Detroit is launching a website aimed at preserving the city’s history in the Civil Rights movement.
The new website is set to launch in May and will focus on telling the stories from the civil rights and black power movements in Detroit. Wayne State University announced the website being launched by Junius Williams, civil rights activist and founder of Rise Up North, and Peter Blackmer, a research fellow at Wayne State.
“Rise Up Detroit” will use research and materials from the university, “and other Detroit sources to tell stories of resistance through written, oral and visual materials from the civil rights and black power movements in Detroit.”, according to the news release.
Rise Up selected the city of Detroit due to its “parallels with Newark during the civil rights movement.”
“The stories are being lost,” Blackmer said in the release. “Rise Up Detroit not only seeks to preserve that history but also to educate and empower users with lessons that they learn from the civil rights activists who were a part of the movement in Detroit. “
“Detroit was a natural next step as we thought about creating a picture of what the civil rights movement looked like in the north.”
The website will consist of three chapters including migrations, power and politics; black freedom struggles in post-war era Detroit, and civil rights and black power in Detroit. The website will officially launch on May 14 following a special event with civil rights veterans and experts at Wayne State University’s David Adamany Undergraduate Library.
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