Tracking Advancement: 100 Years of Progress? is a ground-breaking project set to trace the progress and challenges of Michigan’s Black population from 1915 to the present. This pioneering effort will interview and collect oral testimonies from descendants whose forbearers participated in these historic events of 1915:
The publication of the “Michigan Manual of Freedmen” a seminal document on the civic life of African Americans in employment, home ownership and business fifty years after passage of the 13th Amendment. It was researched and compiled by a panel of black leaders selected by then Michigan governor Woodbridge Ferris.
The Lincoln Jubilee, a 25 day exposition held in Chicago in on the 50th anniversary of emancipation to commemorate the achievements of African Americans. Michigan sent 105 delegates and figured prominently in the Jubilee which drew representatives from 18 states and Puerto Rico.
These interconnected events provided the starting point for the Tracking Advancement project team
to identify descendants represented in “Michigan Manual of Freedom” which was reprinted by John
Green in 1968 as “Negroes in Michigan History”. The reprint provides a research base for tracking
accounts of African American advancement. This project will also shed new light on these benchmark
publications.
In partnership with the Michigan Historical Center and under the direction of Dr. Michelle Johnson,
Tracking Advancement is a grant funded project of the Michigan Humanities Council initiated to
expand public awareness and understanding of African American contributions to Michigan’s history.
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