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INDEX
Vol. CXXX, No. 85
©2022 The Michigan Daily

N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

STATEMENT.............4 

O PIN IO N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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UMich African American Student 
Project launches Black student 
database through 1970
Academic achievement, extracurricular involvement and housing information 
now available for all Black students enrolled at the University through 1970

The 
University 
of 
Michigan 
recently announced the launch of a 
new public database of Black students 
who attended the University from 
1853 through 1970. The database, 
searchable by factors like enrollment 
years, hometown, college or graduate 
school and extracurricular activity 
involvement, is the first centralized 
compilation of its kind at the 
University. 
Angela 
Dillard, 
History 
Department Chair and a member 
of the Bentley Historical Library 
executive committee, said the concept 
of a centralized database in part grew 
out of the Being Black at the University 
of Michigan movement (#BBUM) 
beginning in the fall of 2013. 
“There was a list of demands on the 
University that student activists put 
forward and one of them was more 
help in understanding the archival 
records associated with African 
American students, in particular, at 
the University,” Dillard said. “All of 
this stuff has always 
been over at the 
Bentley 
Historical 
Library … But I think 
what student activists 
wanted 
was 
help 
making sense of it.”
This helped spark 
the creation of the 
African 
American 
Student 
Project, 
which is working to 
uncover the histories 
of 
Black 
students 
at 
the 
University. 
From the first Black 
student enrolled in 

the University in 1853, to those that 
enrolled through the year 1970, the 
Bentley Historical Library collected 
records of various aspects of student 
life 
like 
academic 
achievement, 
extracurricular 
involvement 
and 
housing. 
Terrence 
McDonald, 
Bentley 
Historical Library director and history 
professor, said they began by looking 
at U-M and U-M-affiliated records, 
such as enrollment information and 
student directories published by The 
Michigan Daily. They then expanded 
into 
census 
records, 
genealogy 
software and other methods to help 
confirm a person’s identity with at 
least two sources. 
Brian Williams, assistant director 
of the Bentley Historical Library 
and archivist for University history, 
said this database provides a new, 
innovative way to understand the 
Black experience of U-M history.
“The key thing is that it’s a database 
that can be queried and data could be 
shown in different ways, visualized 
(in) 
different 
ways,” 
Williams 
said. “We’ve put this together and 
encouraged people to use it (in) all 

Michigan ballot initiative 
for abortion access gathers 
nearly 800,000 signatures

Ballot initiative to amend the Michigan Constitution 
to protect abortion rights only needs signatures to be 
verified to be included on November ballot

At a city council meeting Tuesday, 
Councilmember Linh Song, D-Ward 
2, co-chair of the Reproductive 
Freedom for All ballot initiative, 
claimed that the initiative had 
reached almost 800,000 signatures 
— nearly double the required number 
to be put onto the ballot in November.
Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned 
Parenthood v. Casey (1992) were 
overruled by the Supreme Court 
in June, ending federal protection 
of abortion rights and returning 
the decision on whether or not 
to continue supporting access to 
abortions to the states. In Michigan, 
a preliminary injunction against a 
1931 abortion ban currently protects 
abortion access throughout the state, 
but conservative activists sought 
to have the injunction overturned 
in May, and two prosecutors in 
Michigan have stated that they will 
enforce the ban regardless of the 
injunction.

SAMANTHA RICH 
Summer News Editor

RILEY HODDER 
Summer Managing News Editor

The Reproductive Freedom for 
All ballot initiative seeks to have the 
Michigan 
Constitution 
amended 
to 
protect 
healthcare 
providers 
and the right to multiple forms of 
reproductive healthcare, including 
abortion. The initiative needed just 
over 425,000 signatures to earn itself 
a spot on the ballot this November.
Song stated that nearly 800,000 
signatures have been collected for 
the ballot initiative, and thanked 
those who worked to gather those 
signatures.
“Many thanks to community 
members who went to great lengths 
to collect signatures at every public 
event, on their own block, having 
these discussions with neighbors and 
understanding that this is truly an 
issue about the health and safety of 
women,” Song said.
The ballot initiative needs to have 
its signatures verified by the Bureau 
of Elections and the Board of State 
Canvassers before it will officially be 
included on the ballot.

kinds of different ways to find different 
stories … It’s something we couldn’t do 
before.” 
The project also emphasizes the 
history of housing segregation in 
Ann Arbor and at the University. In 
a data visualization on their website, 
the project team created a map of the 
city of Ann Arbor, including the U-M 
dorms, using the housing records of 
African American students. The map 
allowed them to understand patterns 
of segregation at the time and after the 
desegregation of Ann Arbor and the 
University — trends that continue to 
impact Washtenaw County today.
McDonald said creating an all-
encompassing database can redirect 
attention from the “pioneers” of 
history, such as the first African 
American student to attend the 
University, to broader institutional 
patterns.
“The issue at the core of the project 
is this: how can you shift the focus 
of historical knowledge from the 
so-called ‘pioneers’ to the next 100, the 
next 1,000, the next 2,000?” McDonald 
said. “The patterns of people when 
there’s a large number tell you 
something 
about 
the 
institution, 
whereas the focus 
on pioneers tells you 
something 
about 
individuals. 
And 
most organizations 
in American society 
should 
(focus 
more) on the larger 
numbers and less 
on the pioneers in 
many ways.”

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