The road to diverting waste from landfills is naturally a long one. The process involves more than simply owning a receptacle for recyclables. In Michigan, recycling has waned significantly in recent years, which is why The Henry Ford must be a leading example of the potential impact we have on our environment by reducing and diverting waste.
Single-Stream Recycling
The Henry Ford's strategic goal to "cultivate environmental responsibility" includes tracking our waste streams, educating the wider public about its importance through informational signage, and diverting them to a home where they can be reused instead of wasting away in a landfill.
Receptacles for recycling and landfill waste at Stand 44 restaurant / Photo courtesy of Aias Danier
Tracking recycling (cardboard, plastic, paper, and metal) and landfill (all other waste) usage across the entire campus of The Henry Ford, including facility offices, and educating the public require considerable thought from both an operations and aesthetics perspective. Educating the public (and staff) requires a powerful and effective front-end presentation paired with an equally efficient back-of-house operation. To further this effort, multiple departments are cooperating to improve our front-end museum recycling experience while upgrading our back-of-house programs and recycling areas to accommodate. Operationally modern recycling bins with a historical touch, carefully considered front-end signage, a cleaner back-of-house program for efficient hauling, and optimized roll-off dumpsters for more accurate waste tracking are all significant steps on the road to Zero Waste.
Specialized-Stream Recycling
Our recycling endeavors extend beyond simply evolving our recycling participation within the museum and facility offices. We seek to engage in specialized waste reduction recycling streams that cannot be mixed in with our single stream-hauler. A few of the significant catagories that are being considered by The Henry Ford include:
Glass: Glass is a heavy material of comparatively low value that often requires specialized equipment to recycle. Depending on your location, your single-stream waste hauler may or may not be capable of handling it. However, with the amount of wine and liquor bottles that our Catering Department handles for events, there is plenty of demand and material to justify a special waste stream for hauling. And thankfully, there are a few companies in our area that are capable of recycling it. Once picked up, these bottles can be hauled to a facility where they are crushed into fine particles and can be used for a variety of projects such as insulation, décor, or as material to make new bottles or aggregates.
Batteries: Battery recycling is on the rise thanks to the reuse potential of its raw materials. In fact, when ground down and separated from its packaging and casing, the resulting material is a rich black, almost soil-like color that is colloquially referred to as “black gold.” However, batteries in single-stream recycling and landfills can be dangerous exactly because those raw materials can leach out of the casing onto recyclable materials or even cause a fire to break out in a landfill.
Batteries, just like glass, often require specialized equipment to be recycled effectively and safely.
Battery recycling container / Photo courtesy of Aias Danier
Various Plastic Packaging and Sheeting: LDPE (low-density polyethylene or more recognizably "Number 4 Plastic" like wrap and films), and polystyrene (more recognizably "Number 6 Plastic" like packaging foams and food containers) are often not recycled due to the economic impracticality, but a few businesses across the United States have been able to find new uses for recycled plastic sheeting.
The most common acceptable way to recycle plastic sheeting is through retail stores that participate in plastic collection programs.
Retail stores often participate in these bag recycling programs where customers can drop off their plastic waste and have it hauled to a partnering plastic bag recycling facility or company.
For example, there are companies that make composite decking from a mixture of sawdust and recycled plastic films. Partnerships with companies like these could elevate recycling initiatives closer toward Zero Waste.
Plastic sheeting that requires specialty recycling / Photo courtesy of Aias Danier
Paper: Paper is a generally accepted material to recycle, though can sometimes be complicated to dispose of if the contents are proprietary.
We at the The Henry Ford have a higher demand to dispose of sensitive business documents in a secure fashion due to our administration structure. It is typically more efficient to have a specialized paper shredder company to come on-site with a special box truck to shred our sensitive documents directly on campus before hauling it off to be recycled normally.
Investing in our own paper shredder or numerous smaller paper shredders for a more secure and cost-effective method of handling all paper waste may be of interest to the The Henry Ford in the future, especially if cardboard can be included in that stream.
A collection of paper ready for the shredder / Photo courtesy of Aias Danier
The Facilities team at The Henry Ford remains committed to navigating waste streams, now and into the future. Sharing this work expands our efforts to cultivate environmental responsibility.
Aias Danier is assistant construction manager at The Henry Ford
In 1992, Jill Shurtleff, a designer with the Gillette Razor company, challenged the idea that women’s razors should be limited to the repackaging of men's razors with a different color scheme. Considering how women shave, where they shave and why they shave, Shurtleff created the Sensor for Women razor with a wider handle for better grip and a blade cartridge designed to get into hard-to-see crooks of the body. She might not have known it at the time, but her work intersects with a complex history of body hair removal. Women's relationship with their body hair has evolved tremendously over the past two centuries. Why and how women choose to remove it — or not remove it — reflects changes in technology, politics, fashion, and culture that still impact people today.
The Sensor for Women Razor from Gillette was the first razor designed for women’s shaving needs specifically in mind. / THF803274
Before the mid-1800s, removing so-called "superfluous hair" — the term used for body and facial hair — was rare but could be dangerous. For women who suffered from hirsutism, extra hair growth on the face, books provided homemade depilatory recipes. These remedies often contained caustic and poisonous ingredients such as barium hydroxide, quicklime, and arsenic, but the danger of these chemicals was unknown at the time. Following the American Civil War, electricity transitioned from being a scientific fascination to an everyday utility, and many turned to its power for their hair removal needs. Electrolysis, using electrified needles to zap hair follicles and make the hair fall out, rose in popularity in the 1870s. The process was expensive, grueling, and painful; inattentive dermatologists could permanently scar their patients’ faces. Later hair removal methods were riskier. One infamous depilatory cream known as Koremlu contained thallium acetate, a main ingredient in rat poison; women reported neuropathic pain, blindness, and even paralysis after using Koremlu. In the 1920s, hair salons installed x-ray machines to rid women of facial hair; women exposed to the radiation from these machines experienced ulcerated sores and cancerous tumors on their faces. However, x-ray machines for hair removal processes remained popular until the end of the 1940s.
"Sheer" hair remover, circa 1928-1935. This depilatory cream used the now banned substance, Mercurochrome, a compound of mercury and bromine. / THF802140
Women risked their lives for smooth skin, because the stakes of hairiness were not merely aesthetic. Some women with extreme hair growth on their faces and bodies were put on display for circus entertainment or studied as evolutionary anomalies, practices that caused great harm. Early electrolysis practitioners reported their patients were nearly suicidal due to their hairiness. Prominent psychologist and eugenicist, Knight Dunlap, wrote in a 1921 book that inherent hairlessness was evidence of a woman's fitness for partnership and motherhood. Being hairless was not just about beauty standards; it was seen as proof of one's humanity.
