memphis, invites Hispanics and African Americans to celebrate a shared legacy of liberation, dignity, and democracy. OrangeMoundJuneteenth.com marks a new era in America—one where education, diversity, and historical truth become the bridge that brings our communities together.

In direct defiance of Jim Crow 2.0 and the Tennessee legislature’s deliberate, surgical erasure of the majority-Black 9th Congressional District, the historic community of Orange Mound is launching a revolutionary cultural offensive: Orange Mound Juneteenth.

This story is that of African/Americans in Orange Mound a Black Community in Memphis, Tennessee who are not laying down because the political establishment redraws our maps to dilute Black voting power. Orange Mound Juneteenth .com is a pushback to defeating 9th District erasure through Education, Diversity & Democracy. Orange Mound Juneteenth expands Black history to honor and correct the 1879 founding of Orange Mound and not 1890. Orange Mound Juneteenth educate regarding the untold true of Afro-Mexican roots, and Indigenous Black sovereignty. Orange Mound Juneteenth connects African/American to American 250th celebration for freedom.

Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes: “The change in the character of a single person is enough to change the destiny of a nation.” Guided by this profound truth, historian and filmmaker Anthony “Amp” Elmore created Orange Mound Juneteenth with the conviction that reclaiming history can fundamentally alter the future. He recognized that expanding Juneteenth from an exclusively African American observance into a shared celebration of African American and Afro-Mexican heritage possesses the power to change both a people and a nation.

Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes that “Orange Mound Juneteenth” is “The Greatest Black Freedom story revealed in the 21st Century.” Via Orange Mound Juneteenth we connect via “John Horse” to our Black Native indigenous ancestors meaning the Black Sovereign who were in Americas prior to Europeans or Christopher Columbus.

What is unknown and untold in American History is the fact that we Black people fought in the “Mexican War of Independence” whereas we not only have a heritage in the United States we have a heritage in Mexico. Unknown and untold in America is the fact that Mexico’s 2nd President was a Black man named “Vicente Guerrero” who is noted as one of “The Founding Fathers of Mexico.”

Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes that via history we African/Americans and Mexicans share a history and a kinship whereas we must fight to honor and share our “kinship.” Anthony “Amp” Elmore from the African cultural Embassy in Orange Mound is seeking to get Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to sign the “Charter of Kinship with the African Cultural Embassy.”

Elmore’s vision is deeply rooted in his own lived experience. As a 15-year-old youth in Memphis, he navigated the profound despair and loss that gripped the community following the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yet, he also witnessed the undeniable catalyst of cultural pride when a 35-year-old James Brown released “Say It Loud—I’m Black and I’m Proud.” That singular anthem revolutionized how African Americans viewed themselves, sparking a collective evolution in identity from “Colored” to “Negro,” to “Black,” and ultimately to “African American.”

Today, confronting the targeted erasure of the 9th Congressional District and the systemic emergence of Jim Crow 2.0, Elmore notes that the ultimate defense against white supremacy, systemic racism, and internalized division is rooted in three pillars: Education, Diversity, and Democracy. Orange Mound Juneteenth champions these principles by radically expanding the historical narrative. By illuminating untold histories—such as the Black soldiers who fought for the liberation of Mexico and the existence of sovereign Indigenous Black nations in the Americas long before the transatlantic slave trade—the initiative challenges the public to look far beyond the confines of 1619.

This profound education reveals that Black Americans were not merely enslaved people, but indigenous and sovereign architects of history who continually force America to live up to her constitutional creed that all men are created equal. As we approach the nation’s semiquincentennial, Orange Mound Juneteenth breathes dynamic new meaning into the America 250 initiative. It stands as a resilient and unapologetic declaration: While they divide the district, we expand our minds.

Anthony “Amp” Elmore also a Nara honored historian and Memphis born 5-time World Kickboxing champion noted; “When they attempt to limit our districts, we expand our minds. Through the uncompromising pillars of *Education, Diversity, and Democracy*, we in “Orange Mound” are transforming Juneteenth from a localized, often misunderstood commemoration into a massive, shared Pan-American celebration of liberation.

We are uniting African Americans, Hispanics, and Afro-Mexicans to correct the historical record and build an impenetrable intellectual front against the systemic erasure of Black history in the Americas.

