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AADL Productions Podcast: Lola Jones and Carol Gibson

Lola Jones and Carol Gibson are well-known to anyone familiar with Ann Arbor history. Over the past 30 years they have sought out and documented the history of the African American experience in Ann Arbor through a series of projects under the moniker Another Ann Arbor; it is largely through their work that the Ann Arbor African American story is a part of our shared community identity. Lola and Carol stopped by the library to talk with us one day about the work they have done over the years and where they are headed next. They shared with us some of the interesting people and events they have learned about and brought to the community in their television program, their documentaries, and their book. You can now watch one of their documentaries online at aadl.org in our video collection. A Woman's Town was produced in 1991 and tells the story of Ann Arbor through the voices of prominent African American women.

Dancing at the Dunbar Center, October 1943 Photographer: Attributed to Eck Stanger

Dancing at the Dunbar Center, October 1943 image
Year:
1943
Published In:
Ann Arbor News, October 22, 1943
Caption:
The "Jive Bombers," a club of Negro youth, meet weekly at Dunbar Community Center for an evening of dancing and other simple social activities. Negroes of all ages and interests enjoy the hospitality and friendly council of this busy Community Center. Ann Arbor residents are asked to contribute to the support of this agency during the Community War Chest drive here from Nov. 1 through Nov. 3.
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AACHM Oral History: Audrey Monagan

Audrey Monagan was born in Ann Arbor in 1941, and grew up in a close-knit, predominantly black neighborhood on North Fifth Ave. She remembers attending Bethel AME Church with her grandparents, spending time at the Dunbar Community Center, and helping raise her younger siblings. She attended Jones School and Pioneer High School before working for General Motors, where she was an inspector for eighteen years. Mrs. Monagan has been married to her second husband, Philip, for 48 years.

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AACHM Oral History: Hortense Howard

Hortense Howard was born in Bloomington, Illinois in 1927. Soon afterwards, her family moved to Ann Arbor, where she and her sisters became known as the “Bacon Sisters” for their choral performances at sorority houses and other venues. Ms. Howard attended a music school in Detroit because she “wanted to sing like Sarah Vaughan,” and she met many African American singers while working at the Gotham Hotel. She ran her own daycare, Sitters Unlimited Family Day Care, in Ann Arbor for twenty years.

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AACHM Oral History: Henrietta Edwards

Henrietta Edwards was born in 1919 and grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma before moving to Ann Arbor in 1941. She and her husband worked at the Willow Run Bomber Plant during World War II, and owned two filling stations—one downtown at N Fourth Avenue and E Ann Street, and one on Highway 23. She celebrated her hundredth birthday with family, friends, and former coworkers and patients from St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, where she worked as a pediatric nurse for 32 years.

Negro History Week Civic Forum's Theme

Negro History Week Civic Forum's Theme image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, February 7, 1959
Day
7
Month
February
Year
1957
Copyright
Copyright Protected

Dunbar Center AA Plans Observance

Dunbar Center AA Plans Observance image
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor News, June 19, 1958
Day
19
Month
June
Year
1958
Copyright
Copyright Protected
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