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

James Anderson, Jr., was born on October 23, 1937 and lived on Miner Street where he attended Mack School. James built a career in real estate and recalls the few blocks in the Mack school area where African Americans could live at that time, and how housing has changed over the years, from segregation through today. He remembers the bond drives during WWII and some of the businesses in town. James also worked on behalf of the JCs to establish Washtenaw Community College and was a trustee for 19 years.

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

Shirley Beckley was born on July 30, 1942. She was raised by her mother on Wall St. and attended Jones School, Mack School, and Bach Schools in Ann Arbor. Shirley started as a housing manager for the Ann Arbor Housing Commission, later becoming housing director in Lansing and Muskegon. She reminisces about working at Jacobson’s, dances at the Dunbar Center, businesses on Fourth Avenue and Ann Streets, and tense racial incidents in the schools. Shirley continues to be deeply involved in social justice issues at the local level.

Compilation video from Phase Three 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 James Anderson, Jr., Shirley Beckley, Robert Fletcher, and Evelyn Payne.

The United States is moving toward being a majority-minority country where less than half of our population will be classified as white. Already four states and the District of Columbia have more than 50% non-white populations, and, as of 2015, Nevada was evenly split white and non-white. A central question for our multiracial and multicultural United States is how to achieve both unity and appreciation for racial and ethnic diversity. The key is talking and collaborating across differences.

In this presentation, Dr. Patricia Gurin will describe the challenges we face in talking and collaborating with people whose racial/ethnic backgrounds and experiences differ from our own, and offer the example of intergroup dialogue as an effective practice for accomplishing it.

Patricia Gurin is the Nancy Cantor Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Psychology and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan. She is a Faculty Associate of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at the Institute for Social Research and of the Center for African and Afro-American Studies, and she directs the research program of the Program on Intergroup Relations, a curricular program co-sponsored by the College of LS&A and the Division of Student Affairs. A social psychologist, Dr. Gurin’s work has focused on social identity, the role of social identity in political attitudes and behavior, motivation and cognition in achievement settings, and the role of social structure in intergroup relations.

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Michigan Department of Psychology.

Author Saundra Amrhein shares life stories depicted in her book, Green Card Stories, including the legal, social, emotional, financial, and spiritual obstacles that mirror what immigrants continue to face across the USA.

Green Card Stories depicts 50 recent U.S. immigrants—each with permanent residence or citizenship—in powerfully written short narratives and compelling portraits. Each story is as old as the foundation of this nation, but also reflects the global trends and conflicts of the 21st century. Arriving from all corners of the globe, coming for work, love, to study, invest, or escape persecution, the people in this book share a steely resourcefulness and a determination to fulfill their potential in America.

Saundra Amrhein is a freelance journalist, writer, author, speaker, and reporter writing articles, news, and blogs about immigration and Cuba. A former reporter at the St. Petersburg Times, she has been a journalist for more than 21 years, focusing on immigration, asylum, and refugee issues.

This event was held in conjunction with Ann Arbor District Library’s film and discussion series: Latino Americans: 500 Years of History.

In this episode Lucia Heinold and Laron Williams talk about their involvement on ICPJ's Racial and Economic Justice Task Force (REJ) and the many strides the group has made in bringing discussions of race to the community. Laron discusses his early involvement with ICPJ where, as the only African American on the REJ steering committee, he felt a need to address the organization's discussions of race. Lucia and Laron also talk about their recent involvement in the "Understanding Race" exhibit at the Exhibit Museum and related community discussions, as well as efforts to bring film and book discussions to the Ypsilanti community in partnership with the Ypsilanti District Library.

Jim Mogensen, community activist, and Mary Browning, have both worked with ICPJ and have been actively involved with the Racial and Economic Justice Task Force since its inception in the early 1990s.

Most people know Rosa Parks as the courageous civil rights activist whose sacrifices, along with those of many others, made it possible for us to live in a more just society today.

What the majority of her admirers throughout the world don’t know is that she was also a model of excellence in daily life, and was a devoted mother figure to her niece, Sheila McCauley Keys, and Sheila’s twelve siblings.

Our Auntie Rosa: The Family of Rosa Parks Remembers Her Life and Lessons, a new book of memories written by Sheila McCauley Keys with Eddie B. Allen, Jr., is a collection of never-before-seen photos, letters, and family stories that pay tribute to Rosa Parks and show the woman behind the legend. Sheila McCauley Keys will discuss her famous aunt and this new book of family stories and photos.

John Powell got involved with ICPJ soon after arriving to the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area in 1974. Already active in social justice and civil rights issues, Powell discusses the role of ICPJ as an instrument of both action and support as his interest and activities branched out into several related areas, including protests over the University of Michigan's involvement in South Africa, advocating for divestiture, and raising awareness of Apartheid.

Ruth Kraut and Joe Summers talk about their motivation for first getting involved with ICPJ - Middle East, women's, and racial and ethnic issues for Ruth, and Latin American human rights issues for Joe. Both discuss the changes to ICPJ over the years, from its birth during the Vietnam era and its relative successes and failures in finding common ground on different topics, such as LGBT issues, as it evolved over the years.