AADL Talks To: Liz Brater, 58th Mayor of Ann Arbor (1991-1993)

Mon, 09/16/2024 - 6:36pm

Elizabeth S. Brater is Ann Arbor's first female mayor, serving as a Democrat from 1991 to 1993. Prior to 1991, she was a member of Ann Arbor City Council. As both council member and mayor, Liz focused on housing and environmental issues, causes she continued at the state level when serving as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1995 to 2000, and in the Michigan Senate, where she represented the 18th district from 2003 to 2010. Brater talks with us about her time in office, its many challenges, and some of her initiatives and accomplishments, notably her campaign to start the Michigan Recovery Facility (MRF).

JCC Conversations | Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski

Wed, 02/01/2023 - 2:10pm

Michigan House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski  talks about  her resolution to create a bipartisan joint select committee to investigate Michiganders’ involvement in the Jan. 6 pro-Trump insurrection in the U.S. and also discusses the April 2020 storming of the Michigan Capitol during a protest against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID-19 health orders, which congressional Democrats have argued was a “dress rehearsal” for Jan. 6.

AACHM Oral History: Mary McDade, Alma Wheeler Smith, and Nancy Cornelia Wheeler

Wed, 09/22/2021 - 10:55am

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.