This page is dedicated to showing appreciation to the amazing people and resources in the community, and to ensuring their accessibility. They are in no particular order.
Ypsilanti historian Matt Siegfried has contributed significantly to this project through his time and the treasure trove of archived information found on his website. Ypsilanti is fortunate to have someone so dedicated to preserving and amplifying the history not traditionally recorded.
https://mattsiegfriedhistory.wordpress.com/examples-of-interviews-and-presentations/
He also developed arguably the most comprehensive website about Ypsilanti, spanning out in every direction from South Adams Street in the year 1900 like a spiderweb of information.
https://southadamstreet1900.wordpress.com/
A.P. Marshall was the Director of EMU’s library, the Dean of Academic Services, and an instructor of library science. He wrote many articles and several books about Black Ypsilanti and produced many recorded interviews in the process.
https://history.ypsilibrary.org/a-p-marshall-african-american-oral-history-archive/
Parts of this article from The Ypsilantian from November 15th, 1896, were accessed from the Ann Arbor District Library’s website and shared with students for the Who is Demetrios? project.
https://aadl.org/ypsigleanings/14433
They Have No Rights: Dred Scott’s Struggle for Freedom by Walter Ehrlich has segments of Lyman Norris’s brief from the Dred Scott case, along with his impact.
“But it was Lyman D. Norris, in this brief, who introduced those dogmas of racial bigotry that henceforth would play such an important role in the Dred Scott case.” - page 64
“But undoubtedly Norris contributed to the extremism of the majority opinion, for clearly his racial and sectional prejudices are found there.” - page 67
There are several Black newspapers that have been preserved and digitally archived for accessibility. The truth about the recorded history of Ypsilanti, and so many other communities, is that it was often reserved for white people. Corresponding the typed stories in these newspapers with other historically documented events, we can piece together a broader, more accurate summary of what happened.
-
Detroit Plaindealer
https://dalnetarchive.org/handle/11061/1751
-
Voice of the Fugitive
https://web.archive.org/web/20201127033916/http://ink.ourdigitalworld.org/newspaper-overview/vf
-
The Chicago Defender (and others)
https://www.chipublib.org/chicago-newspapers-on-microfilm/
The University of Michigan Library has an extensive collection of photographs of Ypsilanti through a collaboration with the Ypsilanti Historical Society.
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/y/yhsic1?page=index
The amazing Shoshanna Wechter of the Ypsilanti District Library is the creator and host of the Ypsi Stories podcast series, an informative and timely deep dive into many of the elements that make Ypsilanti what it is.
https://www.ypsilibrary.org/interests/genealogy-local-history/ypsistories/
The Ann Arbor District Library has a significant collection of testimony and artifacts about the urban renewal project of Ypsilanti's Southisde.
https://aadl.org/taxonomy/term/144387
From Chicago Road to Michigan Avenue to US-12 and 12 to I-94, it all started with the Sauk Trail. Read about it here in this Concentrate article.
https://concentratemedia.com/michigan-avenue-pt1-030617/
Ypsilanti Gleanings is the official publication of the Ypsilanti Historical Society, which is rich with historical articles and stories from residents.
https://ypsihistory.org/ypsilanti-gleanings/
Ypsilanti Gleanings: Peninsular Paper Company c/o the AADL
https://aadl.org/ypsigleanings/19529
Ypsilanti Gleanings: The Norris Visit
https://ypsihistory.org/publications/fall2018.pdf
Ypsilanti Gleanings: The Story of the Hutchinson House Plot
https://ypsihistory.org/publications/winter2018.pdf
Ypsilanti Gleanings: The Gossip from North River Street and the Hutchinsons c/o the AADL
https://aadl.org/ypsigleanings/37044