(WXYZ) — In tonight's 7 UpFront segment we're looking ahead to Black History Month which starts tomorrow.
Joining us to talk about it is noted local historian and educator for the Black Scroll Network History and Tour Jamon Jordan.
You can see the full interview in the video player above.
"I started this company in 2013 for a few reasons. One, I was a teacher at the time, I was a social studies teacher, and my students were learning about Black history in all these other places, they were learning about Selma, they were learning about Montgomery, they were learning about the Underground Railroad and what Harriet Tubman was doing on the east coast, but they weren't learning about how Detroit was a part of all of that history," Jordan says. "They were a part of the Civil Rights movement, they were a part of the Underground Railroad, they were a part of the music history of America, and my students were learning more about other places than they were about the City of Detroit and I thought that was really kind of a crime for me to be teaching them about all of these other places that they ought to know about, but not their own hometown, the City of Detroit. So I began taking them on field trips. And as I took them on field trips, others who were not my students wanted to join them on these field trips, so I created a company to accommodate mostly adults who wanted to learn about Detroit's African American history. That's how Black Scroll Network History & Tours started. So I led tours, gave lectures about Detroit's African American history and, of course, three months ago I was appointed the City of Detroit's first official historian."
