Gabriel Soria Explains How He Found Rubin Lacy's California Grave

Follow along as the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund helped the descendants of Tommy Johnson fight for access to his final resting place.

Billy Smiley is interred in the Legends Section of the Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Greenville, MS.

Callicott recorded only a handful of songs before World War II. On September 23, 1929 at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN, Garfield Akers recorded “Cottonfield Blues—Part I” and “Cottonfield Blues—Part II” with Joe Callicott on second guitar.  On September 25, 1929 in Memphis, TN; Joe Callicott sang and played guitar on Mississippi Boll Weevil Blues, but it was never issued.  On February 20, 1930 in Memphis, TN, Joe Callicott sang and played guitar on Fare Thee Well Blues and Traveling Mama Blues. His records were advertised in such publications as the Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov 30, 1930.

Tutwiler, Mississippi is a dusty wide spot in the road and once home to Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, and W. C. Handy.

The desecration of the burial sites of African American churches is real. In this podcast the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund stands with Mary Frances Hurt to prevent further erasure of the people of St. James Missionary Baptist Church in Teoc, Mississippi. Preserving the Legacy of Mississippi John Hurt.

Mt. Zion Memorial Fund has newly discovered documents about Blind Roosevelt Graves' life and death.

Lee Moise Roosevelt Graves was a recording artist and guitarist who mixed secular and sacred material during his career. He is credited with making some of the earliest rock and roll recordings in 1936 in Hattiesburg. 

https://mtzionmemorialfund.com/2023/08/blind-roosevelt-graves/

Follow Mt. Zion Memorial Fund associate Gabe Soria who worked with the Lacy family to reveal and mark his true burial site in California, not Mississippi.

We are a non-profit organization that works to preserve African American history through research and memorialization projects.