Orange Mound Juneteenth serves as the ultimate pushback. We are proving that the best way to fight redistricting is to become a highly educated people with major, global thoughts. We will not be minimized as a “minor community.” We fight back with a history so vast, so sovereign, and so unified that no district line and no legislative pen can ever contain it.

Correcting the Timeline: The 1879 Sovereignty vs. The 1890 Erasure

To effectively fight white supremacy and the new Jim Crow 2.0, we must also confront historical complacency and Black-on-Black racism that allows our history to be erased from within. Orange Mound Juneteenth officially challenges the false, establishment-approved narrative that our community was founded in 1890 by white real estate developer E.E. Meacham.

The incontrovertible truth—backed by undeniable archival evidence—is that Orange Mound’s foundation was built by independent Black pioneers who established two foundational Black churches MT Moriah Baptist Church and MT Pisgah CME in 1879.

By accepting the 1890 date Memphis Black political leaders inadvertently surrender eleven years of sovereign independence. They promote a narrative that says Black history only officially begins when the White real estate salesman E. E. Meacham presented plans to sell 892 lots of land 25 x 100 which is mathematically impossible.

Click here to visit website: Anthony “Amp” Elmore the 1st in Memphis to chronical “Black Memphis History”

Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes: we refuse to let our history begin with a false mislead white transaction that White Real Estate broker E.E. Meacham found Orange Mound in 1890. The Shelby Country quarterly approved the building of the first school for Blacks in Shelby County in Orange Mound in 1889 proves Orange Mound was community before E.E. Meacham registered plans to sell lots in Orange Mound

Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes: “We claim our sovereign, self-determined roots.” We in Orange Mound were building institutions, communities, and democratic frameworks a full decade before the establishment gave us “permission” to exist. Orange Mound Juneteenth exists to force this historical correction and to challenge anyone who participates in the erasure of Black independence.

Beyond 1619: The Original Indigenous Black Americans

The mainstream educational system has indoctrinated the public with the lie that the history of Black Americans began exclusively with the horrors of slavery in 1619. Furthermore, it teaches that the fight for freedom stopped at the borders of the United States. Both of these narratives are historically false.

DNA evidence, oral histories, and the monolithic, ancient Olmec heads discovered in Mexico stand as undeniable testaments to the original Black presence in the Americas. Black people are Indigenous to this hemisphere. We possess an ancient history on this land that predates European colonization, a history that has been systematically buried to justify our subjugation. Orange Mound Juneteenth brings this untold Indigenous Black history into the light.

Redefining Juneteenth: A Shared African/American and Afro-Mexican Legacy

Orange Mound Juneteenth is the absolute first initiative in American history to formally redefine Juneteenth as both an African American and an Afro-Mexican holiday. We honor the irrefutable fact that Black people fought side-by-side, shedding their blood for the independence of Mexico from Spain.

This brutal fight for freedom resulted in the election of North America’s first Black president, Vicente Guerrero. A brilliant military strategist of Afro-Indigenous descent, President Guerrero boldly outlawed slavery in Mexico in 1829. He accomplished this monumental victory for human rights more than three decades before the United States issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Because of Guerrero, Mexico became a sanctuary for enslaved Black Americans fleeing the terror of the American South.

Therefore, African Americans share not only an African heritage but a profound, undeniable Afro-Mexican history. By celebrating Orange Mound Juneteenth, African Americans and Hispanics are joining hands to celebrate a shared legacy of liberation that transcends modern borders.

The Sovereign Military Power of John Horse in the Florida Swamps

For centuries, the American government has deliberately buried the existence of sovereign Black nations in the Americas. The establishment erased their history to propagate the psychological lie that Black people were only ever property, completely incapable of self-governance, diplomacy, or independent military power.

The most glaring and insulting example of this historical theft is the intentional mislabeling of the legendary Indigenous Black leader, **John Horse**.

John Horse was a Native-born Black American Freeman. He was never a slave. He was the sovereign head of state of an independent Indigenous Black nation. During the Second Seminole War in Florida, his people demonstrated unmatched military genius. When the United States government attempted to conquer them, these Native Black freemen retreated into the unforgiving swamps of Florida and completely outsmarted the U.S. military. The American soldiers, bogged down by heavy backpacks and suffocating wool suits, were absolutely no match for the tactical brilliance, endurance, and guerrilla warfare of this sovereign Indigenous Black nation.

