February 26, 2007 – 10:07 am
He has one of the most recognizable voices in the entertainment business and it all began with a grapefruit and a dedicated teacher. James Earl Jones was born in Mississippi in 1931. His parents separated before his birth and his grandparents raised him. When Jones was five, his family moved to Michigan and settled in [...]
By michiganhistory
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Also posted in Articles, Arts & Entertainment, Bands, Entertainers & Labels, Books & Magazines, Community, History & Libraries, Media, Movies, NW, Technology & Internet Media, Television & Internet Video, The Michigan Pages, The Michigan Pages: History: Magazine
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February 19, 2007 – 10:40 am
Mask by pinehurst19475
As we continue to celebrate Black History Month in Michigan, it wouldn't be fitting for us to unravel the past without a trip to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.
The museum's main exhibit, And We Still Rise!, is all about the significant role that Detroit played in African [...]
By Jules
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Also posted in Articles, Arts & Entertainment, Community, Community & Nonprofit Organizations, Detroit, Festivals, Attractions & Event Calendars, History & Libraries, Media, Museums & Collections, SE, Technology & Internet Media, The Michigan Pages
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February 12, 2007 – 10:55 am
During the mid-nineteenth century, Michigan’s African American population was quite small in number. In 1860, about 7,000 blacks lived in Michigan-less than 1 percent of the state’s population. Although white Michiganians supported the destruction of slavery that came with the end of the Civil War, most were unenthusiastic about giving blacks equal rights. Three years [...]
February 5, 2007 – 7:28 am
For years, February has been recognized as Black History Month. In nearly 250 years of living in Michigan, African Americans have made many important-and often overlooked–contributions to our state's past. One of the earliest records of African Americans living in Michigan came in the early 1760s when the British replaced the French at Detroit. [...]
As the Continental Congress discussed the Northwest Ordinance, a Massachusetts delegate suggested adding a provision banning slavery in the Northwest Territory, which included the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. The Ordinance, including this measure, was adopted on July 13, 1787. It was the first time the federal government set limits on [...]
Hours before his second fight with Germany's Max Schmeling, Joe Louis was asked how he felt. "I'm scared," he said.
"Scared?" asked his trainer.
"Yes, I'm scared I might kill Schmeling tonight," Louis declared.
Two years earlier, Schmeling had beaten Louis. This rematch was more than a fight between two boxers. Schmeling came from Germany and German [...]
February 24, 2006 – 4:07 pm
Idlewild, wild and free
Our jumpin' rhythms always calling me,
Country air, sweet and strong,
Packing up my suitcase
So it won't be long,
Sing and dance 'til sundown,
It's such a rat race in Chicago town,
Still I feel like a child,
Cuz I'm heading up to Idlewild.
When Ray Kamalay of Lansing, Michigan, wrote this poem, he hoped to capture the excitement [...]
By Absolute Michigan
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Also posted in Articles, Books & Magazines, Community, Destinations, Dig Michigan, History & Libraries, Lodging & Travel, Media, Michigan, NW, Resorts, The Michigan Pages: History: Magazine
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November 1, 2005 – 3:51 pm
On October 24, 2005, Rosa Parks, the "Mother of the Civil Rights Movement," died in Detroit. She had earned that appellation fifty years earlier when she refused to move from her seat on a segregated bus in her hometown of Montgomery, Alabama.
It was December 1, 1955. Parks was coming home from a long day as [...]
August 15, 2005 – 7:02 pm
Sojourner Truth lived more than a century ago, but she remains an important national symbol for strong women of all races.
Because her mother was a slave, when Sojourner Truth was born in New York State in 1797 she was a slave. She was given the name Isabella. At the age of nine, Isabella was taken [...]
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. is among America's best-recognized civil rights activists. His many accomplishments include his "I Have A Dream" speech that he gave on August 28, 1963, in Washington, DC. King, however, first gave that now-famous speech in Detroit.
In the spring of 1963, Detroiters looked for a way to commemorate the anniversary [...]
