Elmer Jefferson Brown, Sr.
September 16, 1932-October 29, 2018
Entrepreneur, community activist, founder of the Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions (UCAC)
Elmer Jefferson Brown, Sr., was born in Drayden, St. Mary’s County, Maryland. His parents were John A. Brown and Edna Mae Smith Brown. The family moved to Washington DC in 1937, where Elmer was raised by his father after the death of his mother in 1939. After formal schooling, gainful employment, business ownership and active community involvement in Washington, Elmer fulfilled his life-long dream and moved back to St. Mary’s County. There he continued work as a business owner, a community leader and organizer to ensure that African Americans were included in the history and development of St. Mary’s County, Maryland.
Elmer attended Bell Vocational High School studying trade and business management. He was married to Martha E. Powell (1950-deceased) and Johnnie Brown(1968). He served on active duty in the DC National Guard. Brown managed the Blue Jay Motel in Waldorf, MD, a motel established by Arthur Farrar in the late 1930s. The motel was listed in a book known as the” Greenbook” 1958-1967. This was a guidebook called the Negro Motorist Green Book that provided African Americans with advice on safe places to eat and sleep when they traveled through the Jim Crow era United States.
Continuing as an entrepreneur, in 1982 Brown managed the Tubman Douglas Estates, a single-family housing development for low- income citizens in Great Mills. He operated a printing business, BHB Printing and Brown’s Maintenance Service in Drayden, Maryland.
Elmer founded the Unified Committee for Afro-American Contributions (UCAC) in St. Mary’s County. UCAC seeks to document, foster and celebrate African American contributions to St. Mary’s County. UCAC erected the African American Monument in 2000. It serves as an external reminder to the citizens of the county of the contributions of African Americans to the growth and development of St. Mary’s County. The organization also erected a Memorial Monument to United States Colored Troops (USCT) in 2012, memorializing, over 700 African American soldiers who fought for the Union in the Civil War. The memorial includes two Black Medal of Honor recipients, James H. Harris and William Barnes and one White sailor, Joseph B. Hayden.
As president of UCAC, Brown organized the first Juneteenth in St. Mary’s County in 2004. In 2021, Juneteenth (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day) became a federal holiday in the United States. The day commemorates the end of slavery.
In his personal quest for racial and social justice, he helped to organize the Salt and Pepper Group, a multi-racial group that met weekly to discuss racial and social justice concerns.
Elmer Brown Freedom Park, site of the African American Monument in Lexington Park is named in his honor.
Additional Resources
Obituary Published by Legacy Remembers from Oct. 31 to Nov. 1, 2018
