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Black Foodways
In this video compiled from dozens of interviews from the Living Oral History Project and the There Went The Neighborhood Interview Archive, participants share their memories of food and food traditions in their families, including fishing on the Huron River, hosting Fourth of July barbecues, and even starting a restaurant.
The Living Oral History Project is a partnership between the African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor District Library, providing a permanent home for 50+ interviews with Black community members collected over the past decade. The collection continues to grow with interviews added each year.
The There Went The Neighborhood Interview Archive contains 35 interviews that went into the research and making of a documentary film about the closing of Jones School, produced by the Ann Arbor District Library and 7 Cylinders Studio.
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50 Years of Celebration: The Dance for Mother Earth Powwow
"In 1972, when many aspects of Native American religions and sacred ceremonies were still prohibited by law, American Indians at the University of Michigan (AIUM) held their first powwow in Ann Arbor. Over the years, the Native American Student Association (NASA), consisting of community members and students, evolved into a group fully dedicated to making the powwow a success. In March of 2024, the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow celebrated its 50th anniversary. In 50 Years of Celebration: The Dance for Mother Earth Powwow, a variety of voices from multiple generations share what the powwow has meant to them." - Filmmaker Jen Howard
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Local Movement: Five Decades of Dance in Ann Arbor
"The national 'dance boom' of the late 1950's through the 1980's expanded audiences and support for dance. Federal grants supported the development of college dance programs and touring dance companies. The University Musical Society brought dance to the University of Michigan’s Power Center for the Performing Arts, built in Ann Arbor in 1971. Both at the University and in the community, Ann Arbor became a destination for dance. Low-cost performance and rehearsal spaces, community support, and grants helped create and nurture a vital dance scene, and Ann Arbor became home to numerous modern and jazz dance companies including Dance Theater 2, Hydra, Whitley Setrakian’s People Dancing, The J. Parker Copley Dance Company, Jazz Dance Theater, and The Peter Sparling Dance Company. Recurring community dance showcases, such as Spring Dances, Fall Dances, Dancing in Summer, and others took place throughout the year, allowing many choreographers to share their work. The film Local Movement, by Aimee McDonald and Terri Sarris, explores modern dance in Ann Arbor from the 1970's through today." - Terri Sarris
And for more stories from the film, check out the 46-minute directors' cut.
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Summer Echoes - An Original Composition Created from Climatological Data
In this piece commissioned for Ann Arbor 200, composer and media artist Eloysa Zelada takes us on a journey through a century of climate in Ann Arbor through music and images via data sonification.
From creator Eloysa Zelada:
"Summer Echoes" is a work that translates a century of temperature records into a dynamic musical composition. This project uses temperature data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from Ann Arbor, Michigan, spanning the summer months (July, and August) from 1925 to 2024. Created by the media artist Eloysa Zelada, this work delves into the intricate relationship between environmental change and human experience, transforming raw data into an immersive sensory journey.
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Toast of the Town
In Toast of the Town, directors Mike Hensel & Liz Barney give viewers a look into the closing days of Angelo's restaurant, an Ann Arbor institution. Stephen Vangelatos, customers, and employees discuss what made Angelo's important to them, while Steve remembers growing up in the restaurant and eventually becoming the owner. Angelo's closed in December, 2023, but remains beloved for many reasons, including its famous raisin toast.
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There Went The Neighborhood: Old Neighborhood Walking Tour
This filmed walking tour was created during production of There Went The Neighborhood: The Closing of Jones School by the Ann Arbor District Library and 7 Cylinders Studio (7CS). Led by three former Jones School students–Roger Brown, Cheryl (Jewett) O’Neal, and Omer Jean (Dixon) Winborn–the tour describes changes that have taken place in the neighborhood surrounding the school over the past several decades. Key stops in order of appearance include the former Jones School, Ann Street Black Business District, Dunbar Center, Bethel AME Church, Wheeler Park, and Second Baptist Church.
The route (although filmed in a different order) was inspired by the Living Oral History Project’s Walking Tour of a Historically Black Neighborhood in Ann Arbor, which was created in partnership between the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County (AACHM) and the Ann Arbor District Library. Check out that tour to view these locations in person alongside historical photographs and interview excerpts!
Learn More
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Black Women in the Workplace
In this video complied from dozens of interviews from the Living Oral History Project, Black women speak about their experiences working in Washtenaw County, including the various obstacles they had to face in hiring and on the job.
The Living Oral History Project is a partnership between the African American Cultural & Historical Museum of Washtenaw County and the Ann Arbor District Library, providing a permanent home for 50+ interviews with Black community members collected over the past decade. The collection continues to grow with interviews added each year.
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A Historic Tour of Hertler Brothers and Downtown Home & Garden
Mark Hodesh takes us on a tour of the historic downtown Ann Arbor building he owns, which was originally built in 1896 as Hertler Brothers, and renamed as Downtown Home & Garden in 1997. The building located at 210 S. Ashley St. has provided services and supplies to the wider Ann Arbor community for over a century. While in some ways it remains unchanged—continuing to sell bulk seed, grain, and hay—it's also adapted to changing times and evolving customer needs. Current owner of the Downtown Home & Garden store, Kelly Vore, also adds her perspective on this legacy. —Donald Harrison
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Branching Narratives: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of the Tappan Oak
In this short documentary, filmmaker Jen Proctor tells the story of the Tappan Oak, a tree that predated white settlement in Ann Arbor and the campus that grew up around it, and the human actions that marked its last decades of life.
From Filmmaker Jen Proctor:
This film represents both singular and collective stories. A lone undergraduate student communes with a tree to help him feel connected to a college campus from which he felt alienated. A professor collaborates with students to create a sense of belonging to Michigan’s natural environment. A society of students fosters belonging by performing a ritual around the tree to induct members into their community. In creating belonging for a select few, however, the society excludes and demeans others who similarly seek to belong. An activist collective responds by effecting change over decades to create spaces for belonging for all people on the campus.
All of these stories bear a relationship to the great oak, an unwitting but central figure in their narratives.
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Keith & Martin/Martin & Keith: Elegy for the \aut\BAR
“From 1995 to 2020, Ann Arbor’s Aut/Bar was the mecca for the LGBTQ+ community. Its founders, Martin Contreras and Keith Orr, created a cultural and political hub that bridged the AIDS era with assimilation of the queer community and urban gentrification. This film is both tribute and elegy to a moment of significant hope when Ann Arbor lived up to its reputation for harboring a tolerant and liberal-minded population. It is dedicated to the two men who were at its heart and whose proud determination to make it happen was both fierce and tender.” - Peter Sparling
