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Underrepresented Communities and Historic Preservation in Michigan

Historic Preservation Programs and Services

Underrepresented Communities and Historic Preservation in Michigan

The significant places associated with historically Underrepresented Communities in the state of Michigan and beyond represent a particularly fragile class of resource. Many important buildings and sites have been lost as a result of urban renewal and aggressive blight removal programs and demolition related right-sizing that addresses population loss, economic hardship, and years of neglect. As the resource pool is diminished, the cultural legacy and story that the remaining places portray rise in importance.

In 1990, the National Park Service (NPS) acknowledged that the nation’s historic preservation programs neglected to recognize places of importance to all communities. To rectify the omission, NPS published a number of Theme Studies to help all Americans document their histories and tell their stories. In the ensuing years, the National Park Service established a National Historic Landmark Civil Rights Framework, and published detailed studies of additional chapters in the civil rights story by evaluating the long history of issues regarding equal access to public accommodations, education, housing, employment, and voting rights.

In 2014, Congress began appropriating federal monies to the Historic Preservation Fund for the establishment of competitive grant programs to specifically assist underrepresented communities as they identify, document, register and rehabilitate their associated historic resources.

In 2016 the Michigan SHPO applied for and received a grant to document 20th Century African American Civil Rights sites in Detroit. This built on earlier work to better document the history of Idlewild, a Black resort community in rural Lake County. Subsequent special grants have been awarded to study and document a wider range of Michigan's historic places.

Is there a site significant to your community you'd like us to know about? Please send us an email at [email protected] with the details. There are many stories yet to be told!

Explore our Community-Centered Historic Preservation Projects

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Detroit

20th Century Civil Rights Sites Project

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Green Book Sites

African American recreational tourism in Michigan

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Inkster

History of African American Housing 1920-1970

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Muskegon

Muskegon County Civil Rights Sites Survey

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Niles

Ferry Street Historic District Project

Michigan State Historic Preservation Office rolls out Detroit Civil Rights Bike Tour

The Civil Rights story in Detroit is a story of perseverence and passion. Our interactive Civil Rights Bike Tour around the city of Detroit highlights many historically significant sites that played a role in the civil rights movement in Michigan’s largest city. Encompassing 20 different stops in total, the tour is nearly 17 miles in length but can be easily broken into shorter segments.

Explore Tour

This project is partially funded by the African American Civil Rights and Underrepresented Communities programs of the Historic Preservation Fund, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, through the Michigan Strategic Fund.  Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of the Interior or the Michigan Strategic Fund, nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products herein constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Department of the Interior or the Michigan Strategic Fund.

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