The first Semester in Detroit took place in Winter 2009 with 14 participants, partnering with organizations such as Alternatives for Girls, Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative, and the Urban League of Southeastern Michigan.

In this episode of Michigan Minds, Danyelle Reynolds, assistant director for student learning and leadership at the Ginsberg Center, discusses six ways that members of the community can exercise power…

“The other thing we want students to learn, and this is central to the work of the historian Tiya Miles, is that slavery is a part of the history of Detroit and Ontario. It’s not just this terrible thing that happened in the U.S. South. Their stories of survival and resistance are important, and we can learn from them and be inspired today, on both sides of the river.”
~ Darin Stockdill

Her honors thesis focuses on mutual aid groups in Detroit during COVID-19. Amytess Girgis, who is Iranian and Egyptian, plans a career “amplifying the experiences of the marginalized to rectify past harms.”

In partnership with the Detroit River Story Lab, the Michigan Engaging Community through the Classroom at Taubman College has coordinated a number of courses this semester to focus on the Detroit River’s history.

“’Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.’ Those are the words of Frantz Fanon,” says Keesa V. Johnson (MDes ’21). “And I’m not going to betray anything.”

“We’re talking about equitable opportunities, not just equal. What we’re seeing is that after years and years of disenfranchisement… it’s not possible to give everyone the same funding and say that that’s equality because in fact many districts are so disadvantaged by the way funding has played out and by our systems that are oppressive and unjust that they need more money than other settings, and that’s what inspired me.”
~ Elizabeth Birr Moje, dean of the University of Michigan School of Education

The students worked full-time for nine weeks with a Detroit community organization on projects virtually this year. The program also includes sessions to learn about the history and impact of social justice in Detroit.

The Sojourner Truth Fellowship engages scholars and practitioners who can bring rigorous attention to issues of race and ethnicity as they relate to the theory and practice of urban and regional planning.