The Sphinx Competition, Detroit, MI
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The Sphinx Competition presented is held every year (in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan) and is open to all Junior High, High School, and College age Black and Latino string players residing in the U.S. The Sphinx Competition offers young Black and Latino classical string players a chance to compete under the guidance of [...]
Joe Louis: Hometown Hero
This comprehensive exhibition on the life of an iconic Detroit native is a must for sports fans everywhere. Born the son of an Alabama cotton picker, Joe Louis, known to many as the African American heavyweight champion named the “Brown Bomber,” became a national hero and symbol of American democracy versus Nazi intolerance. Muhammad Ali [...]
Crowning Glories: Status, Style, and Self-Expression
Crowning Glories is a tribute to the beauty, style, and self-expression of black women, and a historical survey of their hat-wearing traditions from the late 1700s to the present. The tradition of African American women adorning themselves with extraordinary headwear goes back generations. Wrapping one’s head with cloth, for example, finds its roots among West [...]
Second Baptist Church | Detroit, MI
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The Second Baptist Church, constructed in 1914 to replace the original church building, houses Michigan’s first African American congregation. The church was established in 1836, when 13 former slaves decided to leave the First Baptist Church because of its discriminatory practices. The church quickly became involved in the period’s most bitter dispute–slavery. Just miles [...]
Idlewild, MI
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Idlewild, wild and free
Our jumpin’ rhythms always calling me,
Country air, sweet and strong,
Packing up my suitcase
So it won’t be long,
Sing and dance ’til sundown,
It’s such a rat race in Chicago town,
Still I feel like a child,
Cuz I’m heading up to Idlewild.
– Ray Kamalay, Lansing, MI
Once called the “Black Eden”, Idlewild, Michigan was one of only [...]