This 1898 Barnum and Bailey’s circus poster shows a woman with hirsutism who was placed on display. / 35.784.116 Image by Kayla Chenault.
Even with these pressures to be hairless, true ubiquity of hair removal came with a change in clothing styles. During the first three decades of the 20th century, women's fashion was revolutionized, and more of the body was on display than ever before. Haute couture designers, such as Paul Poiret or the Callot sisters, created free-flowing, loose-fitting garments inspired by clothing from Ancient Greece, Japan, and the Middle East. These styles came in vogue with fashion-conscious upper-class women in the early 1910s and trickled down into the mainstream during and after the First World War.
Wedding Dress (1918). This Lucile Ltd. wedding dress exemplifies the flowing, popular couture style. / THF29590
These new styles featured short or sheer sleeves, or sometimes no sleeves at all, leaving women's underarms exposed. In 1915, the first advertisements touting the merits of removing underarm hair appeared in women's magazines. The ads featured illustrations of women in the latest gowns, showing off their smoothness, which could be achieved with depilatories or razors. Gillette promoted its Milady Décolleté as the first razor advertised for women. The Milady Décolleté razor was not designed for women specifically; it was the Gillette men's razor with a smaller blade head and specialized packaging. But the advertising worked, and women became a profitable market for safety razors.
Trade Catalogue, "By Request, Gillette Milady Décolleté" (1915). / THF720459 and THF720460
In the 1920s and 1930s, leg hair removal slowly entered the mainstream as popular hemlines exposed more of the leg. Smooth legs were in vogue with young women but caused a minor societal panic over the changing aesthetic. Newspapers ran sensationalist stories about women racing to the doctor after cutting their legs trying to shave them . Some men wrote opinion pieces about disliking the look of smooth legs. The myth that getting rid of one's leg hair made it grow back darker and thicker was a common cautionary tale perpetuated in women’s beauty guides.
Trade Catalogue, "Present Modes demand this harmless preparation," circa 1925. This depilatory cream instruction brochure shows women who have used the cream on their legs. / THF720482
Women fully embraced smooth legs during the Second World War. Wartime rationing programs limited the production of nylon hosiery, leaving women bare-legged. Meanwhile, beautification and personal grooming were considered a patriotic duty for women to boost morale. There was also a lingering belief from earlier eugenic thought that body hairs were "unhygienic" though it had no real scientific basis. Without stockings to cover up these hairs, more women began shaving their legs as a matter of habit.
Photographic print, "Mercury Town Sedan near Suwanee Lagoon in Greenfield Village, July 1941" (1941). / THF134812
In just a few generations, shaving body hair had transitioned from an advertisement ploy and a newspaper novelty to a rite of passage and a necessity for modern women. By the 1960s and 1970s, it was not a question of if someone should shave their legs and underarms but when they should start. Chances are, if you are a woman in the United States, you have tried to get rid some of your body hair. A 2005 study found that 99 percent of women in the U.S. have shaved their body at some point in their lives.
Sears Kenmore Model 820-93942 Electric Shaver, (1960-1970). Electric shavers were advertised to women for the legs and underarms following the Second World War. / THF172751
However, not everyone removes body hair, and there are myriad reasons why. For example, during the 1960s and 1970s, women's rights activists, particularly those who considered themselves women's liberationists, raised concerns about why women removed body hair at all. Some women decided to grow out their hair as a political statement against objectification, as a testament to their gender and sexual identities, and as a part of a "back to nature" ethos. The non-shavers were relatively few, but there was a visceral reaction to the idea of women not shaving. For opponents of the women's movement, "hairy feminist" was an easy punchline and an affront to femininity itself. Visible body hair became shorthand for the politics of the person who chooses it.
Poster, “The Women’s Liberation Movement” (1970). / THF92260
The dynamic and sometimes dangerous evolution of the very personal relationship women have with their body hair continues to inform people’s daily lives — whether they choose to be bare or hairy.
Kayla Chenault is an Associate Curator at The Henry Ford.
Preserving the past is resource-intensive, and The Henry Ford actively seeks grant funding to support its mission "to provide unique educational experiences based on authentic objects, stories, and lives from America's traditions of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and innovation." Some of these grants focus on enhancing collections storage, stewardship, and accessibility — both physical and virtual. In late summer 2024, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) awarded The Henry Ford a two-year grant to clean, rehouse, and create digital records for artifacts related to power and energy, mobility and transportation, and communications and information technology.
Building on the progress made by previous grants, this project will focus on approximately 325 artifacts housed in The Henry Ford's Central Storage Building that require attention in these key areas. The Henry Ford is currently investing in upgrades to the HVAC system in the building, which will improve the ability to regulate the storage environment. In conjunction with those improvements, the grant work will address overcrowding and previous environmental issues, which in some cases have led to dirt, mold, and other forms of artifact deterioration. Each artifact will be moved, cleaned, and assessed for conservation needs. Registrar staff will update or create catalog records, working closely with curatorial staff to research additional context.
IMLS grant team members meet to discuss work progress. / Photo by Aimee Burpee
Of the 325 artifacts, about 100 priority artifacts identified by the curators will undergo conservation treatment to digitization standards, will be photographed at high resolution and made available online through The Henry Ford's Digital Collections. Curators and associate curators will create digital content, such as blog posts, to highlight these artifacts. Additionally, curatorial staff will write descriptive narratives for the website, providing essential historical context for public audiences.
The IMLS Collections Specialist takes a reference image of each artifact for the catalog record, such as this 1915 Gentry and Lewis V-8 Automobile Engine for the Model T (left), then, after conservation intervention, Photography Studio staff photographs this priority artifact for publication on digital collections. / Photo by Colleen Sikorski (left), THF802658 (right)
Work on the grant began in the fall of 2024, and the first priority artifact to be conserved is a six-cylinder General Motors 6-71 diesel engine — a legend in its own right. Introduced by General Motors' diesel engine division in 1938, the two-stroke unit powered everything from farm tractors and stationary generators to trucks and buses (including the 1948 GM bus on which Rosa Parks made her historic stand). GM produced variants with two, three, four, six, eight, twelve, sixteen, and twenty-four cylinders, practically guaranteeing there was a Detroit Diesel in whatever size and with whatever horsepower a customer required.
