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“Detroit
1967
Project”
Exhibit
to Tell
Story of
City’s
Turbulent
Summer
By Karen
Hudson
Samuels/TellUsDetroit
DETROIT,
MI
(TellUsDet)
- The
Detroit
Historical
Museum
plans to
observe
the 50th
anniversary
of the
1967
uprising
with a
major
exhibition
to open
in
September;
it will
run
through
2017 and
cast a
broad
360-degree
perspective
on that
turbulent
summer.
The
Detroit
1967
Project
was
unveiled
on March
19th by
Detroit
Historical
Society
President
and CEO
Robert
Bury
along
with
exhibit
partners
and
collaborators
from New
Detroit
Incorporated,
the
Charles
H.
Wright
Museum
of
African
American
History
and the
Society’s
Black
Historic
Sites
Committee.
The
summer
of 1967
is part
of a
history
that we
simply
cannot
choose
to
forget
said
Bury in
his
opening
remarks
to
political
and
community
leaders,
also on
hand for
the
exhibit
announcement.
Perceptions
of race
relations
in
Detroit
were
severely
altered
in July
of 1967
when
police
raided a
blind
pig, a
confrontation
ensued
and
escalated
into a
rebellion
that
changed
attitudes
and the
landscape
of the
city for
years to
come.
The
Detroit
1967
Project
is a
historical
milestone
in
bringing
a
clearer
understanding
about
the
events
of that
turbulent
summer.
When the
museum
decided
to
undertake
an
exhibit
of 1967,
“We knew
it would
complex,
we knew
that it
would
controversial,
we knew
that it
would
probably
take us
out of
our
comfort
zone but
we knew
it was
necessary
and
important
to do”
said
Bury who
added,
“It
would
only be
worthwhile
if it
was
inclusive
and
objective.
“
The
exhibit
will
also
look
back at
Detroit
during
the
1930’s
and
1940’s
to see
what
happened
before
1967. A
key goal
said
Bury is
to
connect
with
today’s
conversations
about
racial
equality,
gentrification,
economic
disparity
and
demographic
change
both in
Detroit
and
across
the
country.
A major
partner
in the
Detroit
1967
Project
is the
Charles
H.
Wright
Museum
of
African
American
History
represented
at the
Thursday
announcement
by the
museum’s
COO
Tyrone
Davenport.
The
Wright
museum
has a
massive
archive
of
materials
from
1967,
which
they
will be
sharing,
said
Davenport.
They
will
also be
conducting
educational
programs
at the
Wright
starting
in 2016
and
going
into
2017.
A
permanent
digital
archive
of
audio/
visual
interviews
and
artifacts
will be
part of
the 1967
exhibition.
A
website
has been
created
to
gather
personal
accounts
from the
community.
The site
explains
the
project,
lists
the
partners
but most
importantly,
it will
provide
a
vehicle
for
people
to
contact
the
museum
and
share
their
stories.
“We want
to hear
from
people
with
memories
of that
summer”
said
Tobi
Voight,
the
museum’s
Chief
Curatorial
Officer.
She
explained
that
people
can
submit
their
stories
online,
tell
them
into a
dedicated
phone or
sent
them by
mail or
e-mail.
Voight
also
said an
oral
history
project
would
launch
this
summer
as a
follow-up
to
collect
personal
stories
and
recollections.
Project
collaborator
Shirley
Stancato,
the
President
and CEO
of New
Detroit,
Incorporated
recalled
for the
gathering
how the
racial
justice
non-profit
came
into
existence
four
days
after
the 1967
civil
disturbance.
Sharing
what she
says is
an
often-repeated
story,
Stancato
recounted
how a
framed
photo in
New
Detroit’s’
conference
room is
often
questioned:
“Who are
those
three
white
guys?”
“What I
say is,
this
photo
commemorates
the
announcement
of the
start-of
New
Detroit.”
The
non-profit
was
formed
when the
men in
the
photograph
had a
conversation.
There
was
Republican
Governor
George
Romney
who said
“We
didn’t
see this
coming”’
he
called
in
Democratic
Detroit
Mayor
Jerome
Cavanagh
and said
“We need
to do
something
to
ensure
this
doesn’t
happen
again.”
Then
they
tapped a
32-year-old
Joe L.
Hudson
for help
said
Stancato
and from
there
they
pulled
together
New
Detroit;
the goal
was to
find the
root
cause of
the
rebellion
and to
invest
in
solutions.
“There
is
little
argument
that no
single
event in
the
history
of
Detroit
is more
significant
than the
tragedy
of the
summer
of 1967”
said
Joseph
L.
Hudson,
Jr.
Founding
Chairman
of New
Detroit,
Inc. The
upcoming
50-year
commemoration
said
Hudson
provides
“A
unique
and much
needed
opportunity
for
people
to fully
understand
what
happened
and
communicate
on a
topic
that is
often
not easy
to talk
about”.
John
Hardy,
the new
chairperson
of the
Black
Historic
Sites
Committee
said of
the
Detroit
1967
Project,
“As a
veteran
of the
1960’s
civil
rights
movement,
I am
very
impressed
with
that
fact
that we
are
having
this
program
today
because
we need
a
continuing
dialogue
on
better
race
relations”.
The BHSC
is one
of many
groups
that
will
contribute
to the
project.
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