Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Titus McClary
Titus W. McClary was born in 1937 and spent his childhood in Georgetown, South Carolina. After moving to Detroit, he attended Highland Park High School and worked at his uncle’s North End restaurant. During his time in the army in the early 1960s, he picketed a segregated theater and restaurant in Killeen, Texas. In 1965 he became the third Black police officer in Highland Park. McClary ran the juvenile division and helped found a Black officers’ organization. He served as mayor of Highland Park and remained a city council member until he passed away in 2017.
Titus McClary was interviewed in partnership with the Museum of African American History of Detroit and Y Arts Detroit in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Thomas Overmire
Thomas G. Overmire was born 1926 in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father was a banker and the family saw firsthand the difficulties caused by the Great Depression. He served in the army during World War II before getting his BA from Indiana University in Bloomington. Overmire’s evolving career included teaching high school biology, getting his PhD, serving as a college dean, working at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, and writing a biology textbook, The World of Biology (1986). He and his wife Joan have two sons, a daughter, and several grandchildren. He enjoys playing piano and bridge.
Thomas Overmire was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Shirley Northcross
Shirley Northcross was born in 1936 and grew up near Dayton, Ohio. Her father ran the Miami View Golf Course, and she recalls visits from famous athletes like Joe Louis. She was the first Black student to graduate from Fairmont High School in Kettering, Ohio. After getting a degree in physical education from Michigan State University, Northcross started out a substitute teacher and a counselor for the Camp Fire Girls of America. She taught physical education at Northwestern High School in Detroit for over 30 years.
Shirley Northcross was interviewed in partnership with the Museum of African American History of Detroit and Y Arts Detroit in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Shirley and David Northcross
Shirley and David Northcross have been married for over 50 years. They met in the late 1950s at Michigan State University, where Shirley played field hockey and David played football. They were married in Shirley’s hometown, Dayton, Ohio. After a few years in California while David was in the Marine Corps, they returned to his hometown, Detroit. David was a financial advisor for Merrill Lynch and Shirley taught physical education at Northwestern High School. They had three boys who were active in swimming and baseball. Shirley and David coached Little League for 19 years, and they enjoyed playing golf and tennis.
Shirley and David Northcross were interviewed in partnership with the Museum of African American History of Detroit and Y Arts Detroit in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Ruth Carey
Ruth (née Dorsey) Carey was born in 1937 and grew up in West Virginia, Georgia, and Ohio. She attended Greenbelt College in Illinois and nursing school in Cleveland, Ohio. She and her husband had two children and moved to Ann Arbor to pursue graduate education. She graduated from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and went on to teach at the School of Nursing. She is passionate about educating new parents about health and nutrition. During retirement she began visiting inmates at the federal prison in Milan as a volunteer with the Prisoner Visitation & Support program.
Ruth Carey was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2015-16 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Russ Fuller
Russell M. Fuller was born in 1924 and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. He married Barbara Stauffer in 1948 and they both attended the Disciples Divinity House at the University of Chicago. After moving to Ann Arbor, they became active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements and in 1965 they helped found the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice. Russ was chairman of the Human Relations Commission in the late 1960s. He also served as pastor of Memorial Christian Church for 40 years, retiring in 1995. Russ passed away in 2020, six years after Barbara.
Russ Fuller was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2015 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Roberta Wright
Roberta Hughes Wright was born in 1922 and grew up in Detroit. She attended Howard University at age 15 and completed her bachelor's degree at Wayne State University. During the course of her career she was an X-ray technician, teacher, school social worker, and probate attorney. She earned her PhD from the University of Michigan and a JD from Wayne State. After the passing of her first husband Wilbur B. Hughes II, she married Charles H. Wright, founder of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit. She wrote several books, including an autobiography titled Reflections of My Life and Lay Down Body: Living History in African American Cemeteries. She passed away on April 2, 2019.
Roberta Hughes Wright was interviewed in partnership with the Museum of African American History of Detroit and Y Arts Detroit in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Peggy de Vries
Peggy Jenny Winick was born in 1920 to Russian immigrant parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her father, George Winick, worked in the metal industry. Following the Great Depression, she worked part-time to help rebuild the family’s livelihood. In 1945 she married Gerritt W. de Vries and they moved to Ann Arbor so that he could attend the University of Michigan School of Architecture & Design. Peggy worked in photo finishing and printing at Ivory Photo. The de Vries had three children, and they retired in Lake Leelanau. She passed away in 2010.
Peggy de Vries was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Pamela Shultz
Pamela Shultz was born in 1925 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. She attended Florida State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and majored in Psychology. She married Edwin (Ted) Shultz in 1946, and they moved to the Detroit area soon afterwards. Shultz got her master’s in Special Education from the University of Michigan and taught developmentally disabled children in Livonia schools and the Plymouth State Home in the 1960s and 70s. She passed away on January 30, 2015.
Pamela Shultz was interviewed as part of an internship at Applied Safety and Ergonomics in Ann Arbor in 2008 as part of the Legacies Project.
Media
Legacies Project Oral History: Opal Simmons
Opal Simmons was born in 1931 in Detroit. After graduating from Eastern High School, she attended Fisk University and Wayne State University. She lived in New York for a few years as a young woman and recalls attending dances at the Savoy. She volunteered as a letter reader for the American Red Cross during World War II. During her working years in Detroit, she was secretary to the deputy mayor in the Coleman A. Young administration. Richard Simmons Jr. became her second husband. Later in life, she attended seminary and became a minister.
Opal Simmons was interviewed in partnership with the Museum of African American History of Detroit and Y Arts Detroit in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.