Please take a moment to take our "Living Oral History Survey and let us know what you learned.

Johnny W. Barfield was born February 8, 1927, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As a child he sold soap house to house and, after tenth grade, joined the U.S. Army where he served in France and Germany. After leaving the Army in 1947, Mr. Barfield became a wall washer for the University of Michigan, where hard work, entrepreneurship, and innovation helped him build the largest cleaning business in Ann Arbor. Mr. Barfield is widely recognized for his philanthropic work and support of the African American and business communities.

Please take a moment to take our Living Oral History Survey and let us know what you learned.

Dorothy Wilson was born November 28, 1911, in Mount Vernon, New York. She grew up in New York, where she also met her husband, living for several years in Brooklyn. She became a Licensed Practical Nurse and worked at the Brooklyn State Hospital. After her husband’s death she retired and moved, in 1972, to Ypsilanti to be near her family where she became active in volunteer work for Church Women United through Brown Chapel AME Church in Ypsilanti, the Beyer Hospital Auxiliary, and the Ypsilanti Historical Society.

Compilation video from Phase Two of the Living Oral History Project, in collaboration with the Ann Arbor District Library and the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County. With Johnny Barfield, Tessie Freeman, Barbara Meadows, Paul Wasson, and Dorothy Wilson.

Compilation video from Phase One of the Living Oral History Project in collaboration with the Ann Arbor District Library and the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County. With Rosemarion Blake, Russell Calvert, Lydia Morton Willis Patterson, and Johnnie Mae Seeley.

By Laurie White

With special thanks to filmmaker Laurie White and the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History.

Do you have a special item at home that you would like to share with others? Something that has a particular story that is meaningful to you – or something that reveals a bit about Ann Arbor’s past? We all remember bringing a treasured possession to school and telling our friends why we love it so much. As adults, we have many more treasures today. Consider a photo or letter, a family heirloom, an object from a job or trip, an ancient artifact, a work of art, new or old, that has meaning to you. It’s the story that counts.

Each participant for this event took five minutes to tell the story behind the object. There’s no reading or performing; this is amateur storytelling.

Show & Tell events for adults are sweeping the nation, with recent publicity of the trend in the Wall Street Journal. Described as The Moth Radio Hour meets Antiques Roadshow, these events focus on connecting people through their personal histories.

The local organizers—Janet Ogle-Mater, Chuck Newman, and Stephanie Kadel Taras—are members of the Association of Personal Historians, which promotes Show & Tells in May to celebrate Personal History Awareness Month. Dozens of communities in the U.S., Canada, and Australia hosted Show & Tell events for grown-ups in May.

Martin talks to Bill Morris about his long-in-the-works new book Motor City Burning.

From the critically acclaimed author of Motor City, Detroit comes alive in a powerful and thrilling novel set amidst the chaos of the race riots and the serenity of Opening Day.

Bill Morris is currently a staff writer with the online literary magazine The Millions, and his writing has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, L.A. Weekly, Popular Mechanics and numerous other newspapers and magazines. Bill grew up in Detroit and now lives in New York City.

The interview was recorded on August 13, 2014.

Host Rich Retyi and local beer historian David Bardallis delve into the history of beer in and around Ann Arbor. From Ann Arbor's German roots to tales of haunted breweries, the two wind their way through a "hoppy history" of our town, including some stories that didn't make it into Bardallis's book, Ann Arbor Beer.

Members of the Rainbow People's Party discuss plans for future expansion and organization and plan their future meetings, January 3, 1972

Members of the Rainbow People's Party discuss perceptions of the Party, the Party's future, and its relationships in the community, December 17, 1971

Members of the White Panther Central Committee discuss: international issues, racial issues in connection to Bobby Seale, the development of the White Panther Party, terrorism, the necessity of theory in counterculture, Israel, and the development of rock and roll; April 8, 1970