As Black History Month 2024, comes to an end, it should be a stark reminder that celebrating the accomplishments, contributions, history, and vast stories of Black people in America should be every day, not just every February. And in Detroit, often called America’s Blackest “major city,” Black people have a history of significant contributions and accomplishments spanning well over a century.
While it’s important to remember and learn from the past, it’s also imperative that Detroiters realize Black history is not just a series of events, accomplishments, and contributions of yesteryear but is being made every day in every way throughout the Motor City. The contributions made by African Americans in Detroit have often propelled other Black people to rise as history-makers across broad sectors.
The Michigan Chronicle sat down earlier this month to talk with Detroiter Ken Coleman, one of the foremost historians on everything Black in Detroit. Coleman is a former senior editor, reporter, and writer with the Michigan Chronicle and continues to capture the Black experience in Detroit through other print and electronic platforms. Having chronicled Black life in Detroit since 1991, Coleman has authored four books on African American history in the city. He consistently posts stories – past and present – on Facebook and X about the journeys and experiences of Black people in Michigan, especially in Detroit.
MC – What is compelling about Black History in Detroit that has motivated you to write about Black people and their experiences in the Motor City for decades?
KC – It’s everything. As a former writer for the Chronicle and other publications, I got a chance to meet Black people, which inspired me to do deep dives into the history of Paradise Valley and Black Bottom, or deep dives into the Motown Sound. What has really driven me are all the great stories and experiences of Black life in Detroit in the 1920s, ‘30s, ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s connected to the music, culture, businesses and entrepreneurship, business leaders, Black theater productions, the Civil Rights Movement, and much more.
MC – Black history is not always about what happened 50, 100, or 150 years ago in this city; sometimes it is about what happened yesterday or today. With that said…Who are the Black History Makers making history today in Detroit?
KC – It’s hard to name all the Black people who are making Black history each and every day in Detroit because there are so many committed to the city and doing strong things. When you start naming people you are going to miss folks. However, native Detroiter Garlin Gilchrist II, the first African American to serve as Michigan’s Lt. Governor, continues to work tirelessly as the second in command at the state’s executive level. There is Jamon Jordan, an educator, writer, researcher, and historian who founded the Black Scroll Network, History and Tours in Detroit. He is the first official historian for the city of Detroit. Sonya Mays, a real estate developer in Detroit, is doing incredible work, especially in the Detroit North End to provide affordable new housing. She also sits on DPSCD’s school board making contributions to the education of Detroit children. Gail Perry-Mason is someone else who is making history as an author, financial planner, and civic leader. She teaches financial literacy to young people in the city and is one of Detroit’s greatest ambassadors. I like what rapper, recording artist, and native Detroiter Big Sean is doing to constantly educate, inform, celebrate, and encourage young people in Detroit to become future history makers.
MC – From your perspective, what are a couple of Detroit businesses making history daily in the city?
KC – I would say Real Times Media led by Hiram Jackson is doing an incredible job of making and chronicling Black history every day. Real Times Media publishes the Michigan Chronicle and other historic Black newspapers nationwide. The company Detroit vs Everybody, created and operated by Detroiter Tommey Walker, is making Black entrepreneurial history in the city and has taken its brand nationally and internationally. There are many others.
MC – What are some civil rights organizations making history advocating for Black people daily in Detroit?
KC – I see the important work that the Detroit Branch NAACP is still doing that’s making history. It has been led for 30 years by Rev. Anthony who continues to do incredible work. However, Kamilia Landrum, the Detroit Branch NAACP’s executive director, now in her fifth year in the position, is doing incredible work as the youngest person ever appointed as executive director of the Detroit Branch. She is a Millennial who I’ve watched from afar on various projects, and I’m proud of her work. Rev. Charles Williams, who heads the National Action Network in Michigan, is another person making daily contributions to Black people through the organization. He does work for what he calls, “The Least of These,” meaning underrepresented folks trying to make it in Detroit and throughout the state.
MC -Making Black history is important but chronicling and preserving it is critical now because of the attempts by some factions of society to erase or trivialize it. How can Black history and contributions be preserved?
KC – That’s what I’ve been committed to do. I get up at 4:00 a.m. every day and post on Facebook and X notable facts carried out by African Americans or involving African Americans in Detroit. It’s little things like that which reach a larger populist. I try to find ways to reach people where they are, but it’s not just me. It’s huge that the brother Jamon Jordan, the city of Detroit’s first historian, has spent his whole adult life reaching, better understanding, and preserving the history of Black people in Detroit. The work that he’s doing, and has done over the years, has pushed back against that whitewashing of our Black history.
MC – You left yourself out as someone Black in Detroit protecting Black History.
KC – Presenting Black life and history in Detroit is my passion! There is tremendous pressure on all of us to continue to present Black history because of the forces out there to silence us and the history that we offer.
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