Harry Braxton Sr

Harry Braxton during World War II

A 1960 photograph of members of the Senior Usher Board of Embry AME Church. The ushers acted as official greeters and doorkeepers for church services.

During World War II Army service

A group pose in the sanctuary of Embry AME Church in front of a money tree. First row left to right unknown, unknown, unknown, Harry Braxton, Sr., Mary Weems Braxton, Dessie Randall Thomas Rear left to right unknown, unknown, Eliza Gray, unknown

Harry Braxton Sr and two others

Embry senior usher board 1962

Harry Braxton, Sr. and Mary Weems Braxton

Letter sent by Harry Braxton Sr. during his army service in Germany during World War II. The letter was to his cousin and godson Elwood Gross in Lakeland. Braxton also sent along a photograph. It is item #01784. Item 1031 is also from that period.

Outdoor meal

Soldier's letter home during World War II. Written by Harry Braxton in Germany to his godson, and first cousin, Elwood Gross

Note on image identifies bedroom widow. Result of shots fired into Braxton home on Sunday morning

Mary Weems Braxton and Harry Braxton. Sr

Grounds of Home of George Henry and Agnes Gross Seated are from left to right Harry Braxton, Sr, Elwood Gross and Emma Harrison

Front Harry Braxton, Billy Matthews, Rear Clarence Gray, Jessy, al, Bernard brooks, George Henry

Harry M. Braxton, his wife, Mary, their children, and his mother, Emma Harrison, shared a home in the Lakeland community. Harry Braxton was head of the local Human Relations Council, a racially integrated social change organization. He was also director of public relations for the Prince George’s County National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Family members were deeply involved in the Civil Rights Movement and all aspects of community life. One Sunday morning when Braxton’s wife and mother were alone at home while Braxton attended church services, two youths from a nearby white community fired forty-four bullets into the family’s home. (Photograph (c) 2008 Joanne M. Braxton)

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Harry Braxton, Sr and Elwood Gross. During a BBQ at the home of George Henry and Agnes Gross. When required to leave his home in eastern Lakeland Braxton built a new home on a lot next door.

M. Sgt Harry M. Braxton, Sr. was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps in WWII and was a driver in the Red Ball Express. When army general George S. Patton made a rapid advance across France in 1944, he stretched his supply line to near collapse. Supply trucks rolled continuously, 20 hours a day, seven days a week for 82 days across France and into Germany, often facing attack from the ground and the air. Nearly 75% of Red Ball Drivers were African Americans. Later, Braxton worked with the Graves Registration and gave Holocaust victims the respect they deserved in death by providing them with a proper burial. Sgt. Braxton was proud to have served and expressed great admiration for General Patton.

Included in the image are Harry Braxton and Lucille Sharps of Embry AME Church

In the 1940s and 1950s much of the organized entertainment in Lakeland was provided by social clubs. These clubs met monthly at the homes of the members. Dinners were part of the gathering and provided the host an opportunity to showcase both their cooking ability and their tableware. The Duchesses and the Counts social clubs sponsored an annual formal dance at Lakeland Hall and sometimes posed for professional photographs. The Counts appear here in formal tails and white gloves. The gentlemen are, left to right (left row) Gasson Bradford Sr., James Weems, Anderson Walls, George Walls, Charles Carroll, and Harry Braxton Sr.; (right row) Mack Allen, John Webster, William Sharps, Aubrey Corprew, Chesley Mack, and Ashby Tolson.

Emma Harrison, Elwood Gross and Harry Braxton, Sr.

M. Sgt. Harry M. Braxton, Sr. was assigned to the Quartermaster Corps in WWII and was a driver in the Red Ball Express. When army general George S. Patton made a rapid advance across France in 1944, he stretched his supply line to near collapse. Supply trucks rolled continuously, 20 hours a day, seven days a week for 82 days across France and into Germany, often facing attack from the ground and the air. Nearly 75% of Red Ball Express drivers were African Americans. Later, Braxton worked with the Graves Registration and gave Holocaust victims the respect they deserved in death by providing them with a proper burial. Sgt. Braxton was proud to have served and expressed great admiration for General Patton.

Item held by Harry Braxton, Sr. The map is affixed to a wooden board and covered with varnish.

During World War II

In cartoon cutout of couple at shotgun wedding