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In Memory of Our Collective

Ancestors, Trailblazers, Drum Majors, & Torchbearers

Historical Context: The items shown below were recovered from Shiloh, a formerly abandoned cemetery in what is now Peach County, Georgia, closer to Byron. Shiloh, established in 1831, was severely vandalized over the years yet remained in use until the 1960s'. Buried in both marked and unmarked graves are war veterans, blacks, whites, and slaves. In a section that is more accessible are the graves of husband, Elias; son, Luther L.; and grand daughter, Janie Brown Moore, of Anna (Annie) Smith Brown, our Women's History Honoree for 2014. In 2013, the material items shown below were voluntarily donated and shipped to the BRONZeTONE Center's Executive Director, Dr. Deborah-Patrice Hamlin, in severely broken pieces. Many thanks to Ron Bonstedt, Cemetery Trustee and Caretaker. We are grateful.

Remembering Elias Brown

(May 1862- October 23,1928)

Clay Pot recovered from Shiloh in 2013; Analyzed & Reconstructed in Los Angeles, California 2013. Courtesy of the BRONZeTONE Center. All Rights Reserved.

Removed from the once abandoned Shiloh Cemetery in Peach County, Georgia near Byron. In this most accessible area of the Cemetery, there are a minimum of five (5) graves-- four (4) unmarked. The clay pot shown above (circa. 1925-30), was found near the grave believed to be that of Elias Brown, husband of Annie Smith Brown, Women's History Honoree, 2014. The Certificate of Death indicates that Elias, a farm laborer, died at the age of fifty-two, on October 23, 1928 at 12:09 in the morning. He died of "cardiac dropsy," complicated by "arterial sclerosis," a condition from which he had suffered for several months. A the time of his death, Elias was living with his wife, Annie, at 717 Daisy Street in Macon Georgia. Elias was born a slave in 1862, and was laid to rest in Shiloh among the unmarked graves of other former slaves. See Record at www.findagrave.com ; Memorial # 110276215.

Rest in Peace.

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Remembering Luther L. Brown

(December 1897- October 27,1918)

Luther L. Brown, Headstone, Shiloh Cemetery. Peach County/Houston County, Byron, Georgia.

Photo Courtesy of Ron Bonstedt, Shiloh Trustee and Caretaker, 2013.

Luther L. Brown was the second born son of Elias and Annie Brown, from Centerville, Houston County, Georgia. According to WWI Enlistment Records, Luther was recruited on October 15, 1918 to "Company 22 at Camp Wheeler" near what is now the Riggins Mill Road area of Bibb County. Luther died of a lung infection, "lobar pneumonia," while in the Receiving Camp just two weeks after his arrival. The Camp Wheeler Division Surgeon's Report, 1917-18, indicates that "colored men furnished by far the greater ratio of cases in total for the deaths caused by the epidemic." Luther's grave is the only among five others nearby that has an impressive foot and head stone. See FAG Record at www.findagrave.com ; Memorial # 102715190.

Rest in Peace.

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Janie Brown Moore

(circa 1908- July 23, 1939)

Lavender Vase broken pieces collected from Shiloh (2013); Analyzed & Reconstructed in Los Angeles, California (2013). Photo Courtesy of the BRONZeTONE Center. All Rights Reserved.

Janie (Jannie) Brown Moore was the grand daughter of Annie and Elias Brown. Janie died on the early Saturday morning of July 23, 1939 of what was only described as a "brief illness." She was thirty-years old, married to James B. Moore, a mail-handler, and had one son, Willie B. Moore. She is buried in an unmarked grave in Shiloh Cemetery. See FAG at www.findagrave.com ; Memorial #120596118.

Rest in Peace.

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Remembering Willie James "Moe" Moore, Sr. (Janie's son)

(March 11, 1929 -- June 22, 2014)

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Remembering Rosa L. Hamlin

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Remembering Lewis Hamlin, Sr.

(1906- 1961)

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Remembering Ruby L. Brown Hamlin

(1909-1982)

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Remembering Lewis Hamlin Jr.

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Remembering Arlivia Elaine Smith Hamlin

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Remembering Derek Hamlin

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Remembering Lewis "Lew" Decellous Hamlin

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Remembering Ruby Jean Hamlin Woods

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Remembering Joyce Pitts Mathis

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Remembering Reverend M.C. Smith

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Remembering Sallie Brown Smith

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Remembering Mamie (Mose) Brown Woolfolk

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Remembering Clinton Hamlin

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Remembering Herman Henry (Bay) Hamlin

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Remembering Leila Brown Wood

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Remembering Myrtice Scott

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Remembering Malvarine Smith Davis

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Remembering Aaron Davis

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Remembering Patricia (Pat) Smith

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Remembering Eudora Smith Edenfield

