Historic Orange Mound reacts to fatal bus crash

City leaders and Orange Mound residents expressed shock and sadness to news that a bus carrying a youth football team from the historic neighborhood crashed overnight near Benton, Arkansas, killing one child and injuring 45 others.

“Such sad news this morning,” tweeted Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer. “This team represented our city in a championship game & then experienced this horror heading home. My deepest sympathies & prayers are with each child and family. My love to Orange Mound, one of our city’s major heartbeats.”

Cynthia Odom, whose grandsons play for a competing Little League football team, the East Memphis Vikings, called the accident “sad because Little League gives the children something to do. You always worry about them. All I did was have prayer before my grandchildren left on the bus.”

Odom, interviewed at the Orange Mound Community Center, said two of her grandsons were at the Fort Worth, Texas, championship game but are fine. They traveled on a different bus, she said.

The Orange Mound center was scheduled to have Mayor Jim Strickland cut the ribbon Monday morning at its newly refurbished pool.

“But out of respect for the children in the tragedy and especially for the little boy, we called it off,” said Vanessa Saine, the center’s assistant director. “We had a silent prayer for them.”

In a tweet, Strickland said: “On behalf of all Memphians, our hearts and prayers go out to the Orange Mound children and their families involved in this morning’s tragic bus accident in Arkansas.”

County Mayor Lee Harris, also via Twitter, said: “I am devastated by the news of the deadly bus crash in Arkansas. My heart goes out to the parents and the entire Orange Mound community during this unthinkable tragedy.”

Historic Orange Mound is the first African-American residential community in the South.

Built on the site of a former plantation in 1890, the community thrived as a place for African-American business and culture for decades.

Orange Mound was home to the W.C. Handy Theater until it was demolished in 2012. The community is also home to the Mid-South Coliseum, which once was a focal point of the community, and the Liberty Bowl.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. also frequented the restaurants in Orange Mound. In 2015, President Barack Obama designated it as a Preserve America community.

Orange Mound’s population has dwindled since the 1970s, however, because of suburban flight and the drug trade.

Today, the median household income in the two census tracts that encompass Orange Mound is $24,563 — below the federal poverty threshold for a family of four.

But Melrose High School remains a source of pride for Orange Mound. And each year it grabs the local spotlight when the Southern Heritage Classic Parade, a parade that is a key feature of the yearly football rivalry between Jackson State and Tennessee State, marches through it.

It also is home to Orange Mound Gallery and other features aimed at preserving its heritage.

Tonyaa Weathersbee can be reached at tonyaa.weathersbee@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter: @tonyaajw