As part of this year’s Convening, FCCP organized dedicated issue-based site visits immediately before and after the Convening. Attendees enjoyed trips to some of Detroit’s most significant cultural venues and engaged with local practitioners and their work in their communities.
PRE-CONVENING LEARNING TOURS
All Pre-Convening Learning Tours took place on Tuesday, November 19 at 9AM.
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History: Founded in 1965, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has for over half a century been a leading institution dedicated to the African American experience. Our mission is to open minds and change lives through the exploration and celebration of African American history and culture. Our vision is of a world in which the adversity and achievement of African American history inspire everyone toward greater understanding, acceptance and unity! The Wright Museum houses over 35,000 artifacts and archival materials and is home to the Blanche Coggin Underground Railroad Collection, Harriet Tubman Museum Collection, Coleman A. Young Collection and the Sheffield Collection, a repository of documents of the labor movement in Detroit.
Motown Museum: The Motown Museum, which was founded by Esther Gordy Edwards in 1985, is one of Southeast Michigan’s most popular tourist destinations. Visitors come from across America and throughout the world to stand in Studio A, where their favorite artists and groups recorded much-loved music, and to view the restored upper flat where Berry Gordy lived with his young family during the company’s earliest days. Home to an extensive array of Motown artifacts, photographs and other memorabilia, the Museum’s mission, which is presented below, is to preserve the legacy of Motown Record Company and to educate and motivate people, especially youth. (Available pre & post pending interest)
Detroit Historical Museum: The Detroit Historical Museum is thrilled to offer a series of tours focused on the history, experiences and enduring influence of African Americans in Detroit. There are a total of 6 tour focuses that groups can choose from. Jamon Jordan, founder of the Black Scroll Network, will be the guide for these tours.
Tour Focus Options:
Detroit: Black Bottom & Paradise Valley
Detroit: African American Leaders & Heroes and Their Stories
Detroit: Moments in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements
Forged By Fire: Detroit’s Riots & Rebellions and Turbulent Racial History
Local Grantee Site Visit: More information to come.
POST-CONVENING LEARNING TOURS
All Post-Convening Learning Tours took place on Thursday, November 21 at 2:30 PM.
Arab American National Museum: The Arab American National Museum is the first museum in the world devoted to Arab American history and culture. Arab Americans have enriched the economic, political and cultural landscape of American life. By bringing the voices and faces of Arab Americans to mainstream audiences, we continue our commitment to dispel misconceptions about Arab Americans and other minorities. The Museum brings to light the shared experiences of immigrants and ethnic groups, paying tribute to the diversity of our nation.
African Bead Museum: 16 years ago Olayami Dabls came to the corner of Grand River and West Grand Blvd with a vision to create a space for his community to understand the immense power of their African heritage. Occupying almost an entire city block, the MBAD African Bead Museum houses 18 outdoor installations as well as the African Bead Gallery, N’kisi House and African Language Wall. Born of his own visual cosmology, Dabls’ MBAD African Bead Museum is a quiet revolution that sparks a vital conversation with global and local audiences. Olayami Dabls has worked as a visual story teller using a wide range of materials for more than 45 years. His work uses references from African material culture to tell stories about the human condition. Using iron, rock, wood and mirrors, Dabls found that these four materials are primary building blocks that speak universally to all cultures. In the years between 1975-1985, Dabls joined the first African American History Museum in the state, and the second in the country, as a curator and artist-in-residence. There, he learned how challenging it was to talk about the civil rights movement, because in talking about emotionally charged history, there is no fixed perspective, only the memories and experiences of millions of individuals. This inspired him to create the African Bead Museum as a space for communal understanding through his own sculptures and his collection of African material culture.
Detroit Institute of Arts: The Detroit Institute of Arts, located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, has one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. With over 100 galleries, it covers 658,000 square feet with a major renovation and expansion project completed in 2007 that added 58,000 square feet. The DIA contains works from Picasso, Van Gogh, and more, including the world-famous Detroit Industry mural by Diego Rivera.
Motown Museum: The Motown Museum, which was founded by Esther Gordy Edwards in 1985, is one of Southeast Michigan’s most popular tourist destinations. Visitors come from across America and throughout the world to stand in Studio A, where their favorite artists and groups recorded much-loved music, and to view the restored upper flat where Berry Gordy lived with his young family during the company’s earliest days. Home to an extensive array of Motown artifacts, photographs and other memorabilia, the Museum’s mission, which is presented below, is to preserve the legacy of Motown Record Company and to educate and motivate people, especially youth. (Available pre & post pending interest)
Second Baptist Church: Take a ride on the train that traveled without tracks. Sit in the Croghan Street Station and hear the stories of runaways who, escaping slavery, rested in secret at Second Baptist Church before crossing the Detroit River into Canada and “Freedom.” Tours of the church are conducted by members of the Detroit Underground Railroad Historical Society (DUHRS). Their mission is to collect, preserve and disseminate Church history through lectures, tours and educational programming. The history of Second Baptist touches on three centuries of service to the community and is equally, if not more, important than our participation to the Underground Railroad. Detroit Underground Historical Railroad Society offers three types of tours designed to fit the various time constraints of our visitors.