FLINT, Michigan — “Without a diverse and accurate historical record, we end up with something little more than propaganda,” UM-Flint’s Associate Archivist and historian Callum Carr told me through email.
Carr is one of many dedicating their time to make Flint’s Black history more accessible thanks to the
Black Community Newspapers (BCN) collection spearheaded in partnership by the University of Michigan-Flint, Ann Arbor, the Genesee Historical Collections Center, and the Gloria Coles Flint Public Library.
The Black Community Newspapers are an extraordinary effort to preserve and share historical documents that have been difficult to access. The collection aims to counter the lack of primary sources available to researchers and residents alike.
Having spent a significant amount of hands-on time with the BCN, Carr posits that Flint’s historical narrative has been dominated by the perspectives of the “white wealthy” elite and reflected in publications like
The Flint Journal, with Black voices and experiences marginalized.
Through this digitization process, the BCN can be freely shared and provides an unfiltered look into the social, political, and economic realities of Flint’s Black community. It chronicles everything from everyday celebrations to the harsh realities of segregation, police brutality, and redlining.
Flintside spoke with Carr about their hopes that this digitized collection will serve as an invaluable educational resource for Flint and the surrounding areas.
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Courtesy photoBoxes line the shelves at the GHCC inside UM-Flint's library.
Flintside: Can you talk about the motivations behind creating the Black Community Newspapers collection and why it’s important for the Flint community?
Callum Carr: “My motivation for everything I do in Flint is to provide open access to historical documents. Flint has a real problem with [a] lack of access to primary source materials. This has two effects: stunting historic scholarship about the City of Flint and alienating Flintstones from their rightful place in the story of Flint. I wanted the Black Community Newspapers to be open and free to anyone interested in Black history in Flint over time, in direct contrast to MLive’s
The Flint Journal, which is very costly to access, [and] reflecting only the dominant white, wealthy viewpoint of the events in the city.”
Flintside: As a follow-up, in what ways does the Black Community Newspapers collection talk about the social, political, and economic climate in Flint during the mid-20th century?
C. Carr: “It’s a double-edged sword. There are fantastic articles about dances, beauty contests, babies being born, soldiers returning from war, special classes, and social life in Flint. But they also provide a window into one of the most segregated cities in America, not only in the North but in all of America at the time.
The racist history of Flint is often overlooked in favor [of] how Black the city is now, but it was a horrible place to be a Black person. Saginaw was a sundown street, and the KKK would come over from Burton to inflict terror on Black residents. Headlines about police brutality, redlining, and racial violence were as common then as they are today. Also, comparing
The Flint Journal to Black newspapers reporting the same stories is truly eye-opening.”
Flintside: Can you elaborate on the significance of including the second run of The Flint Spokesman from the 1970s, especially regarding urban renewal and the destruction of Black neighborhoods like St. John Street?
C. Carr: “The second run from 71-77 covers the Model Cities Program and urban renewal in depth - including the betrayal of the St. Johns and Doyle communities by city manager Brian Rapp, community development director Frank Pattitiuci, and the University of Michigan/Chancellor Moran.
These years reveal a community up in arms, furious yet powerless to stop the mistreatment they suffered and the destruction of their homes. [A lot has been written] on urban renewal over the past decade, and the 1970s run of
The Flint Spokesman is by far the most honest, radical, and transparent blow-by-blow of urban renewal from the ground/community level I have ever seen.”
Flintside: Do you see the digitization of these historical newspapers encouraging a more authentic and inclusive representation of Black history in Flint?
C. Carr: “That is my deepest hope! And, because they are free and searchable, I hope they become a resource for public schools across the Great Lakes region when studying Black history and urban renewal in particular. I want to democratize history, and this is a tiny step in that direction.”
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Courtesy photoBoxes line the shelves at the GHCC inside UM-Flint's library.Flintside: What challenges did you face in collecting, preserving, and making these newspapers accessible to the public?
C. Carr: “The biggest challenge was overcoming copyright questions. The papers have no copyright mark, but we still want to do what’s right for the writers and the intellectual property holders. The lack of copyright information speaks volumes about the authors, that they wanted this paper and its contents to spread and live on after they and their community were gone.
One tricky thing about the newspaper was that the digitization was done from microfilm reels. Photographs, already poor quality in the original paper because photography was designed to capture white people, are pretty much unreadable. [They’re] just black squares with the hint of a human. Just heartbreaking.
This leads to another significant challenge: the collection is incomplete. Days, weeks, and whole months are missing from the various newspapers. I am also missing entire papers I’d like to include, namely
North Star and
The Council of Concerned Pastors. If anyone has old newspapers in their basements, I’ll come and help dig them out. Shoot me an email!”
Flintside: What role did the Black community press play in advocating for civil rights and social justice in Flint during the post-WWII era?
C. Carr: “The Black newspapers were a powerful tool for organizing. The Urban League of Flint, an early civil rights organization founded immediately after WWII, used these newspapers to advertise meetings, write opinion pieces, and promote events. We know from our collection that civil rights leaders Olive Beasley and Edgar B. Holt subscribed to
The Flint Spokesman, and it isn’t hard to see why.
The 1971-1977 run of
The Flint Spokesman used the print media platform to discuss Black power, history, and politics. Because segregation was deeply ingrained in Flint,
The Flint Journal was not written for or about the Black community. The society that produced these periodicals was sharply divided, and that’s clear looking at how little the two papers correspond in topic, priorities, and tone.”
Flintside: What do you hope the public takes away from accessing these newspapers, and how do you envision these materials impacting the future of historical research in Flint?
C. Carr: “I hope the public takes away a more nuanced understanding of Flint’s history, why the city is the way it is, and how we can change our future. I also hope that Flintstones see how much their history means to the larger story of America and, even more significant still, humanity.
I want people to look through this paper, see themselves, and realize that their photographs, documents, souvenirs, etc., from the past are worth something to history but are deeply important in challenging inaccurate, bigoted assumptions and narratives. Without a diverse and accurate historical record, we end up with something little more than propaganda, not history. The archive is where history is decided, and everyone needs to have a voice, or they may be silenced.”
You can check out the Black Community Newspaper Collection's website to learn more and view the growing archive. For inquiries or if you have old newspapers that are fit for the BCN, please get in touch with Callum Carr at [email protected].