Celebrating Detroit's History
20th Century African American Civil Rights Sites
20th Century African American Civil Rights Sites
A collaborative project documents key historic sites across Detroit, empowering the community to preserve them. These places—including churches, houses, and gathering spaces—are vulnerable because of decades of disinvestment in Detroit’s neighborhoods; many important buildings and sites have already been lost.
We worked with community members and historians to identify significant sites, research their histories, and evaluate their eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Now that these sites’ stories have been recorded, both the buildings and the histories they illuminate can be preserved for future generations.
Preserving Legacies
Our work included:
- Documentation of over 80 sites
- Intensive documentation of 30 sites
- Nomination of five sites to the National Register of Historic Places
- Placement of three State of Michigan historical markers
- Development of a history-focused bike tour
Telling the Story of the Birwood Wall
One of the sites we documented is the Birwood Wall, an important symbol in the area. The six-foot-high, one-foot-thick concrete barrier was built in 1941 and extends about half a mile.
The Community as Experts
We approached this project with the understanding that Detroit’s community are experts on their own history. We sought input from members of the local government, cultural and historical institutions, community organizations, and neighborhood residents in addition to scholars.
