Marcia Black is Archiving Detroit’s Black History to Help Heal Injustice

Marcia Black is a Detroit-based archivist, curator, and cultural preservationist whose work focuses on preserving the histories of Black women, Black Detroit, and the Black radical tradition. Guided by her education at Marygrove College and inspired by her entrepreneurial grandmother who was a beauty salon owner, computer worker, and reverend, Marcia has dedicated herself to archival work with a purpose.

In this episode, Marcia reflects on her approach to collecting oral histories with Detroit’s Black elders, and ways those elders and their stories can inform a reimagining of Detroit’s future. 

This discussion also explores ideas around archiving, pushing back against cultural erasure, and the opportunities for community-led reparations efforts through projects like the I-375 Reparative Roundtable – a group of 20 stakeholders addressing the historical injustice of Detroit’s interstate construction in the 1960s. 

Learn more about Marcia, the Black Bottom Archives, and the Detroit Reparative Roundtable

• https://www.blackbottomarchives.com/

• https://detroitisdifferent.com/keeping-the-flame-marcia-black-on-black-women-archives-and-the-legacy-of-black-detroit/

• https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/projects-studies/special-construction/i-375-reconnecting-communities-project