The Michigan Maritime Museum will be hosting University of Michigan students Edie Adams, David Mori, and Samantha Adams Wednesday, June 18th from 12:00 pm-1:00 pm as they share their research on the racialization of water recreation in Michigan during their presentation, White Water, Black Wonderland: Escaping Race, Racializing Space, and Creating Place on the Water.
Boats, beaches, bare bodies, and the “Water Wonderland” that Michigan had to offer were all facets of recreation that both white and Black Michiganders and Detroiters hoped to access, yet, with white people holding social, political, economic, and police power in the state, they possessed more agency in staking claims to the spaces where such recreation could take place, cultivating a white identity for Michigan along the Detroit River and on the shores of Lake Michigan. This pushed Black Michiganders to engage in their resistant acts of placemaking in spaces both in and outside Detroit; beachy spaces that were more than fit for bare bodies, but which came to mean more than just a day out on the boat. White Water Wonderland and Black Water Wonderland were two quite different things. These contested recreational sites include Belle Isle, Sugar Island, Woodland Park, Idlewild, the Black Bottom of Detroit, Muskegon, Traverse City, Holland, and Mackinac Island.
"U-M's Detroit River Story Lab is thrilled to collaborate with the Michigan Maritime Museum on the Whispers Across the Water Project,” says U of M mentor David Porter. “Our PhD students have valued the opportunity to contribute, through in-depth research projects, to community conversations about local heritage while learning from experienced professionals in the field. We look forward to continuing to build on this partnership in the future."
The Michigan Maritime Museum has been collaborating with the Detroit River Story Lab for over a year and is looking forward to hosting three U of M students who can offer their perspectives on Michigan’s long history. Edie Adams is a recent graduate from U of M with a degree in History and Linguistics and a minor in Sociology of Law, Justice, and Social Change. David Mori is a Ph.D. candidate in History and focuses his research on the twentieth-century United States, Asian Americans, activism, and incarceration. Samantha Adams is a Ph.D. candidate in English & Women’s and Gender Studies, whose dissertation focuses on relationships between Black Americans and bodies of water beyond the Atlantic Ocean in African American literature and history. Each of these students has had the opportunity to work closely with the DRSL, which has served to inspire each of them to pursue further research and continue their educational journeys.
This lecture is part of the Museum’s year-long programmatic series Whispers Across the Water that highlights and celebrates the invaluable contributions of minority communities to Great Lakes maritime history and heritage. Through a dynamic collection of programs and events, this series amplifies the often-overlooked narratives of Indigenous peoples, African Americans, women, and other minority groups who have molded the region’s maritime legacy. This lecture series will continue monthly through November.
This lecture series is made possible thanks to the Nielsen-Wells Grant Fund and Mike & Susan Smith.
The cost of attendance is free with Museum admission. For more information about the Museum’s events, please visit: https://www.michiganmaritimemuseum.org/events/.