For 40 years, this GM 6-71 engine provided faithful service aboard Jacques Cousteau's ship Calypso / THF802646
The Henry Ford's Detroit Diesel just so happened to be used on one of the most celebrated scientific vessels of the 20th century: Calypso, the former World War II minesweeper converted into a floating laboratory by French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. From 1950 through 1997, Calypso traveled the world's oceans for Cousteau's research, and for shooting many of his documentary television series and films. Calypso even visited the Great Lakes in 1980, when it traveled from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River to Duluth, Minnesota, some 2,300 miles away.
It's important to note that The Henry Ford's engine was not Calypso's source of propulsion. The ship's propellers were driven by two eight-cylinder General Motors diesel engines. Our six-cylinder engine was one of two units that ran the generators that produced electricity. Our engine didn't make the boat go, but it kept the lights on — arguably just as important a task. Of course, it wasn't just lights. Calypso's electric generators powered pumps, hydraulic systems, steering mechanisms, radar and navigation devices, and video equipment, among other necessities.
By the time our engine was decommissioned in 1981, it had been used on Calypso for 40 years, with an estimated 100,000 service hours under its belt. Calypso received two brand-new Detroit Diesel engines as part of a wider refurbishment in anticipation of a voyage to the Amazon River. General Motors gifted the decommissioned engine to The Henry Ford in 1986.
Vintage illustrations, like this one from a 1939 GM manual, guided efforts to conserve the Calypso engine. / THF721888
Through the IMLS grant project, conservators were able to clean the engine of accumulated dirt and dust, treat worn paint, and stabilize damaged gauges and controls. We were also able to replace a long-missing panel surrounding the starter button. Using period General Motors catalogs and manuals in the Benson Ford Research Center, we were able to design and 3D-print a new surround. Once the panel was painted to match, it became visually indistinguishable from the engine's original metal components. (Conservator notes, and inscriptions on the pieces themselves, identify replacement parts so as not to cause confusion in the future.) With that work done, the engine was photographed and given a new and much improved set of digital images on the website.
The Calypso Detroit Diesel is only the first of many important artifacts that will benefit from the IMLS grant and our ongoing work in the Central Storage Building. Stay tuned for future stories. It's a project that promises to be its own voyage of discovery.
This blog was produced by Matt Anderson, Curator of Transportation, and Aimee Burpee, Associate Curator at The Henry Ford.
Selma is a sleepy little town in Alabama that has an extraordinary history. Located on the shores of the Alabama River in the heart of Dallas County, Selma is also home to the Jackson family.
Dr. Sullivan Jackson met Miss Richie Jean Sherrod at a family picnic the summer of her junior year in 1953. The meeting was brief, but Dr. Jackson was smitten, and he called Miss Sherrod the next day and asked her for a date. The two started dating steadily after that.
Dr. Sullivan and Richie Jean Jackson on their wedding day, March 15, 1958. / THF708474
While Richie Jean attended college in Montgomery, Sullivan would often drive over to see her, and they would go out to eat and spend time together. After Richie Jean graduated from college in 1954, the situation changed as both tried to navigate their worlds and have successful careers, and the two decided to end their relationship. But the universe had different plans. After a time, they were soon back together, and on March 15, 1958, they were married and began to create a life together that would shape their roles in civil rights and voting rights activism in ways they never imagined.
Dr. Sullivan and Richie Jean Jackson on their wedding day with family. / THF708475
It was March 1965, and many thought the fight for civil rights was over. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been signed the year before, and many wrongs had been righted. However, the fight for equality and the right to vote was far from over. Things would reach a point where the president at the time, Lyndon Baines Johnson, would address Congress and demand something be done.
The movement for voting rights spread throughout the South in the United States, but its center was Selma, Alabama. In February 1965, a group of activists and protestors gathered outside Zion United Methodist Church in Marion, Alabama, about 26 miles northwest of Selma. One such protester was Jimmie Lee Jackson. Though they share a last name, he is not related to that Jackson family of Selma. He was at the protest with his mother, Viola Jackson, and his grandfather, Cager Lee. While trying to protect his mother from the escalation in violence, Jimmie Lee was shot twice in the stomach by Alabama State Trooper James Fowler. Eight days later, he died from his wounds.
The death of Jimmie Lee Jackson became one of the factors in the march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights. The first attempt at this march resulted in Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965. That event and the subsequent Turnaround Tuesday March on March 9, 1965, led to President Johnson giving one of the most powerful speeches in support of his presidency.
Life Magazine, dated March 26, 1965, discusses the Voting Rights Movement and President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s March 15, 1965, speech throwing his support behind the Voting Rights Act. / THF715927
It was March 15, 1965, when members of the Jackson family and guests gathered in their homes to listen to President Johnson give this speech. This was also the seventh wedding anniversary for “Sully” and Richie Jean. The President began:
“At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.”
His words bring back memories of the American Revolution and the Civil War, two events in which the country fought for freedom. As the president continues with The American Promise speech, he brings up the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson while discussing the violence inflicted upon those who merely wish to register to vote.
Life Magazine, dated March 26, 1965. / THF715929
The speech was written by writer and presidential advisor Richard Goodwin, who also worked for President John F. Kennedy. The President had decided on Sunday, March 14, that he would address the country the next night, March 15. Goodwin was assigned to write the speech at the last moment and had only eight hours to write. As a Jewish American, Goodwin pulled from his own experiences with anti-Semitic prejudice and discrimination.
The American Promise, more commonly known as the “We Shall Overcome” speech, hits on historic and contemporary moments leading to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Invoking Patrick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” to the Declaration of Independence's statement that “All men are created equal,” the speech is the argument. It makes the case for a Voting Rights Act.
The President spoke about the barriers that had been put in place on Black Americans, from poll taxes to literacy tests, while also invoking the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, which guaranteed Black men the right to vote. This right was not always upheld.
The speech was 48 minutes and 53 seconds long. Seventy million Americans watched it, including the Jackson family and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The White House received 1,436 telegrams of support and 82 telegrams against the idea of a Voting Rights Act, and LBJ was interrupted over 40 times for applause.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr watched President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s speech from the living room of the Jackson Home on March 15, 1965. Photo feature in Life Magazine, March 26, 1965. / THF715931
In his speech, the President discussed the need for the Voting Rights Act, his intention to push Congress to pass it, and how passing that act fulfills an American promise to all citizens to be able to vote for their leaders.
