Mural, The Ann Arbor African-American Heritage Mural Project, Northeast Corner of E Ann St & N Fourth Ave, August 31, 2020 Photographer: Steve Jensen
Year:
2020
Mural, The Ann Arbor African-American Heritage Mural Project, Northeast Corner of E Ann St & N Fourth Ave, December 25, 2017 Photographer: Steve Jensen
Year:
2017
Media
AACHM Oral History: Mary McDade, Alma Wheeler Smith, and Nancy Cornelia Wheeler
Mary McDade was born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1939, but grew up in Ann Arbor. Her parents Albert and Emma Wheeler were active in local politics and civil rights. As a college student, McDade helped found the University of Michigan chapter of the NAACP. She moved to Peoria, Illinois with her husband Joe Billy McDade in 1963. After raising four children, she built a career in law. McDade graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law and she has been a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court since 2000.
View historical materials for Mary McDade.
Media
AACHM Oral History: Rosemarion Blake
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Rosemarion Alexander Blake was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1923 to Jewel Alexander Price and Jacob Price. She was brought to Ann Arbor between two to four years of age by her great Aunt Hattie and Uncle Robert Alexander. Rosemarion attended Jones School Kindergarten through 9th grade and graduated from Ann Arbor High School in 1941. She held a number of jobs after graduating and in 1945 became the first African-American woman to work in city Hall in a non-custodial position. A number of years later, she worked in Publication Sales at the Institute for Social Research from 1970 until her retirement in 1987.