James Brown Birthplace — Barnwell, South Carolina

James Joseph Brown was born on May 3, 1933, in a one-room cabin near Barnwell, South Carolina, to impoverished parents. When he was four his family relocated to Augusta, Georgia, where he grew up in extreme poverty, shining shoes and doing whatever work he could find. He was arrested at fifteen and sentenced to eight-to-four years at a juvenile detention facility in Toccoa, Georgia, where he formed a gospel group with Bobby Byrd — a partnership and friendship that would prove foundational to his career.

Brown became the Godfather of Soul, Mr. Dynamite, and the hardest-working man in show business — a performer of such explosive physical intensity and rhythmic precision that he essentially invented funk. His 1963 live album "Live at the Apollo" — recorded at the Apollo Theater in Harlem — spent 66 weeks on the Billboard charts and demonstrated that Black music could sustain an album-length audience. Songs like "Please, Please, Please," "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," "I Got You (I Feel Good)," and "Sex Machine" defined an era and influenced every strand of popular music that followed.

Augusta, Georgia, where Brown grew up and is buried, has embraced his legacy most fully — a bronze statue of Brown stands on Broad Street downtown, and the James Brown Arena bears his name. The Barnwell birthplace itself is not formally marked. Brown died on December 25, 2006, in Atlanta, after a period of ill health.