They fought fiercely side-by-side with the Seminole Indians. They did not belong to the Seminoles; they operated as equal military and political partners, battling the United States military to a bloody standstill. Operating as a recognized, autonomous leader, John Horse personally negotiated terms with U.S. Generals to leave Florida, securing formal agreements that recognized the absolute freedom of his people.

To hide this staggering reality of Black independence and power, the U.S. government falsely labeled them “Black Seminoles.” They were *never* Black Seminoles. They were a sovereign Indigenous Black people with their own distinct culture, leadership, and destiny.

The Armed Defense Against Enslavers and the Exodus to Mexico

Upon their forced relocation to Indian Territory (modern-day Oklahoma), John Horse’s sovereign nation faced a terrifying new threat: the Creek Indians. The Creek leadership, along with the rest of the Five Civilized Tribes, were active participants in the brutal system of chattel slavery and would later fight on the side of the Confederacy. They systematically attempted to raid John Horse’s settlements to capture Indigenous Black people and sell them to white plantation owners in the Deep South.

But John Horse and his people were a free, sovereign nation. They did not passively allow themselves to be put in chains. They arrived in Oklahoma heavily armed and kept their rifles loaded. John Horse stationed elite sharpshooters around their settlements. Any Creek enslaver who crossed their lines and attempted to kidnap one of his people was met with immediate, lethal force.

Knowing that Oklahoma would never be a safe haven for a free Native Black American nation surrounded by enslaving tribes, John Horse executed a brilliant, strategic military withdrawal. In 1849, allied once again as equals with the Seminole Chief Wild Cat, John Horse led his heavily armed people out of Oklahoma, marching across the treacherous Texas landscape. They fought off slave catchers and survived incredible odds to cross the border into Mexico, where their descendants live as a free people today.

The Mascogos: 161 Years of Continuous Juneteenth

The Mexican government welcomed this sovereign Indigenous Black nation, recognizing their autonomy, granting them land in Coahuila, and naming them the *Mascogos*. For 177 years, these Afro-Mexican pioneers have lived free in Mexico.

When news of the U.S. emancipation finally reached Texas in 1865, the Mascogos in Mexico celebrated alongside their brothers and sisters across the border. They have faithfully and continuously celebrated Juneteenth for 161 years. They are the living, breathing proof of our shared Afro-Mexican heritage. Orange Mound Juneteenth builds a direct, indestructible bridge to this legacy.

A Call to Congress for America’s 250th Anniversary

As the United States rapidly approaches its 250th anniversary (the Semiquincentennial), we declare that true democracy cannot be celebrated while the foundational Black and Indigenous history of the Americas remains buried. A nation cannot authentically celebrate its own liberty while hiding the history of the sovereign Black nations it actively tried to destroy.

Anthony “Amp” Elmore and the “African Cultural Embassy” in Orange Mound is officially calling upon Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen to recognize this movement. We ask that he take this manifesto, read it into the Congressional Record, and officially recognize Orange Mound Juneteenth on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.

By acknowledging this expanded, truthful Pan-American history, Congressman Cohen can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the erased 9th District. He can demonstrate to the entire nation that the ultimate counter-measure to gerrymandering, Jim Crow 2.0, and white supremacy is to become a true leader of democracy through uncompromising education.

Orange Mound Juneteenth is not just a holiday; it is the correction of world history. We are fighting for our rightful place in the story of the Americas.

A Public Call to Congressman Steve Cohen and Memphis Leadership for International Cultural Diplomacy

The African Cultural Embassy publicly calls upon Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen, alongside all local elected officials, to formally support the “Orange Mound Juneteenth Initiative” by utilizing their offices to initiate unprecedented cultural diplomacy. We specifically request that Congressman Cohen draft an official letter of state to the President of Mexico on behalf of the Embassy, urging the Mexican government to sign our historic Charter of Kinship.

Click here to read the Charter of Kinship

This document officially recognizes the deep, unbroken bond between African Americans and the Hispanic community. By highlighting the legacy of Vicente Guerrero—Mexico’s second president and a man of African descent who abolished slavery in 1829—and the Mascogo community in Coahuila that has proudly celebrated Juneteenth for over 160 years, we seek an official declaration from the Mexican government recognizing Juneteenth as a shared African American and Afro-Mexican holiday. Furthermore, we call upon the Congressional Black Caucus to back this Pan-American initiative, ensuring this vital, shared history is elevated to the forefront of international relations.

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.

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