The Freedom Fight – The Illustrated News July 8, 1963
A copy of the Illustrated News, published by Henry Cleage, other family members and friends from 1961 to 1964. It came out several weeks after the massive Detroit Walk to Freedom down Woodward Avenue...
View ArticleTelevision watching, drawing and not watching
Both of these are from the house at 5397 Oregon, Detroit. I have no idea what Pearl and I are watching but it seems to have our interest. I did the drawing below in my sketch book for one of my...
View ArticleThe Red Wagon – 1950 & 1954
This photograph was taken in 1950, the year before this other wagon photograph 3 in a wagon. This time Dee Dee the photographer appears with us. My sister Pearl and I had just moved to Detroit from...
View ArticleNorthwestern High School & Cleage Graduates
When I finished writing up this post, I googled Northwestern High School and found the following statement in an online article from 2011 about school closures in Detroit: “The academic program at...
View ArticleIn Nanny’s and Poppy’s yard – Spring of 1955
Here I am under the apple tree with my cousin Barbara where we built and rebuilt a castle for our fairies. Each family had one. Ours was Pinkie my cousins was Lucy. In between the castles we made...
View ArticleChristmas Card and Sermon – Advent December 3, 1967
1967 was the year of the Detroit rebellion. Notes for the sermon below. Preaching and Teaching. The sermon given that Sunday from the above sermon notes is below.
View ArticleSermon – Advent 1966
The Advent sermon below was preached on the first Sunday of Advent, November 27, 1966 by my father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr., who was later known as Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman.
View ArticleThe Black Messiah – Book and Interview 1968
The Black Messiah was published in 1968. It was taken from sermons that my father made about black power and the black Jesus. I have all of those sermons am thinking about putting them online in the...
View ArticleVicki’s Bar-B-Que 1962 – 2016
While looking through old copies of The Illustrated News for something completely unrelated, I came across this advertisment for Vicki’s Bar-B-Que. I noticed the oven and immediately thought of the...
View ArticleNorthwestern High School Boycott – 1962
Reading about the present teacher’s sick out and the student walkouts in Detroit reminded me of this boycott of Northwestern High School in 1962. I was a junior and remember picketing in the cold....
View ArticlePearl Pats a Goat
My sister Pearl patting goat while being held by my mother. The back of my head is visible on the lower right. This is probably at the petting zoo on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. Taken in 1952...
View ArticleDetroit Then and now – 5397 Oregon
Recently my son James was in Detroit and visited many of the sites that were important in my life and my family’s life. He was lucky enough to have historian Paul Lee and Sala Adams as guides. I have...
View ArticleThen and Now St Mark’s
In 1951 our family moved from Springfield, MA to Detroit, where my father, Rev. Albert B. Cleage, Jr., was called as pastor of St. Marks United Presbyterian Community Church at Twelfth and Atkinson. My...
View ArticleBarbara on a Bike
My cousins lived upstairs in a 4-family flat on the corner of McDougall and Hunt Street on the East Side of Detroit. Their mother, Mary V. Graham Elkins, was my mother’s sister. She worked as a...
View ArticleMore 5397 Oregon Then and now
My father, then Rev. Albert B. Cleage Jr, me, my mother Doris Graham Cleage, my step-father and uncle Henry Cleage. Summer of 1966. Sitting on the couch, braiding my hair with my mother and sister...
View ArticleUnknown Boy On Stairs
Another unlabeled photograph from my Cleage collection. Photographer one of the Cleages. Taken in Detroit. Probably in the 1940s.
View ArticleGraham-Turner Wedding – 1919 Montgomery Alabama
I recently found that The Emancipator newspaper was online at Newspapers.com. The Emancipator was published from October 1917 to August 1920. My grandmother’s first cousin, James Edward McCall and his...
View Article“G” is for Grand River Avenue
This post continues the series using the Alphabet to go through streets that were significant in my life as part of the Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge. It was first published in June,...
View Article13 Years Old, Mary Virginia Graham, 1934
A photograph of my aunt Mary Virginia Graham standing on the front steps of the house on Theodore in Detroit. She was named for both of her grandmothers. The writing on the photo says “13 yrs Mary...
View ArticleDid Poppy Go To The Theatre?
While looking for news stories about my ancestors, I came across this little item at newspapers.com. Mershell C. Graham was my maternal grandfather. I do not imagine that he went to the play. I wonder...
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