Tag Archives: Great Migration

Melvin Parson and the campaign to create a world-class urban farm in Ypsilanti

By Mark | February 26, 2019

Melvin Parson and I have been working off an on for the past two years on an interview for this site. It began as an Ypsilanti Immigration Interview, and, over time, as we dug deeper into his work with We The People Growers Association, evolved into something more about his dream of establishing a world-class […]

Posted in Agriculture, Ann Arbor, Detroit, entrepreneurism, Environment, Food, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 13th, addiction, Ann Arbor, Avalon Housing, Black Beauty, community gardens, culinary arts, Dawn Farm, Detroit, Doug Coombe, drugs, Edible Avalon, Emanuel Tyus, food hub, fundraising, Henry Ford, Henry Ford Museum, heroin, inequality, Kerrytown, Kerrytown Farmers Market, local food, local food production, matching grants, Melvin Parson, Michigan Department of Corrections, Parkridge Homes, Port Huron, prison industry, prison reform, Shaka Senghor, social justice, St. Joseph Mercy, substance abuse, the hiring on ex-fellons, urban farming, Washtenaw County Jail, We The People Growers Association, We The People Opportunity Center, white flight, Wizard of Oz, YCS, Ypsi immigration interview, Ypsilanti Community Schools | 9 Comments

Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interview: D’Real Graham

By Mark | July 12, 2017

A few weeks ago, longtime Ypsilanti resident D’Real Graham left town for Washington, DC, where he’ll soon be restarting his college career. Before leaving, D’Real and I had the occasion to exchange a few emails about his memories of growing up here, how he’d seen the city change over his lifetime, and his plans for […]

Posted in Special Projects, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 1969, 826, activism, basketball, Belle Isle, Black Eden, Chris Stranad, churches, Civil Rights Act, creative writing, D.C., deacon, Detroit, Donald Trump, D’Real Graham, Elijah McCoy, exit interviews, gateway cities, gentrification, Howard University, Idlewild, Kate de Fuccio, Keep Ypsi Black, Metropolitan Memorial Baptist Church, New Orleans, Nick Azzaro, NWA, racism, roasts, S.L. Roberson, social justice, Straight Outta Compton, student activism, Ta-Nehisi Coates, vacations, Washington, Washtenaw County Prosecutor, white supremacy, women's studies, write-in, Ypsi/Arbor Exit Interviews | 9 Comments

Lee Azus on how urban renewal remade Ypsilanti’s Southside

By Mark | February 25, 2016

Almost five years ago now, I interviewed a new transplant to Ypsi by the name of Lee Azus as part of our ongoing Ypsilanti Immigration series. Azus, a former San Francisco bookstore owner, as you might recall, was anxious to hit the ground running and really get to know this community which he had chosen […]

Posted in Architecture, History, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged ABC-Polk Brothers Recreation Center, Arbor Manor, Arborland, black business districts, blight, Bobby Franks, Brewster-Wheeler Recreation Center, Brown Chapel, Chicago, Currie's barbershop, Dan Boatwright, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eastern Michigan University, Elliott Currie, eviction, fair housing, Federal Housing Administration, Gault Shopping Center, Harriet Street, Harry S. Truman, housing, Housing Act of 1949, Housing Act of 1954, housing discrimination, Lee Azus, Leopold and Loeb, Mattie Dorsey, mortgages, murder, Paradise Valley, Parkridge Community Center, Parkridge Urban Renewal Area, poverty, racism, recreation centers, redevelopment, segregation, slums, subsidized housing, Tulsa, Tulsa race riot, urban renewal, World War II, Ypsilanti Business and Professional League | 6 Comments

Ypsi Immigration Interview: Lynne Settles

By Mark | January 22, 2016

While I’d talked with Ypsi High art teacher Lynne Settles a few times over this past year, about the HP Jacobs mural that she and her students had created on the side of Currie’s barbershop, and other community art related things, I didn’t realize until a few weeks ago that she was actually a relatively […]

Posted in History, Special Projects, The Saturday Six Pack, Ypsilanti | Also tagged African American history, art, black lives matter, Currie's barbershop, diversity, Doug Jones, Howard University, HP Jacobs, Imani, Kate de Fuccio, Kwanzaa, Laura Bien, Lynne Settles, Matt Siegfried, Maulana Karenga, murals, Nia, public art, race, racism, teaching, teaching in public school, Westland, Ypsi immigration interview, Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ypsilanti high school, Ypsilanti Township | 12 Comments

Stuff you likely won’t hear about at the Ypsi Historical Society, Volume I: The presence of the KKK in the 1920s

By Mark | June 16, 2014

On occasion, I find that it’s easier to steal content than to write it myself. And, just now, I was given a terrific opportunity to do just that when my friend, the local historian Matt Siegfried, posted the following two newspaper scans to the South Adams Street page he maintains on Facebook. From the November […]