African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County
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This exhibit closed August 27.
Expressions of Untold Stories: Our Voice A collection of artwork and audio interviews were the culmination of Huron High School’s 10th grade African American Humanities Accelerated Class (AC), studies of African American life. It was open June 24-August 27. It was curated by students and their teachers, with support from the Young Curators grant sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The Museum is open Saturdays and Sundays, 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. and weekdays by appointment. Call 734-761-1717.
Visitors saw ARTWORK – Portraying life in the 1930s and 1940s, social justice issues, economic development, spirituality and religion, women’s empowerment, the Great Migration, art, music, and the impact of August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson.
PODCAST – Telling stories about their family history or members of the community.
COMMUNITY CONNECTION – The art and podcast complement the current exhibit featuring selected prints of the Migration Series by 23-year-old artist Jacob Lawrence and oral history intergenerational interviews with local residents by high school and UM students.
The Great Migration: Millions Moved
Open Saturday & Sunday, 12 noon-4pm at 1528 Pontiac Trail in Ann Arbor through March 26, 2023. Weekday or group visits can be arranged here
Discover the History of the Great Migration through the Art of Jacob Lawrence and Local Intergenerational Dialogues The Great Migration happened in two parts when more than 6 million African Americans from the Deep South migrated to the North, Midwest, and West Coast, between 1910-1970.The driving force behind the mass exodus was leaving racial violence and oppression – in pursuit of economic and educational justice. It transformed America’s cultural landscape,impacting cities and towns across the nation, including Detroit and Washtenaw County.
This exhibit explores the First Migration through the eyes of artist Jacob Lawrence who was 23 years old when he completed painting his “Migration Series”(1940-41), the same year the Second Migration began. Visitors will see 25 selected prints from the series, along with additional photos and text panels. Watch the intergenerational dialogues between local high school and college students and community members that give insight into the First and Second Migration as they share their own family’s stories. Click here to watch those interviews.
This exhibit is presented in collaboration with University of Michigan Turner African American Services Council (TAASC), Bethel AME Church, Ann Arbor District Library, Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle/Artists Rights Society, New York and the Phillips Collection, Washington DC.
Photo: Segregated waiting room at Jacksonville Florida’s Union Station railroad depot, 1921. The Jacksonville train station, completed in 1919, wasthe largest in the South. Many southern blacks caught transportation North from this station. (Photographer: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory)