Great Migrations
For three weekends in February, Metro Detroiters enjoyed a free, interactive experience at The Station at Michigan Central. This event, part of our "Great Migrations" docu-series and "Destination Detroit" oral histories initiative, highlighted the early 1900s migration of Black Americans that profoundly shaped the city's culture, industry, and legacy.
Michigan Central Station, est. 1913
Michigan Central is a 30-acre technology and cultural hub in Detroit, where leaders, thinkers, communities, and creators come together to accelerate bold ideas and technologies that shape our collective future. By providing access to world-class infrastructure, tools, and resources, Michigan Central inspires innovators and community members to collaborate on real, ground-breaking solutions to global problems. Since opening in April 2023, Michigan Central has grown into a diverse ecosystem of about 730 employees from 133 companies and startups working at the intersection of mobility and society.
About Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, cultural critic, and institution builder, Professor Gates has published numerous books and produced and hosted an array of documentary films about Black history.
Most recently, he was awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal from the NAACP and was elected an Honorary Fellow by the Royal Academy of Arts in England.
