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Manraj Singh

Aaron Martin

HON 1000

1 November 2017

Essay 2 Where Are We Going?

The site I visited was the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and

the purpose of the visit was to observe what it has to offer and decide whether this site properly

represents the city of Detroit and Where Are We Going. The current Museum of African

American History, created in 1997, was inspired by Dr. Charles H. Wright to serve as a reminder

to today’s and tomorrow’s generations of African Americans of the great history of their

ancestors and their immense struggles for freedom. I am arguing that the Museum of African

American History represents Detroit and Where Are We Going because it is the largest exhibit of

African American history and culture in the world, which is fitting being in Detroit, a majority

black city that has faced much adversity, but through perseverance and grit is trying to rise to the

same former glory it held decades ago.

Walking into the museum, one is instantly shrouded by light as the museum’s ceiling is a

transparent dome. On the floor is a mural called the “Ring of Genealogy.” It represents “the

struggles African Americans have faced, and the importance of knowledge and spirituality for

them to move up in society. Surrounded by it are the names of prominent African Americans in

history."9 Moving ahead is the main exhibit, “And Still We Rise.”

"And Still We Rise" is “a blend of multimedia, simulated historical scenes and dramatic

displays of key moments that shaped Detroit's history” (Provenzano p. 2). It documents the entire

history of African Americans, from the start of human civilization until today. It immerses the
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observer in a three-dimensional installation that allows them to experience the history as if they

were there. It “enables people to see the history as it developed and to be able to seriously

meditate on its consequences” (Banner-Haley p. 421). The history of African Americans in

America starts with slavery. Stuffed in the lower level of ships by the hundreds, laying side-by-

side with little food and no bathrooms, slaves were subject to horrid conditions on the months

long voyage to a new home they had no understanding of. In the exhibit, viewers experience

what a slave ship was like, seeing slaves being branded like cattle, hearing the slaves scream

from every angle, and going to the hold where one would have to walk through dozens of slaves

lying next to each other, stacked like dominoes in the dark. It is frightening to walk through, and

makes one seethe with anger today as to how people could be treated so inhumanely.

As the viewer walks further in the galleries through the timeline of history, they notice a

change in people's reactions to the institution of slavery. Many free blacks and whites develop

discreet and risky routes for slaves to flee the slave-owning south to the mostly-free north,

known as the Underground Railroad. Moving to the north, slaves such as Frederick Douglass and

Sojourner Truth could speak to educate others about their conditions as slaves, and opened many

Americans’ eyes to join the abolitionist movement.7 Slavery was abolished after the end of the

Civil War, and thousands of African Americans migrated north to get away from the intolerant

south who employed terrorism and fear to intimidate blacks, and find work and education to

make a living. This leads to a focus on the city of Detroit. African Americans were given a

chance to leave their past behind in a way, and create their own history.6 “You can’t repeat the

past,” which allows African Americans to create a new situation and present for themselves

(Fitzgerald p. 118).
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Detroit was the center of the growing auto industry, led by Henry Ford’s Ford Motor

Company. Henry Ford was one of the first employers to hire African Americans to his highly

coveted factory work, though blacks were usually subject to the most dangerous jobs.8 However,

Ford’s company was manipulative, and it did not allow closed shop policies of unions for black

laborers. Since 1923, unions tried to attract workers (Cohen p. 136). In 1937, seeing Ford’s

treatment of workers, the UAW pounced and persuaded blacks to join, giving them the same

benefits as whites, and by 1941 an 8-hour work day and a 40-hour work week was set.10 With

limited opportunities at the time, unions were a blessing to black workers for their conditions to

be a little more tolerable. After World War II, tens of thousands more black workers were trained

and skilled in various fields.8

As the years passed in Detroit, more opportunities opened for African Americans, and

their impact on culture and entertainment became more mainstream. The exhibit showcased

hundreds of vinyl records from artists who recorded in Detroit. From 1959-1972, the Motown

Label was home to artists like the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and the Temptations,

some but not close to all the giants in music that Detroit helped develop. The “And We Still

Rise” exhibit concluded with the present situation in Detroit, the achievements, the struggles, and

potential hope for solutions. As of 2004, 30 of the Top 100 black owned businesses are in the

metro Detroit area. The perseverance of African Americans’ ancestors allowed people from

Detroit like Dr. Ben Carson to be the first person to successfully separate conjoined twins at the

head.

The Museum of African American History properly represents the city of Detroit and

Where Are We Going because it is a “preservation of the past, to be an arena where people can

remember struggles, joys, pains, and achievements and somehow relate them to their present”
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(Banner-Haley p. 421). It provides a new way of seeing for one to reflect on the past and all the

decisions and actions before them that led them to this point, and the development and impact of

all these factors on the city of Detroit.

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Works Cited
1) Banner-Haley, Charles Pete. “The Necessity of Remembrance: A Review of the Museum of
African American History.” American Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 2, 1999, pp. 420–425. JSTOR,
JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30041661.

2) Primary Source: Photo: Young African American Man Operates a Grinder at the Rouge Plant.
1936. Museum of African American History, Detroit. Benson Ford Archives. N.p.: Henry Ford
Museum, n.d. N. pag.

3) Provenzano, Frank. "EXHIBIT BRINGS PAST INTO PRESENT." Detroit Free Press, Dec
01, 2004: B.7. pp. 1-3. ProQuest Central,
http://search.proquest.com.proxy.lib.wayne.edu/docview/436537250?accountid=14925.

4) Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “Chapter 6.” The Great Gatsby, p. 118.

5) Cohen, Lizabeth. “Making a New Deal.” Encountering Mass Culture at the Grassroots: The
Experience of Chicago Workers in the 1920s, 1st ed., vol. 41, American Quarterly, 1989, p. 136.

6) Dean Herron’s Lecture #5.

7) We discussed turning points throughout the exhibition that we felt indicated a positive change
in the idea of “Where Are We Going?” and helped lead us to where we are today. Slave
rebellions and abolitionist movements backed and led by people of all color were noted for
changes in ways of seeing of African Americans, leading to their freedom and their situation in
the present.

8) Primary Source: “Henry Ford was one of the first to hire African Americans…” Museum of
African American History, Detroit. Benson Ford Archives. N.p.: Henry Ford Museum, n.d. N.
pag.

9) Administrator. Ring of Genealogy, The Wright Museum,

thewright.org/index.php/explore/exhibitions/current-exhibitions?id=71.

10) Primary Source: “Beginning in 1937, however, the UAW began attracting black workers
offering them the same benefits as whites.” Museum of African American History, Detroit.
Benson Ford Archives. N.p.: Henry Ford Museum, n.d. N. pag.