Civil Rights, Trauma and Healing in Detroit Parks

CM credit hours for mobile workshops are awarded based on the planned dedicated instructional time. Adjustments to CM hours will not be made after the live event.

Local advocates have guided the City of Detroit to develop parks in areas with histories of transformational violence and traumas, thereby creating shared spaces to memorialize struggles and foster healing, wellness, and joy.

Tour sites include the Dr. Ossian Sweet Memorial Park, a recently created interpretive plaza that memorializes Dr. Sweet's murder trial, which galvanized the nation's fair housing movement and played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement. Northwest Detroit's Wells Park still has the Birwood or "Segregation Wall" along its northern boundary - a reminder of the lasting consequences of racist housing policies as well as the community's strength and resilience. The last stop is Gordon Park, which was at the center of Detroit's 1967 uprising. The beautiful park was built on the epicenter of a destroyed neighborhood. Art and historic monuments acknowledge its painful past while providing a lively public space in the heart of the rebuilt neighborhood.

At each site, legacy residents, historians, or committed partners share their roles in fostering positive spaces in places of past harm. Discuss designing these spaces and how to visually acknowledge places of trauma and resilience. Consider who is part of those recognition, remembrance and narrative-crafting processes.