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Remembering Arnie Lee Smith

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Remembering Jerome Smith

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Remembering Miles Davis

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Remembering Joseph Leslie "Joe" Sample

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Remembering Gerald Wilson

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Remembering Maya Angelou

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Remembering Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack

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Remembering Ali Ollie, Otis, and Dennis

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Remembering Gerald Levert

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Remembering Buddy Bolden

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Remembering Barry White

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Remembering Vincent Harding

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Remembering George Duke

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Remembering John Hope and Aurelia Franklin

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Remembering Ella Fitzgerald

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Remembering Etta James

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Remembering

Ossie Davis

And

Ruby Dee

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Remembering Sarah Vaughn

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Remembering Rita Ann Parker McLaurin

Painting by Heather McLaurin

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Remembering Bobby Blue Bland

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Remembering Ray Charles

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Remembering Carter G. Woodson

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Remembering Harriet Tubman

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Remembering Nelson Mandela

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Remembering Dorothy Height

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Remembering Mary McLeod Bethune

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Remembering Sojourner Truth

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Remembering Elizabeth Catlett

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Remembering Edmonia Lewis

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Remembering James Brown

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Remembering Archibald Motley

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Remembering Ralph Waldo Ellison

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Remembering Aaron Douglass

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Remembering Jacob Lawrence

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Remembering Langston Hughes

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Remembering Charles (Chuck) and Louise Stone

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Remembering Loretta Mary Aiken aka Jackie "Moms" Mabley

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Remembering Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham

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Remembering Mabel Louise Smith aka "Big Maybelle"

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Remembering Ida B. Wells

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Remembering Fannie Lou Hamer

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Remembering Thurgood Marshall

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Remembering Lou Rawls

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Remembering Henry Ossawa Tanner

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Remembering Grover Washington Jr.

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Remembering Dinah Washington

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Remembering Albion Wingear Tourgee

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Remembering Margaret Lindsay

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Remembering Donny Edward Hathaway

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Remembering Sam Cook

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Remembering Timothy Wright

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Remembering Phyllis Hyman

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Remembering Louis Armstrong

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Remembering Whitney Houston

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Remembering Duke Ellington

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Remembering Margaret Fitzsimmons

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Remembering Count Basie

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Remembering Sylvia Jacobs

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Remembering Vesta Williams

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Remembering Michael Jackson

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Remembering Luther Vandross

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Remembering Marvin Gaye

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Remembering Linda Jones

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Remembering Mahalia Jackson

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Remembering Gladys Williams

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Remembering Clerow "Flip" Wilson

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Remembering Otis Redding

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Remembering Isaac Hayes

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Remembering Charles Anderson

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Remembering Thomas H. DeLaine Sr.

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Remembering Scott Taylor

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Remembering John Elroy Sanford aka "Red Foxx"

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Remembering Minnie Riperton

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Remembering Eddie Kendricks

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Remembering Tammi Tarrell

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Remembering David Ruffin

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Remembering Benjamin Mayes

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Remembering Cabell "Cab" Callaway

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Remembering Lawrence Goodwyn

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Remembering Thelonius Monk

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Remembering Don Cornelius

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Remembering Johnny Cochran

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Remembering Edith, Buddy, and Marian Timley

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Remembering Winston Daley

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Remembering Malcolm X & Betty Shabazz

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Remembering Alvin Ailey

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Remembering James Cleveland

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Remembering Medgar Evers

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Remembering Pearl Bailey

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Remembering Frankie Knuckles

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Remembering Curtis Mayfield

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Remembering Teddy Pendergrass

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Remembering Cannonball Adderly

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Remembering Tupak Shakur

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Remembering Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King

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Remembering Richard Pryor

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Remembering Paul Robeson

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Remembering Dorothy Dandridge

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Remembering Madame C.J. Walker

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Remembering Carl Van Vechten

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Remembering Marcus Garvey

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Remembering Countee Cullen

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Remembering Nina Simone

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Remembering Lionel Hampton

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Remembering Carl Anderson

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Remembering Donald Byrd

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Remembering W.E. B. DuBois

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Remembering Freddie Hubbard

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Remembering John Coltrane

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Remembering Ruth Brown

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Remembering Dexter Gordon

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Remembering James Baldwin

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Remembering Maxwell Lemuel "Max" Roach

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Remembering Romare Bearden

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Remembering Billie Holiday

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Remember To Remember

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The list above is in no way exhaustive, rather a succinct enumeration and acknowledgement of artists and individuals whom we deem unsung: heroes and "sheroes" who GAVE their gift/talents in such a profound way that we continue to feel their presence in some special way. In remembrance and gratitude, we at the BRONZeTONE Center offer a singular and collective Thank You--Thank You--Thank You. And so it is.

Copyright 2013. All Rights Reserved.

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