Pulling from a song that had become the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, President Johnson signaled that he heard the activists working on the ground in Selma and would answer the call. And the speech that reiterated the American promise forever would be known by a different name: We Shall Overcome.
“Their cause must be our cause too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.”
The full text of the speech can be found courtesy of The American Presidency Project.
A video excerpt of the speech can be found at the LBJ Presidential Library.
Heather Bruegl (Oneida/Stockbridge-Munsee) is the Curator of Political and Civic Engagement at The Henry Ford. This blog is part of a series exploring the history of the Jackson Home, opening in Greenfield Village, 2026.
IBM Selectric Typewriter designed by Eliot Noyes in 1961. / THF802461
In August 2024, a monumental design collection arrived at the doors of The Henry Ford after an international journey nearing 600 miles. The collection was donated by the Stewart Program for Modern Design in Montreal, Canada, and represents decades of collecting by founder and philanthropist Liliane Stewart alongside her incredible staff, especially curator David Hanks and registrar Angéline Dazé. While Liliane Stewart and her husband, David, had a longstanding formal relationship with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (a pavilion named for the Stewarts houses a significant design collection donated by them in 1999), this portion of the considerable collection was offered to The Henry Ford upon the closing of the Stewart Program for Modern Design in 2024.
This poster, entitled “A Lot of People are Waiting for Martin Luther King... We Are It. It is Up to Us. It is Up to You. Marian Wright Edelman” was created by graphic designer Gail Anderson in 2018. / THF721539
The Stewart Program Collection at The Henry Ford includes over 500 objects, a library of more than 100 books and 500 periodicals, and an archive nearing 40 linear square feet. As design touches nearly every area of the museum, so too does this collection. The range in object type is vast — from ceiling lamps to bicycle helmets, teapots to stools, studio glass to adding machines and more, and spans over 140 years of design history, from the 1880s through 2020. The designers and companies represented in this donation are also remarkably wide-ranging and include some of the most celebrated names in design, as well as successful works by unknown designers. They were created by designers of various nationalities and manufactured in a range of countries —but every object had significant impact on American society and American design, through its retail availability on the American market or through its prominence and influence on American designers, reflecting the trajectory of globalization in design.
“Alaska” Vase by Italian designer Ettore Sottsass, 1982 / THF802469
The Henry Ford and the Stewart Program for Modern Design have compatible philosophies in collecting design. Both institutions hold a deep respect for design’s role in the everyday lives of people, in the problem-solving nature of good design, and the practice of prioritizing design in its cultural context. The Stewart Program Collection fits serendipitously within the museum’s existing holdings, while also stretching, expanding, and deepening the collection as well as pushing into new areas.
This Model 4706 Electric Clock, 1933-1934 by Gilbert Rohde was exhibited at the 1933-1934 Century of Progress International Exposition with the 3317 series furniture collection, also designed by Rohde. The Henry Ford holds numerous pieces from the 3317 series, including this dresser which is on display in the Fully Furnished exhibit. / THF802510
Collections Connection
In numerous instances, the objects donated by the Stewart Program happily supplement the strengths of our collections. For instance, The Henry Ford has an especially strong collection of furniture by pioneering designer Gilbert Rohde for the Herman Miller Furniture Company, including much of the bedroom set Rohde designed for the “Design for Living House” at the 1933-1934 Century of Progress International Exposition. However, we lacked the table clock exhibited in the bedroom. But as luck would have it, that particular clock was included in the Stewart Collection donation. Reuniting these objects that were designed to coexist will allow us to tell a fuller story about this moment in design history.
Numerous posters designed by Paula Scher were donated by the Stewart Program for Modern Design, including this “Blade to the Heat” poster designed for the New York Public Theatre in 1994. / THF802482
Designed by Women
In 2018, the staff of the Stewart Program for Modern Design embarked upon their Designed by Women project, which encompassed an ambitious new acquisitions program of objects designed by women, an expansive website, and digital exhibitions. Highlighting women designers across the globe from 1910 to 2024, the project has become a resource for the design profession as it showcases both well-known and lesser-known designers. Similarly, The Henry Ford has been working in recent years to expand representation of women in the design collections, with recent acquisitions like Lucia DeRespinis’ Beehive Lamp, Evelyn Ackerman’s Campesina Tapestry, and Gloria Caranica’s Rocking Horse. Many of the objects acquired by the Stewart Program for Modern Design for this project were donated to The Henry Ford, expanding our collection of objects designed by women, including a large collection of posters by pioneering graphic designed Paula Scher, a teapot by Edith Heath of Sausalito, California-based Heath Ceramics, a pendant necklace by Indigenous jewelry artist Angie Reano Owen, and many more.
Paula Scher’s “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk” Poster, 1995 (left), Edith Heath Teapot, c. 1944 (center), Shell Necklace by Angie Reano Owen, 2014 (right). / Images courtesy of the Stewart Program for Modern Design
Check out the Selections from the Stewart Collection expert set for more information about some of the objects donated by the Stewart Program for Modern Design.
Eva Zeisel’s “Town & Country” Teapot, Teacups, and Saucers, c. 1945 / THF802477
Katherine White is Curator of Design at The Henry Ford. This blog post was adapted and expanded from the January-June 2025 issue of The Henry Ford Magazine.
Personal Reflection by Lyn St. James
Lyn St. James / THF58579
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, I recently also celebrated my 50th year in motorsports, which has enabled me to reflect on not only my career, but the careers of other women in motorsports, and to take stock of what progress has, or maybe has not, been made in these last five-plus decades. While women have been racing since the early 1900s, it wasn’t until the 1960s that women started to make some noise and show up at the track letting folks know they were to be reckoned with. The one who made the most noise and rattled the grid in drag racing was Shirley Muldowney, who was the first female racer to earn a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Top Fuel drag racing license and went on to win three championships, becoming the first person to win two and then three Top Fuel titles. Yes, there were other successful women racers before Shirley, but no one had the ongoing success for many decades.
Drag Racer Shirley Muldowney, 1983 / THF624819
The next most notable female racer was Janet Guthrie, who was the first woman to race in the Indianapolis 500 (1977, '78, '79) and the first woman to compete in the NASCAR Daytona 500 (1977). Janet was an aerospace engineer who was also a pilot and started racing as an amateur in the 1960s in the Sports Car Club of America before being contacted by a car owner to attempt to race in the Indianapolis 500 in 1976. Remember the 1970s was when the women’s lib movement was getting into full swing, so some folks were looking for ways to either give women an opportunity to show their stuff, or on the contrary to set them up to fail when trying to compete in a male-dominated sport.
