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AACHM Oral History: David Rutledge
David Rutledge was born in 1945 in LaFayette, Alabama and grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He traces his commitment to public service to his experience protesting a segregated lunch counter as a teenager. He attended Tennessee State University and the University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Rutledge has served as Superior Township Supervisor, Ypsilanti State Representative, and as a member of the Washtenaw County Parks Commission and Washtenaw Community College Board of Trustees. He dedicates this interview to his parents and his late wife, Gerri.
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Legacies Project Oral History: Sandra Wray-McAfee
Sandra Wray-McAfee was born in Durham, North Carolina. Her father ran a taxicab business and was a talented brick mason and carpenter. Her mother taught elementary school. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan and went on to teach in the Mathematics and Statistics Department at the University of Michigan Dearborn for 21 years. She retired in 2008.
Sandra Wray-McAfee was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2016 as part of the Legacies Project.
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Legacies Project Oral History: Titus McClary
Titus W. McClary was born in 1937 and spent his childhood in Georgetown, South Carolina. After moving to Detroit, he attended Highland Park High School and worked at his uncle’s North End restaurant. During his time in the army in the early 1960s, he picketed a segregated theater and restaurant in Killeen, Texas. In 1965 he became the third Black police officer in Highland Park. McClary ran the juvenile division and helped found a Black officers’ organization. He served as mayor of Highland Park and remained a city council member until he passed away in 2017.
Titus McClary was interviewed in partnership with the Museum of African American History of Detroit and Y Arts Detroit in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.
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Legacies Project Oral History: Shirley Northcross
Shirley Northcross was born in 1936 and grew up near Dayton, Ohio. Her father ran the Miami View Golf Course, and she recalls visits from famous athletes like Joe Louis. She was the first Black student to graduate from Fairmont High School in Kettering, Ohio. After getting a degree in physical education from Michigan State University, Northcross started out a substitute teacher and a counselor for the Camp Fire Girls of America. She taught physical education at Northwestern High School in Detroit for over 30 years.
Shirley Northcross was interviewed in partnership with the Museum of African American History of Detroit and Y Arts Detroit in 2010 as part of the Legacies Project.
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Legacies Project Oral History: Russ Fuller
Russell M. Fuller was born in 1924 and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. He married Barbara Stauffer in 1948 and they both attended the Disciples Divinity House at the University of Chicago. After moving to Ann Arbor, they became active in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements and in 1965 they helped found the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice. Russ was chairman of the Human Relations Commission in the late 1960s. He also served as pastor of Memorial Christian Church for 40 years, retiring in 1995. Russ passed away in 2020, six years after Barbara.
Russ Fuller was interviewed by students from Skyline High School in Ann Arbor in 2015 as part of the Legacies Project.
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Legacies Project Oral History: Jacqueline Heubel
Jacqueline Heubel was born in 1930 in Fond du Lac Wisconsin in the midst of the Great Depression. When her father regained his job on the railroad, her family moved to Eagle Grove, Iowa. She attended Iowa State Teacher's College and the University of Minnesota School of Dental Hygiene. After a few years working as a dental hygienist, she returned to teaching. Huebel taught in the Pontiac School District during the Civil Rights Era, and recalls the effects of integration on teachers and students.
Jacqueline Heubel was interviewed as part of an internship at Applied Safety and Ergonomics in Ann Arbor in 2008 as part of the Legacies Project.
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AACHM Oral History: Walter Blackwell
Walter Blackwell was born in 1930 in Petersburg, Virginia. He shares memories of growing up there as well as in Mount Vernon, New York before serving in the army during the Korean War. He worked for 30 years at the Ann Arbor VA hospital, where he enjoyed helping fellow veterans. After experiencing discrimination in housing and employment, Mr. Blackwell fought for civil rights in Ann Arbor as a member of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and mentored black children in his neighborhood.
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AACHM Oral History: Gerald Edwards
Gerald Edwards was born in 1950 in Cleveland, Ohio. He remembers being discriminated against as one of three African American students at his elementary school in the aftermath of Brown v. Board of Education. At Heidelberg College, he participated in sit-ins to help found a Black Student Union House. After beginning his career in automotive manufacturing with Ford Motor Company, Mr. Edwards started his own business, Engineered Plastic Products, in 1987. He and his wife Jada also started the Edwards Foundation, which was dedicated to philanthropy in Namibia.
Ex-City Administrator Murray Warns Complacency May Stall Rights Struggle
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AACHM Oral History: Essie Shelton
Essie Shelton was born in Mississippi in 1930 and moved to Ann Arbor with her father in 1946. She recalls her experience entering an integrated high school for the first time and how she came to fulfill her lifelong dream of becoming a licensed practical nurse at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Essie also met her husband at the hospital and together they raised three children.