Rather frequently, about twice a year, my family and I visit the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. The museum portion focuses on both the automotive and technological industries in Detroit, as well as African-American history, since African-American culture has had a massive impact on Detroit for hundreds of years. The village is similar to “Colonial WIlliamsburg” in the sense that it is a living history village, with homes that you can go and see that were owned by famous inventors, such as Thomas Edison.
Whenever I visit the Henry Ford, especially the museum portion, I enjoy visiting the various historical exhibits. One of the most unique parts of the museum is that it features the original Rosa Parks Bus, where she stood up for herself and ultimately assisted in the end of segregation. This exhibit in particular brings a certain emotion and inspiration to me, and it’s always interesting to see. I think that it is very important that we visit these cultural sites, this way, we can learn more about our society, its history, and important events in it.
I do plan on visiting cultural sites again in the future! There is a very large presence of cultural centers in Detroit, including the Solanus Casey Center and the Detroit Institute of Arts. I hope to visit these this summer, especially the Solanus Casey Center, since I am doing my National History Day project on Blessed Solanus.
Artifact: A family friend standing in front of the statue of Henry Ford at the museum.
Reflection:
I enjoyed doing this entry. I don’t usually think to use the museum and village as an entry about civics, but then I remembered the Civil Rights Era exhibits! It was very interesting to look at this location in a new perspective and I’m interested to see how these perspectives play out next time I visit the site.
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