Janet Guthrie with Lola-Cosworth Race Car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 1978 / THF140173
So let me explain a little bit about the unique sport of auto racing. Yes, it’s male dominated because more men showed interest over time and in the early years it was a way to demonstrate vehicle dynamics and capabilities, and since it was an expensive sport, it also took men of means to have the resources to race cars. The women who raced in those early years were often married to or widowed by these men of means. Some women were successful, but it was rare. While it takes considerable physical strength to drive a race car, it is not a sport where physical strength determines the outcome of the race. Flying, equestrian events, shooting, archery, and sailing are other good examples of these sports.
When I started racing in 1974 I really had no idea what I was getting into, but I knew I liked to drive fast and was intrigued with the concept of being able to get behind the wheel (race car) and be anonymous, because it was more about that “car” won the race, rather than the driver. When I watched Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in a tennis match on national television in front of 60 million people, I think that inspired me to “go for it” and try to become a race car driver.
Denise McCluggage at Bahamas Speed Weeks, November-December 1959 / 2009.158.N.591104.1
What excites me today is that there are so many women, young and old, who are showing up and racing cars, motorcycles, airplanes, sailboats, horses, and more. And they are winning again and again and sticking around to continue to learn their craft and earn the respect of competitors, fans, and industry leaders.
- There have been nine women who have raced in the Indianapolis 500 since the first 500-mile race in 1911. There have been only 796 drivers to ever compete in this historic race!
- There are more women racers competing in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) than in any other professional racing series, and 23 women have won championships, with the most being won by six-time champion Erica Enders in the Pro Stock Division.
- It is estimated that over 50% of Jr. Dragsters (between the ages of 5-17 years) are females.
- There are more women on podiums around the world than ever before.
- There are women holding leadership positions in motorsports, such as Latasha Causey, President of Phoenix Raceway; Julie Giese, CEO of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race; Connie Nyholm, CEO Virginia International Raceway; Susie Wolff, Managing Director of the F1 Academy; and Deborah Mayer, Founder of the Iron Dames and Iron Lynx race teams.
- There are many women lead engineers in motorsports, such as Angela Ashmore, Chip Ganassi Racing IndyCar team; Laura Muller, Haas Racing F1 team; Hannah Schmitz, Red Bull Principal Strategy Engineer; Kate Gundlach, McLaren Racing Performance Engineer; Amelia Lewis, McLaren Racing Performance Engineer; and Leena Gade, Multimatic Engineer who was the first female lead engineer to win LeMans for Audi.
- This year Betty Skelton is being inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. Betty was an aerobatics pilot, a land speed record holder, test driver, and automotive advertising executive. She is among only five women in motorsports inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, joining Janet Guthrie, Shirley Muldowney, Denise McCluggage, and myself, and among the 25 men and women from motorsports.
Betty Skelton at Daytona Beach, 1956 / Courtesy Lyn St. James
When men and women compete together and against each other in sports at the highest level where physical strength is necessary but does not define the results, it demonstrates to the world that there are opportunities for women to compete and contribute to the benefit of making the team better, the business better, the industry better. We have much to celebrate but also plenty of work to do.
There is a saying that is so true: If you can see it, you can be it! Because of the increased participation of women in motorsports, and with the increased awareness of women in sports, in nontraditional roles, and in male-dominated fields, more young girls and women are now seeing what’s possible!
To find more information you can go to: www.womeninmotorsportsna.com.
Lyn St. James is a seven-time competitor in the Indianapolis 500 and co-founder of Women in Motorsports North America.
Think about the dishes, bowls, and mugs you often see in diners and restaurants. What are they like? And why are they designed that way? Diner or restaurant ware is typically made from porcelain or stoneware that has been “vitrified,” turning the material into a glass-like substance via high heat and fusion alongside the glaze.
Restaurant ware is designed for practicality. It is thick and sturdy with smooth and rounded contours, which offers a range of benefits. Restaurant ware is durable, less prone to breaking and chipping, and better at retaining heat to keep food warm. It also can handle extreme temperature changes. The vitrification process minimizes silverware marks on the surfaces, keeps harmful chemicals from leaching into food through food-safe glazes, and resists staining and odors. Plus, the glazes are easy to clean, commercial dishwasher safe, and maintain their glossy finish after many washes.
Stacks of plates, saucers, and bowls at the ready for guests at Lamy’s Diner in Henry Ford Museum. / Photo by Aimee Burpee
History of Restaurant Ware
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, people dining outside the home became more common. Early restaurants and diners served meals on fragile porcelain, porous earthenware, or glass not designed to handle the wear and tear of heavy daily use. As a result, pottery companies began experimenting with stoneware, first creating “semi-vitreous” pieces before moving to fully “vitreous” (or glass-like) ceramics.
Customers eating and drinking using commercial restaurant ware at the counter inside Lamy’s Diner at its original location in Marlborough, Massachusetts. / THF114397
Buffalo Pottery
One of the first and most notable companies to pursue this industry was Buffalo Pottery, based in Buffalo, New York. Founded in 1901 by soap manufacturer John Larkin, the company initially aimed to produce wares that could be given away as premiums for purchasers of his soap products. Buffalo Pottery produced its first restaurant ware pieces in 1903.
The blue-plate special – a discount-price meal that changed daily – seems to have been named after the plate that it could be served on. This plate with divided sections was made by Buffalo China circa 1930. / THF370830
Incorporated in 1940, Buffalo Pottery changed its name to Buffalo China Inc. in 1956. In 1983, It became a subsidiary of American tableware company Oneida, Ltd. After more than a century of manufacturing, the Buffalo factory was sold in 2004, marking the end of its production.
