Detroit Museum Hosts Great Michigan Read Exhibit

The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History is the newest site to receive the Great Michigan Read traveling exhibit, We Don’t Want Them. The exhibit will be displayed at the museum throughout the month of February.

A collaborative effort between the Michigan Humanities Council and Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, We Don’t Want Them uses historic photographs and documents on freestanding displays to showcase the history of housing segregation in Detroit.

This exhibit is part of the Council’s Great Michigan Read, a free, statewide humanities initiative inviting Michiganians to read and participate in book discussions and events in their hometowns. This year’s program features Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Detroit native Kevin Boyle.

Arc of Justice tells the true story of African American physician Ossian Sweet and the chain of events that occurred after he purchased a home for his family in an all-white Detroit neighborhood in 1925.

We Don’t Want Them highlights such Detroit neighborhoods as Black Bottom and Paradise Valley, while also prominently featuring Dr. Sweet.

Hosting this exhibit is just one of many ways in which The Wright Museum has been involved in the 2011-12 Great Michigan Read. In addition to being a registered partner, the museum also served as a host site for the author tour, in which Boyle held an Arc of Justice discussion and question-and-answer session with audience members.

Most recently, the museum hosted “Dr. Sweet’s Tinderbox,” a Sweet Trials reenactment based on the trials recounted in Arc of Justice. In addition, students of InsideOut Literary Arts performed a poetry reading, and a panel discussion delved into challenges in housing segregation.

The museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays 1-5 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for seniors (62+) and youth (3-12), and members and children under 3 are admitted free.

Following its display in Detroit, the exhibit will continue traveling through June. The remaining sites are:

March: Interlochen Center for the Arts / Dennos Museum Center / Traverse Area District Library (Traverse City)
April: Castles Museum of Saginaw History / Saginaw News
May: Old Mill Museum (Dundee)
June: Artworks (Big Rapids)

For more information on seeing this exhibit while in Detroit, visit www.thewright.org or call (313) 494-5800. If you’re interested in becoming involved with the Great Michigan Read, visit www.michiganhumanities.org or call the Council office at (517) 372-7770.

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