It is still widely used today for springs, bearings, bushings, automobile transmission pilot bearings, and similar fittings, and is particularly common in the bearings of small electric motors. Phosphor bronze is particularly suited to precision-grade bearings and springs. Bronze is typically 60 percent copper and 40 percent tin.
The NAACP Image Awards is an award presented annually by the American National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music and literature. Brown has won two awards from six nominations.
His son, Joseph Mackey Brown, would also become governor of Georgia (twice). Joseph E. Brown Hall on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens is named in his honor. The building was completed in 1932. Joseph Emerson Brown Park in Marietta, Georgia is named for him.