Buffalo Pottery was also known for its art pottery, decorated by artists and craftspeople to showcase artistic aspirations on utilitarian pieces like this candlestick decorated by Mabel Gerhardt in 1911. / THF176916
Syracuse China Company
Another significant manufacturer in restaurant ware production was Syracuse China Company, which originated as the Onondaga Pottery Company in 1871 in Syracuse, New York. The company initially made non-vitrified dinnerware, used both in homes and in restaurants. In 1896 they introduced vitrified stoneware with a rolled edge. By 1924 Syracuse China built a factory dedicated to manufacturing only commercial ware
After World War II, many US corporations, like General Motors, built engineering and manufacturing campuses that included employee cafeterias. Companies such as Syracuse China made dishes, bowls, and mugs or cups with companies’ logos for use in these cafeterias. / THF194982
Syracuse China made dishes for Sears Coffee Houses, small diner-style eateries inside Sears department stores. / THF195542
In 1966 Onondaga Pottery Company officially changed its name to Syracuse China Corporation. In 1993 it became Syracuse China Company, before being acquired in 1995 by Libbey, Inc. a U.S.-based glass manufacturer. By 2009 all production was moved out of North America, bringing an end to 138 years of production in Syracuse.
Restaurant Ware Patterns
Restaurant ware was typically plain or minimally decorated with color and simple patterns. Many companies produced similar designs, allowing diners and restaurants to easily buy replacements or additional pieces from a variety of manufacturers. One popular design was a white background with one to three green stripes.
The white with green stripes pattern on a bowl by Homer Laughlin China Company, 1966 (left) and on a divided plate by Buffalo China Company, 1952 (right). / THF197347 (left), THF197410 (right)
A variation on the green-and-white theme was a design of wave-like or scallops along the rims of bowls, plates, or mugs. Shenango China, America’s second-largest manufacturer of food service wares, called their pattern Everglade. Buffalo China offered a version called Crest Green, while Mayer China referred to theirs as Juniper, and Syracuse China called it Wintergreen.
Shenango China Co.’s Everglade pattern on a cup and saucer, 1961 / THF102560
Another distinctive pattern called “Pendleton” featured a deep ivory or tan base with three stripes: red, yellow, and green. This design was likely inspired by blankets manufactured by Pendleton Woolen Mills since the early 1900s. The Glacier National Park blanket’s colors and markings are reminiscent of those distributed at frontier trading posts in exchange for furs.
Pendleton-pattern ware on display in Henry Ford Museum (left), and a Buffalo China Company cup. / Photo by Aimee Burpee (left), THF197343 (right)
Victor Mugs
Picture a mug of coffee at your local diner. Is it a mug that looks like this?
Victor Insulator mug from the Rosebud Diner in Somerville, Massachusetts. / THF197331
In the late 19th century, Fred M. Locke started Locke Insulator Company (later Victor Insulators) in Victor, New York, to manufacture glass and ceramic insulators for electrical and telegraph wires. By the mid-1930s, the plant in Victor had been retooled with four new kilns when the company was considering expanding into heavy-duty, high-quality dinnerware.
Ceramic and glass insulator made by Locke’s company in Victor, New York, circa 1898, and used on early transmission lines in the San Joaquin Valley, California. / THF175272
When WWII broke out, the U.S. government put out a call for durable dinnerware for use aboard naval ships. The Navy needed coffee mugs that were less likely to slide off surfaces, but if they did, could withstand the fall. Victor Insulators won the contract and began producing thick-walled, straight-sided handleless mugs, each with a rough ring on the bottom. Drawing the company's expertise in insulator technology, these mugs were crafted from high-quality clays fired at 2,250°F. The mugs proved so successful with the Navy that Victor quickly began making mugs with handles for the war effort. The handles were attached by one of three women employed at the factory for that specific task. The mug’s design also evolved, with the introduction of curved sides that made it easier to grip. After the war, these durable mugs were in high demand for diners and restaurants across the United States.
For several decades, Victor mugs were a staple of American dining. But by the 1980s, cheap knockoffs flooded the market, and Victor Insulators found it difficult to compete. By 1990 the company phased out the mugs, although they continue to produce ceramic insulators to this day.
Hot coffee and slice of cherry pie served at Lamy’s Diner on Homer Laughlin China Company mug and plate. / Photo by Aimee Burpee
Aimee Burpee is Associate Curator at The Henry Ford
Through mid-April 2025, the What We Wore exhibit in Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation presents fashionable 1950s cocktail attire. / THF802492
Cocktail parties were the essence of sophistication in the 1950s. Throwing a cocktail party — whether to impress business associates or entertain neighbors — was the “in” thing to do. The American economy was expanding, people were moving to the suburbs, and a return to traditional gender roles put women back in the home as full-time homemakers. Entertaining after work and on weekends became an essential part of business and neighborhood life. Hosts relished showing off their skills as they impressed guests with trendy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.
Elegantly informal — and often, aspirational — cocktail parties were part of a "see and be seen" culture where every social event had a dress code. For cocktail parties, men wore a dark suit, white shirt, and a tie. Proper attire for women? Stylish semi-formal dresses with either full skirts or slender silhouettes — a polished look, but not overly extravagant.
Suit, 1948. Made by Guild Commander for The Hub department store, Baltimore, Maryland. / THF802440. Gift of American Textile History Museum, donated to ATHM by Robert M. Vogel.
Attending cocktail parties was a must to climb the corporate ladder.
Cocktail dress & jacket, about 1958. Ruth McCulloch, Hubbard Woods and Evanston, Illinois. / THF162635. Gift in Memory of Augusta Denton Roddis.
Cocktail dress, about 1952. Christian Dior, Paris, France. / THF29329. Gift of Mrs. Harvey Firestone, Jr.
French couture houses continued to dictate high fashion during the 1950s.
Cocktail dress, about 1959. Possibly made by Catherine Prindle Roddis, Marshfield, Wisconsin. / THF160845. Gift in Memory of Augusta Denton Roddis.
The “little black dress” has become a wardrobe essential — a simple, versatile, elegant dress that can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion.
The right drinks and food helped guarantee cocktail party success. Handbooks provided helpful advice and recipes for eager hosts and hostesses. National Distillers Products Corporation, 1955-1960. / THF720273
Jeanine Head Miller, Curator of Domestic Life at The Henry Ford.
Greenfield Village is host to a plethora of gardens, both floral and vegetable. The Living History and Agricultural teams are responsible for the historic growing spaces to produce the vegetables, fruits, dye materials, and herbs that our ancestors would have relied on — spanning from 1760 through 1930. These items are grown in both kitchen gardens and fields. We can learn from these sustainable systems, and from those that came before us, to make educated decisions for our modern home gardens. Firestone Farm is an excellent example, as it has the most comprehensive growing space, and guests can see the process from farm to table.
