Marcia Black can trace her family’s migration to Detroit back to her great-grandmother Sarah Johnson.
During the 1940s, Johnson made the trek from Mississippi to the Motor City, settling on Ferry Park Street in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood.
“She had six girls and one boy,” Black said. “She was a single mother and she was really able to use her resources to create some sort of sustainability so that our family could survive and continue to live on.”
Black’s great-grandmother, along with her grandmother and mother, are a few of the women in her life who inspire her. Matriarchs will be the focus of an upcoming workshop hosted by nonprofit Black Bottom Archives (BBA), where Black serves as the co-executive director. BBA is an organization dedicated to protecting, preserving and amplifying Black Detroit stories.
Called “With Love and Flowers: A Tribute to Detroit’s Black Matriarchs,” the free event takes place 1-3 p.m. Sunday at the LOVE Building. Attendees can create collages with photos of their loved ones. A photo printer will be available at the event. In addition, people can write reflections honoring the women in their lives. Registration is available on Eventbrite.
“We’re hoping that through the creative work that people are doing while they’re there, that will spark some organic conversation and reflections about what that impact has looked like,” Black said.
The workshop is in partnership with Black Her Stories, a project created by Michaela Ayers that features the stories of Black women through art, events and a podcast.
Ayers said as a storyteller, she has admired BBA for years and the way they preserve Detroit’s history. Black said the two organizations wanted to collaborate last year but couldn’t find the right time.
“That’s how the collaboration came about, in terms of just putting our heads together, thinking about, ‘What are we all doing, and where are there some opportunities for us to play together?’” she said.
Ayers, who’s also a collage artist, thought the medium would be a perfect way for attendees to share the stories about the women in their lives.
“I am often leading with collage when it comes to any type of a gathering that I’m putting together, especially when it comes to inviting people to tell stories,” she said. “And in this case, wanting to create a space where people can use images to hold certain memories. For collage, you don’t have to be a drawer or a painter. We’re reusing images to make new images, and so, it makes the medium more accessible for people.”
In addition to the workshop, BBA is creating a digital archive of photos and videos that document the lives of mothers, grandmothers, aunts, friends and teachers. Submissions are open until April 17 and can be accessed on BBA’s website.
In addition to her family, Black is also inspired by women leaders in Detroit, such as “water warrior” Monica Lewis-Patrick, the president and CEO of We The People of Detroit, late activist and political leader Rev. JoAnn Watson and late advocate “mama” Lila Cabbil, one of the founding members of the People’s Water Board and the Detroit People’s Platform.
While Ayers is a newer Detroiter (she moved here in 2021), Ayers said the women that have inspired her include poet and InsideOut Literary Arts coach La Shaun Phoenix Moore, writer and artist Marsha “Marsha Music” Philpot and Sidewalk Detroit founder Ryan Myers-Johnson.
Like Black, Ayers also mentioned her mother as an influential person in her life.
“I grew up with a single mom, and I just think all the time about her ability to make something out of nothing,” she said. “We didn’t grow up with a lot, and at the same time, I don’t remember really feeling like we didn’t have enough, and so, I think about her a lot and her determination and will.”
Ayers said the inspiration for the workshop was to give matriarchs their flowers while they’re still here, and she hopes guests will take the time to do that at the event.
“If their matriarch or their person has transitioned, I still hope that they’re able to release some of that energy, to put that love out into the world, and to be able to do that through collage, through creative writing, through poetry,” she said. “I just hope that everybody who participates leaves feeling lighter and also held by a community that has a similar desire and a need to gather in this way.”
Meanwhile, Black hopes people feel inspired to document their matriarchs as well as their own stories.
“It doesn’t always have to feel like a complicated project, but something like writing or spending time with each other, having a recorded conversation, or being intentional about taking photos and making sure that it’s something that you can look back on,” she said. “They’re all simple tasks that each of us can take to make sure that we’re playing a role in preserving our history, but especially the histories of the Black women that have been foundational to our existence and our survival.”