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Orange Mound, a neighborhood in southeastern Memphis, Tennessee, was the first US neighborhood to be built by and for African Americans.

Built on the grounds of the former Deaderick plantation, the Orange Mound subdivision was developed for African Americans in the 1890s to provide affordable land and residences for the less wealthy.

Drugs and crime infected the neighborhood in the 1980s and 1990s. In the first decade of the 21st century, revitalization efforts were started and show positive effects

Deaderick plantation - 1800s

Orange Mound stands on the site of the former John Deaderick plantation. Between 1825 and 1830, Deaderick (whose family donated the land in Nashville on which the Tennessee State Capitol was built) purchased 5,000 acres (20 km2) of land (from Airways to Semmes) and built a stately house there (at what is now the east side of Airways, between Carnes and Spottswood). In 1890, a developer named Elzey Eugene Meachem purchased land from the Deaderick family and began developing a subdivision for African-Americans, selling lots for less than $100. In the 1890s, a typical Orange Mound house was a small, narrow "shotgun"-style house. A tradition says the name comes from mock-orange trees or shrubs on the grounds of the old homeplace.

Vibrant African community - 1970s

In the 1970s, Orange Mound was billed as "the largest concentration of Africans in the United States except for Harlem in New York City." The neighborhood provided a refuge for African people moving to the city for the first time from rural areas. Although the streets of the early Orange Mound were unpaved, it was a vibrant community in which a mix of residences, businesses, churches, and cultural centers flourished. During the era of desegregation, Orange Mound entered a period of decline as younger residents began to move away.

Drugs and crime - 1980s-1990s

Built on strong families, preachers, churches, and civic pride, this was a large community of African homeowners in the 1940s and 1950s. Drugs and alcohol had been an issue for many years. Once crack entered the scene, the community was destroyed with violence and drug dealing. Drug use devastated poor and middle-class families. Since the 1990s, Orange Mound has improved considerably as crime has decreased due to the revitalization of the community

Revitalization - 2000s

In the first decade of the 21st century, Orange Mound became the focus of a variety of revitalization efforts. One such effort, the Orange Mound Collaborative, funded by a Ford Foundation grant, 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.