Firestone Farm kitchen garden / Photo courtesy of Morgan Lewerenz
The kitchen garden has been the heart of the growing space for home use for many centuries. During the 19th century, the vegetables, herbs, and fruit grown in the kitchen garden were the first used in the house for daily meals. When there was abundance — much of which was planned — then produce would be used in preservation recipes. The cycle of the kitchen garden is just as necessary for human consumption as it is for the annual rehabilitation of the growing space. Gardens serve the home during the growing season and in turn, we give back to the gardens when the plot is uncultivated during the winter. During the cold season, animal waste on the tilled land as well as distribution of compost as the ground begins to warm prepare the garden for the next year of production. Likewise, kitchen scraps could equally go back to the compost and the hogs, providing sustenance for the future. Many agricultural manuals of the time also include instructions on how to use objects on the farm and surrounding lands to build structures in the garden. Guests will often see A-frames and trellises in the gardens made by branches that have fallen and been repurposed.
The field at Firestone Farm / Photo courtesy of Morgan Lewerenz
The field is the backbone of the growing spaces for a farm. This space is often planted with row crops for cellar storage, food for animals, and grains that could be sold. The Firestone Agriculture team includes Turkey Red winter wheat in their annual plantings based on research into the Firestone family in the 1880s. This sellable crop would have been planted in late fall and come spring clover could be broadcasted over the wheat to help minimize weeds from developing. After wheat harvest in mid-summer, the clover would be plowed into the ground to help replenish the soil with nitrogen. Another soil replenishing cover crop, like buckwheat, could be planted between harvest and planting. The buckwheat would then be tilled into the soil before replanting the next season's wheat. Crops like corn were often planted with pumpkins, a testament of Indigenous knowledge of sustainability. The "three sisters" method of planting allowed for the best use of space in the field and the best support system for the crops planted. Guests can see how the Firestone team grows pumpkins in the corn field for that same efficiency as both are harvested at the same time.
"Three sisters" planting at Firestone / Photo courtesy of John Forintos
Composting was essential to the success of growing spaces on 19th-century farms. Many period manuals instructed farmers to use their "thoroughly rotted and rich compost" to supplement nutrients in their garden spaces. The current Firestone teams use a combination of animal and produce waste to create their compost and have even been working with the new biodigester at Stand 44 to supplement plant matter to help keep the mixture balanced. Manure also has to go through a stage of composting before it can be useful in the garden. Guests can see the consistent manure heap, often steaming, near the barn ramp. The manure has to be regularly turned and watered — just like a compost pile. Similarly, the farm team uses a technique called "hard packing" for the animal pens during the winter. This practice allows the manure to be covered with straw, creating layers of buildup throughout the winter. Pens stay clean with additional straw and the animals benefit from the warmth of the straw-manure layers starting to ferment. Then in the spring, pens are deep cleaned and the mature manure/bedding is added to the pile adjacent to the barn ramp.
The Living History and Agriculture teams are using historic methods to care for the growing spaces in Greenfield Village, but this is knowledge that has been around for hundreds of years and much of it is still being used today. We hope that today's gardeners can be inspired by our ancestors to try out some new-old sustainable practices at home!
Turkey Red winter wheat at Firestone Farm / Photo courtesy of John Forintos
Emily Sovey is manager of Living History
John Forintos is manager of Historic Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry and Town Life
Morgan Lewerenz is master farmer of Historic Agriculture
Kelly Salminen is a Firestone Farm program specialist
Author and filmmaker Nelson George leans into a discussion about how obstacles, objects and observation are the makings of a good story
Nelson George has had an amazing career. He’s an author. A screenplay writer. A filmmaker. An award-winning journalist. And he’s not done yet.
Photo by Erik Tanner/Contour by Getty Images
Broadly speaking, much of George’s professional portfolio has been focused on the documentation of the Black experience in America. His publication record includes both novels and celebrated nonfiction works like Where Did Our Love Go?: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound and Blackface: Reflections on African-Americans and the Movies. He also has credits as a writer and producer on Netflix's The Get Down and has co-written screenplays for iconic 1990s films including Strictly Business and CB4 starring Chris Rock.
Over the decades, George has built upon his skills as a prolific storyteller. He has an unwavering understanding of the human condition from myriad angles and readily relies on his keen observation skills to bring stories of people overcoming obstacles and realizing their dreams to the page and screen.
Recently, Kristen Gallerneaux, curator and editor-in-chief, and Jennifer LaForce, The Henry Ford Magazine’s managing editor, had the opportunity to talk with George as he begins to contemplate and activate his approach to documenting the next chapters in the story of the Dr. Sullivan and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson House, one of the newest acquisitions of The Henry Ford. This Selma, Alabama, home provided a safe haven where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and hundreds of others invested in the Voting Rights Movement worked, collaborated and strategized the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965 (learn more). George will be creating a documentary about the house’s significance to the Long Civil Rights Movement, the backstory of its move from Selma, Alabama, to Dearborn, Michigan, and its reconstruction in Greenfield Village (learn more).
Kristen Gallerneaux: You’ve worked within many forms of media during your career — as an author, a screenplay writer, filmmaker, documentarian, journalist. What have you learned about people and their relationships with one another?
Nelson George: The way that people relate to each other is through story. Think about the people we meet. We ask where they’re from. They tell you “I came from here. I went there. I got married. I got divorced.” Whatever our stories, they are the unifying way that we communicate with each other.
In any medium I work in — whether it’s a book or a movie or a documentary or some other form of storytelling — it’s all about finding the beginning, finding the middle and finding the end. And I think that people relate to each other best when they feel there’s a story that they can connect to.
It’s kind of funny. I do a class once a year in London at different institutions for young artists. It originally started out as a screenwriting class. What I’ve noticed over time is that there are so many different technologies at work today to tell a story — from TikTok to AI — but ultimately it’s about engaging people. I try to teach that if you start off with a star, and then tell how that star was born and then share that star’s journey, that’s the best way to engage someone. For me, the one thing I take away from all the different work I’ve done in all the myriad of forms is that whether it’s about love, an athlete or politics, people really connect when you’re able to communicate in a story form. Tell a story well, and you can bring almost anybody into your world and into your space, and make them connect with you.
Jennifer LaForce: What are some of the nuances of successful storytelling? Those skills and expertise that you use to make that connection with people?
