Written By JR Robinson

And then there is Gilbert Barnes Carter III.

I sat down with Gilbert recently, and I expected to talk about “content.” I expected to talk about clicks and views. Instead, we talked about erasure.

Gilbert isn’t just writing articles; he is fighting a war against the erasure of Black history. He told me, “We see our enemies desperately attempting to initiate the mass erasure of the records of our contributions and history in this country. But they cannot stop us from continuing to tell our stories. They will never be able to stop us. That is a succinct form of our real power.”

That is his “Why.” And if you look at the work he has been quietly doing on JustMy, you realize that Gilbert is building a library of truth that will outlive us all.

The History Walking Among Us

Most people look at a crowd and see faces. Gilbert looks at a crowd and sees history.

Take his recent discovery of Janniece Garner. Most of us would have walked right past her at a holiday event. But Gilbert stopped. He listened. And he uncovered that she was the first Black female firefighter in Shelby County, sworn in as recently as 2010.

She is walking history. But without Gilbert, her story—and the absurdity that it took until 2010 for that barrier to fall—might have been lost to the “minutia” of daily life.

He does this over and over again.

• In his “Sisters and Soil” story series entry for Ms. Ivy Walls, he didn’t just write about a farm. He took us to Ivy Leaf Farms in the historic and predominantly Black Sunnyside community in Houston. He showed us how her family is fighting industrialization and gentrification not with protests, but with collard greens and land ownership. He connected the dots between her grandfather’s “heir property” and the modern fight for food justice.
• In “A Photo Shoot with a Purpose,” he didn’t just cover an event. He documented the reenactment of the 1968 Sanitation Workers Strike. He made sure the names of the “Foot Soldiers” from Little Rock, Memphis, and Selma were written down, ensuring that the dignity of those Black men and women is never erased by the passage of time.
• In his coverage of “Food Not Bombs,” he isn’t just talking about charity. He is exploring mutual aid and land reclamation, connecting the current struggle for food security back to the Black “planters” of the 1800s like Dr. Green Fort Pinkston.

The Two Wings of the Plane

During our call, Gilbert said something that stuck with me. He said, “Writing is the joy. Promotion is the minutia. But it’s like having two wings on a plane. You need both to fly.”

For too long, Gilbert has been flying with one wing. He has been doing the heavy lifting of documenting our history, often without the megaphone he deserves.

That Changes Now.

As part of the JustMy 2026 City OS, we are becoming that second wing.

Gilbert is preparing to release four books next year, including the deeply personal memoir, 9 Lives, for civil rights foot soldier and icon Mr. Joe Calhoun.

Your Assignment

I am asking you to do one thing today. Stop scrolling past the noise and go read something that matters.

Go to Gilbert’s profile on JustMy. Read about the Stone Awards. Read about the Black homesteaders. Read about the people fighting for the soul of our cities.

Because if we don’t read these stories, we are complicit in their erasure.

Gilbert is the Architect. He is building the framework of our history, brick by brick, story by story. It’s time we all walked into the building.

Click Here to Visit Gilbert Barnes Carter III’s Profile & Read His Work on JustMyMemphis​

Photo Notes & Credits

• Header Photo: Gilbert Barnes Carter III outside of The Breakfast Klub in Houston, November 1, 2024.
• Mr. Joe Calhoun and Gilbert Barnes Carter III at the House of Mtenzi Museum during the 41st annual "Forgotten Souls Festival", Thanksgiving Day, 2025.