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16th
African
American
History
Day
Begins
Black
History
Month
By Karen
Hudson
Samuels
DETROIT
-
African
American
History
Day
brought
over a
thousand
visitors
to the
Detroit
Historical
Museum
Saturday
to kick
off
Black
History
Month.
The
entire
museum
was
devoted
to
events
designed
to
celebrate
the
lives
and
contributions
of
African
Americans,
from
Fredrik
Douglass
to
Tuskegee
Airmen.
Visitors
to the
Second
Baptist
Church
of
Detroit
set-up
were
amazed
to meet
abolitionist
Fredrick
Douglass
who
spoke at
the
church
in 1859.
A
Harriet
Tubman
re-enactor
shared a
little
known
black
history
fact: A
public
reading
of the
Emancipation
Proclamation
was
delivered
at the
Second
Baptist
church
on
January
6, 1903.
Young
people
learned
black
history
through
hands on
activities
like
reproducing
the
designs
of
quilts
made
hundreds
of years
ago by
black
slaves.
Quilts
told the
story of
African
Americans
and
sometimes
contained
images
like the
North
Star, a
message
to
blacks
looking
to
escape
slavery
by
traveling
north.
A
display
at the
Artist
Market
had a
special
message
for the
next
generation
of black
women.
The
“Pretty
Brown
Girl
Movement”
sold
t-shirts
and back
packs to
spread
their
message
that
young
black
girls
take the
Pretty
Brown
Girl
pledge
to honor
their
gifts
and
beauty
within,
as well
as
encourage
cultural
awareness
through
service
and
recognition.
Photo
Caption:
Air
Force
Major
Frank
Gregory
and WSU
student
Taylor
Hopkins
hold
poster
of Red
Tail jet
signed
by
surviving
Tuskegee
Airmen.
Taylor
said she
learned
how
black
airmen
were
determined
to show
the
world
their
capability
despite
being
belittled.
The
African
American
Day was
also a
chance
to
purchase
a bit of
history.
Air
Force
Major
Frank
Gregory
manned a
set-up
devoted
to the
Tuskegee
Airmen
and the
sale of
a poster
of the
Red Tail
jet d
signed
by
surviving
pilots.
Posters
of
international
black
Nobel
Prize
winners
were for
sale by
the
Ralph J.
Bunch
Repository
Incorporated.
In 1950
Bunch,
Detroiter
was the
first
African
American
to
receive
a Noble
Prize
for his
mediation
in
creating
Palestine.
The
Detroit
Historical
Museum’s
upcoming
Black
History
events
continue
throughout
February.
• Film
Series
February
11th and
12th at
1PM.
will
show The
Freedom
Train
which
documents
the
formation
of
National
Negro
Labor
Council
(NNLC),
a
forerunner
of the
civil
rights
movement.
•
Scholar
Series
Wednesday,
February
15 6
p.m.
featuring
Grace
Lee
Boggs
author
of The
Next
American
Revolution:
Sustainable
Activism
for the
Twenty-First
Century
•
Underground
Railroad
Family
Day
Sunday,
February
19 1
p.m. – 4
p.m.
Activities
include
learning
your
family’s
history
by
starting
a family
tree and
tracing
the
routes
they
took
over
time to
settle
in
Detroit.
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