Right to Read: The Ann Arbor King Case is a short documentary about the 1977 lawsuit that became known as the “Ann Arbor Black English Case” or “The King Case". Brought on behalf of 11 Black students at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School in Ann Arbor, MI, childhood literacy, Black language, and cultural competency emerged as central themes of this case. The story resonated around the country for many reasons and prompted mixed media coverage, motivated academic study, and inspired public discussion.

"Language is to identity as oxygen is to life and the benefit of its mindful development in the formative years of children has long been documented. Like many, until I gained a deeper knowledge of this 1977 case (Martin Luther King Jr Elementary School Children v The Michigan Board of Education and Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction), I thought it was solely about the treatment of Black English in a particular Ann Arbor, Michigan school and the implications for the school’s Black English-speaking students. While that is worthy of discussion and legal consideration, diving in revealed it to be a multidimensional story, starting with the fact that the case was not originally about language.

As a language enthusiast and also a Black English speaker, my initial interest in the case was primarily sociolinguistic. I was inspired to create this documentary, in part, because of the chance to explore how the US legal system recognizes and protects minority languages and dialects. Interestingly, until the mid-1960s, language was not considered a federally protected class in the US. One of my central guiding questions was “How did the kids’ use of Black English and teachers’ perception of it affect student development?” and “How does a perceived educational inequity translate to a debate of the legal protections a language deserves?” The “realness” or legitimacy of Black English was not automatically accepted (certainly not to the level that it is today), and I became fascinated with both the social discourse this prompted as well as the challenge it posed to the King Case students’ many expert witnesses, like sociolinguists Dr. Geneva Smitherman and Dr. William Labov, and education writer Dr. Daniel Fader, who in a court of law aimed to prove the existence of Black English as a language and educate the judge on its interconnection with identity and early childhood literacy.

The King Case students all lived in the Green Road housing projects, located in a middle-class neighborhood on Green Road on North Campus. It surprised me to learn that there is a documented history that living in a low-income housing community can lead to poorer academic outcomes and a diminished sense of belonging as was the situation with the King Case students.

It’s been nearly 50 years since the lawsuit was originally filed and there’s much to reflect on. I have been extremely lucky to sit in conversation with the chief expert witness for the King Case students, the trailblazing Dr. Geneva Smitherman; two of the students Kihilee and Dwayne Brenen, whose mother Janice bravely ignited the case; Ruth Zweifler, a fierce and longtime student advocate and founder of the Student Advocacy Center, now retired; Gabe Hillel Kaimowitz, the lead attorney for the students, now retired; Lamont Walton, a participating attorney for the students; Dr. Rossi Ray-Taylor, a former superintendent for Ann Arbor Public Schools; and Dr. Jessi Grieser, a sociolinguist at the University of Michigan. While there were many records and articles that were available to support the research process, one of the biggest challenges involved with making this film was, simply, time. The case’s original media evidence (trial audio recordings and photos) have been lost to the record. Some who were originally closely associated with the case are no longer alive and some others' memories of the case have since faded or they were too young to retain certain details. In addition to sit-down interviews, I leveraged archival material like case transcripts, newspaper articles, historical footage and photos to tell this story.

I had the opportunity to visit present-day King Elementary and witnessed how it has changed in many ways, which was incredibly inspiring. The King Case makes us examine the teaching of language and literacy and how early childhood learning experiences are carried with us across time. After watching this film, I hope viewers introspect on how they were socialized to think about language as a child and then consider what perceptions about language they carry with them today. For those with school age children in their lives, I hope they take a moment to have a conversation about the importance of literacy and commit to walking with them as they grow as learners.

I’m developing an expanded version of this documentary which features more interviews and more reflections from current participants, where the culture and climate of Ann Arbor is more deeply explored, where we can better understand how language arts curriculum was built in the US and how its construction contributed to a scenario where the King Case could happen." - Filmmaker Aliyah Mitchell

In this short documentary, filmmaker Jen Proctor tells the story of the Tappan Oak, a tree that predated white settlement in Ann Arbor and the campus that grew up around it, and the human actions that marked its last decades of life.

From Filmmaker Jen Proctor:

This film represents both singular and collective stories. A lone undergraduate student communes with a tree to help him feel connected to a college campus from which he felt alienated. A professor collaborates with students to create a sense of belonging to Michigan’s natural environment. A society of students fosters belonging by performing a ritual around the tree to induct members into their community. In creating belonging for a select few, however, the society excludes and demeans others who similarly seek to belong. An activist collective responds by effecting change over decades to create spaces for belonging for all people on the campus.

All of these stories bear a relationship to the great oak, an unwitting but central figure in their narratives.

“From 1995 to 2020, Ann Arbor’s Aut/Bar was the mecca for the LGBTQ+ community. Its founders, Martin Contreras and Keith Orr, created a cultural and political hub that bridged the AIDS era with assimilation of the queer community and urban gentrification. This film is both tribute and elegy to a moment of significant hope when Ann Arbor lived up to its reputation for harboring a tolerant and liberal-minded population. It is dedicated to the two men who were at its heart and whose proud determination to make it happen was both fierce and tender.” - Peter Sparling

Ryan Clark of No Labels, and Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-12th CD) and Fred Upton (R-4th CD) of the Problem Solvers’ Caucus  discuss prospects for bipartisan legislation in Congress. Learn how goodwill still exists and how it can be effective with the support of No Labels, even in today’s polarized political climate.

Yalcin Yanıkoğlu and Bob Chunn have been intimately involved in helping create and evaluate proposed maps with their proprietary software. Chuck asked them to evaluate the Independent Redistricting Commissions maps so citizens can knowledgeably comment on them while there is still time.