{"id":42770,"date":"2025-11-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=42770"},"modified":"2025-11-25T08:50:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T13:50:52","slug":"stitching-memory-into-walls-michael-carters-classroom-of-living-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2025\/11\/05\/stitching-memory-into-walls-michael-carters-classroom-of-living-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Stitching Memory into Walls: Michael Carter\u2019s classroom of Living history"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When students step into Room 324, Building 11, at Sinclair<\/a>, the space almost tells who it belongs to before anyone speaks. The walls carry eclectic assortments of photographs, letters, quilts and memorabilia. All objects donated by Michael Carter and his wife, each piece part of a living story. This is \u201cOur American Journey\u201d, Mr. Carter\u2019s vision brought into being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carter\u2019s love of history runs deep. He studied it in college, taught it in middle and high school and over the years amassed a collection of artifacts quietly in his life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That collection found opportunity when Dr. Khalid El-Hakim brought a traveling hip-hop exhibit to Sinclair in early 2020. Carter watched that exhibit and thought of how he would love to do something similar; during the COVID-19 pause, he refined his idea.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"
Michael Carter, senior advisor to the president,
at the Our American Journey classroom.<\/strong> MALIYA AYAMBRIE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

He first set up in the college library\u2019s loggia, a small glass-walled room near the marketplace as a one-month trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He admitted he had \u201ckept his fingers crossed\u201d that it would last longer. When Dr. Johnson and Dr. Scott Marklin saw the display, they encouraged permanence. That temporary setup remained there for three and a half years until the collection moved into its current, more capacious home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every artifact in the room was donated by Carter and his wife. But the exhibit is not just a display, it is a space built to provoke thought, grief, memory and conversation. Carter is clear about why he does it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfrican-American history is American history \u2026 there are so many untold stories because people have either been reluctant or haven\u2019t wanted that story to be told,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He rejects narrow historical narratives, the ones that stop at the Civil Rights era, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks. He argues that so many rich stories are omitted. \u201cOur American Journey\u201d seeks to give them presence and force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visitors walk through themed zones: Early slavery, emancipation, Jim Crow, migration, wartime service, civil rights, sports and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the striking items is a KKK robe and hood, quilts honoring Negro League teams and framed portraits and documents of lesser-known figures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Carters\u2019 personal collection of photographs, artifacts
and memorabilia, donated to the Our American Journey
classroom.<\/strong> MALIYA AYAMBIRE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a 2021 \u201cDayton Daily News\u201d piece, Mr.  Carter described some included objects: quilts by Kettering\u2019s Carroll Schleppi, Negro Leagues references, and memorabilia calling attention to overlooked chapters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carter hopes visitors feel something unsettled, inspired and provoked. He has already seen it: People moved to tears and experiencing things they had previously not known. He plans to install a response wall for visitors to leave questions, impressions or reflections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Carter, the gallery is also therapeutic. He likens it to testimony in a Black church worship and not a space of sorrow but a space of witnessing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpaces like this \u2026 is our testimony that we have overcome \u2026 it\u2019s not a space of sadness \u2026 We\u2019re standing on the shoulders of those folks,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Carters\u2019 personal collection of photographs, artifacts
and memorabilia, donated to the Our American Journey
classroom. <\/strong>MALIYA AYAMBIRE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He opens the room to community purposes. Faculty, student groups and organizations are welcome to reserve time; he collaborates widely with the African-American Male Initiative, ACES<\/a>, NSBE and LGBTQ+ groups to ensure the space is alive and shared. The exhibit\u2019s motto, \u201cRemember, Reflect, and React\u201d stems from that intent.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambitions go beyond the walls. Carter leads weekend field trips like Detroit\u2019s African American History Museum<\/a>, Motown studios<\/a> and Cleveland\u2019s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These excursions root what is inside the gallery in real-world places. He also desires to bridge continents particularly Ghana and Senegal. He spoke in tears of Gor\u00e9e Island, also known as the \u201cdoor of no return\u201d in the slave trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the last thing Africans experienced on the coast \u2026 before being shipped to America,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Carters\u2019 personal collection of photographs, artifacts
and memorabilia, donated to the Our American Journey
classroom. <\/strong>MALIYA AYAMBIRE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Though the scope and the history of \u201cOur American Journey\u201d is layered and multi-faceted, Carter summarizes it as something fundamental to who he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a passion project. Everything in there \u2026 comes from the heart and what we believe in,\u201d Cater said. \u201cIt\u2019s important for African Americans to learn who they are. And it\u2019s important for all Americans to know African-American and Black contributions to this country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This classroom is more than a museum. It is a gift, a collection made public, a space of memory, confrontation and possibility. Carter has built something that gave his private archive a home of public meaning. Anyone who walks in is invited to pause, question, feel and carry history forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maliya Ayambire, staff writer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Checkout more posts by the Clarion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n