In this documentary short, filmmaker Kameron Donald lets us spend a day at the 25th Old Neighborhood Reunion, a (mostly) annual gathering of former residents of Ann Arbor's Historically Black Neighborhood.  Attendees eat, dance, and share memories of growing up in a very different Ann Arbor at a very different time.

Filmmaker Frederic M. Culpepper tells the story of Ann Arbor's legendary drill team, The French Dukes.

Grant Sleet grew up on Beakes Street and attended Jones School from kindergarten to fifth grade. When Jones School closed in 1965, he was bused to Pattengill Elementary School. He also describes what it was like to travel and compete as a member of the French Dukes precision drill team.

James Bryant attended Jones School from kindergarten to fifth grade. When Jones School closed in 1965, he was bused to Pattengill Elementary, and he remembers a tumultuous period of racial conflict. He helped form the Black Student Union at Tappan Junior High and Huron High School.

Mary Hinton-Branner attended Jones School in the 1950s, from kindergarten through sixth grade. She remembers going to the Dunbar Community Center and playing in the neighborhood with her eleven siblings. She recalls how the rise in public housing led to the gentrification of “The Old Neighborhood.”

Richard Payne attended Jones School until fifth or sixth grade, when he was bused to Pattengill Elementary School due to the closure of Jones. He remembers white parents and their children protesting with racist signs on the first day of classes, and being disciplined unfairly.

Debby Mitchell Covington grew up in Ann Arbor near Summit Park (now Wheeler Park), and she attended Jones School in kindergarten and first grade. In 1965 when Jones School closed, she was bused to Dicken Elementary and she recalls feeling isolated in the majority-white school. 

Curtis Davis attended Jones School in kindergarten and first grade. When the school closed in 1965, he was bused to Allen Elementary. He remembers being raised by his mother Dorothy Slay and participating in sports including hockey and tennis.

Larry Young was interviewed after a preliminary screening of the documentary film There Went The Neighborhood: The Closing of Jones School at the State Theatre on April 16, 2023. He speaks about participating in the French Dukes and founding the Salt of the Earth drill team.

Carl James Johnson was born in 1945 in Willow Run, Michigan. His family moved to Ann Arbor when he was seven years old, after his mother suffered a stroke. He attended Jones School and Tappan Junior High and participated in the French Dukes drill team in the early 1960s.