Nelson George: It’s all about the obstacles, because obstacles create goals. When you engage with anybody’s story, whether it’s Willie Mays coming out of the Jim Crow South trying to become a major league baseball player or Michael Jackson who is making an album and knows that the record industry and formats like MTV are very reluctant to play Black artists. Or if it’s Tupac Shakur. Working as an executive producer on the Dear Mama docuseries (editor’s note: focused on the lives of activist Afeni Shakur and her son, musician Tupac Shakur), there were a big number of challenges to explore. Not only how do you overcome a life of poverty, but also your mother is a political figure — and a radical political figure at that — and how does that jive with your commercial career as a recording artist? What are the contradictions in that?
Anytime you have a story with an obstacle, it’s about the “what happens next.” People are like, “Oh, what are you going to do?” Overcoming is a huge part of storytelling. It’s like when you have a love story. It may always end with the wedding, but there’s a whole bunch of obstacles in-between — whether they’re family, racial, financial, distance — before they’ve reached the goal. That’s why love stories are so compelling because we know the outcome we want to see, but what we want to know is “how do they get there?”
Kristen Gallerneaux: Speaking of obstacles, you’ve handled some of those stories rooted in the music scene. Thinking, for example, about your book Where Did Our Love Go?: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound. Why is it important in storytelling to understand what it means to be true to yourself?
Nelson George: I’m not sure that most people know what their authentic self is. I don’t think they know until they do something. It’s only in action that character is really truly defined. Decision reveals character, and so in any narrative, those moments of decision are the crucial ones.
I’m currently working on a book about a neighborhood in Brooklyn in the ‘80s and ‘90s that [film director] Spike Lee came out of, and the many decisions Spike made during this time. One that was the most important for the neighborhood was that while most young filmmakers with a successful first film would have gotten an office in Manhattan to run a production company, he decided on a spot, literally, like five blocks from his house. By having the production company in Brooklyn in 1987, it helped transform the neighborhood. People had to come to meetings in Brooklyn. His crews wanted to be close to where the work was, so they moved to Brooklyn. Actors working with Spike started staying in the neighborhood. All of a sudden, the neighborhood becomes “cool,” because Spike is there.
That one decision against the orthodoxy, which is Manhattan, has a tremendous effect on a neighborhood and a generation of artists. Some make the argument that Spike deciding to stay in Brooklyn is one of the key things that led Brooklyn to becoming this kind of cool cultural center.
It’s about decisions you’re making, not knowing what the ramifications are going to be later down the road, right? There’s a certain fearlessness to it. There are always unintended consequences of your decisions — sometimes good, sometimes bad — but when we make decisions, we’re making them based on the information we have and in light of our own desires. You just never know what that’s going to do, how that’s going to ripple.
Picking up further on that … You know Berry Gordy could have decided he’s just a songwriter, and he’d have been a success. He’d written songs for Jackie Wilson that were hits, and he could have easily moved to New York and tried to get in the Brill Building and become one of those songwriters. Instead, he opened up the spot [Motown’s Hitsville U.S.A.] on West Grand Boulevard. He made a decision to stay home, and that decision transforms his career — and Detroit.
Kristen Gallerneaux: It’s amazing the breadth of publications that you have, shifting between fiction as well as really deep, scholarly nonfiction and these poetic portraits of well-known characters. And let’s extend that out to your screenwriting credits as well — I know that you worked on The Get Down and Strictly Business, which is iconic. Have you ever had difficulties bringing a character or a subject to life? And on the flip side of that, how do you do it, functionally?
Nelson George: I think it goes back to obstacles. On The Get Down, for example, we had these young artists who were not even really artists yet. They were just kids who wanted to perform or wanted to get out of the Bronx. One of the things we did in the first episode was to introduce a record — the rarest record in New York. That “device” then allows you to meet the lead characters in the story.
Baz Luhrmann, who executive produced The Get Down, came into our office one day and he did a whole lecture on devices. Devices, in a film way, is an object of desire, or for the characters, an object that becomes symbolic of a larger search for identity. It’s a really great technique in terms of trying to figure out how to get a story going. Give someone a goal, but not just a general goal — a specific goal that involves an object.
Think about The Maltese Falcon, the famous detective story. Or the guy in Citizen Kane. He’s looking for Rosebud. If you look at classic literature, classic films, often there is a device or a thing that actually becomes the “way” or what people are looking for. In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, it’s about these rings. They’re tangible. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing is about the pictures on the wall of Sal’s Famous Pizzeria in Brooklyn.
You have characters, you have goals, but what embodies them is wrapped around tangible pieces.
Kristen Gallerneaux: In The Get Down, it would also be the turntables and equipment that you need to learn to DJ, right?
Nelson George: Right! That’s tangibility. You have a goal and you’ve given your characters an object that becomes a representation of all their dreams.
Kristen Gallerneaux: I love that. It’s really interesting too, because people, even once they acquire that object, they make choices and decisions that can sway their life in any number of directions around that object. The goal tied to objects allows you to create character.
Nelson George: Yes. In general, I like to use reality to create. It’s where I’m more grounded. I’m taking from life, right? That to me is looking at things that have been done and seeing if there’s a way to do them differently. For example, I did a bunch of detective or noir novels. The first was called The Accidental Hunter. Basically, I saw the movie The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston, and asked myself, “What if she was white and the bodyguard was Black?” That very simple thought led to me writing that novel, and that led to me writing five more novels with the same character. Sometimes it’s just a matter of seeing something that was good or interesting, and looking at it from a different angle.
Jennifer LaForce: Not everyone is capable of that type of foresight or observation. Would you say you have strong observation skills?
Nelson George: That’s the beauty of growing up in New York: great people-watching. You can sit on a bench in the summertime or, for that matter, be on the subway and see so many people. “What kind of sneakers is he wearing? I’ve never seen those before.” You see a woman who’s got a shopping bag and you can tell that her nails have not been done in a while, and you go, “Oh, she’s a mother or working-class woman. She hasn’t had time to do her nails because she’s busy.” You start observing people, what’s particular about their attire or their body language and stories can begin to come from that. New York has been big in terms of the observation part of my career.
Jennifer LaForce: Were you always that observant person? That person who wanted to tell a story?
Nelson George: I remember reading Hemingway, The Nick Adams Stories, and thinking, well, he’s writing about a kid living in Michigan, and it’s very detailed. You know that Hemingway style — very descriptive — and you had to read through what he was seeing and feeling. That really stuck with me. When I was about 15, 16, 17, I started writing stories based on a character living in Brooklyn, and it was totally because of reading Hemingway and trying to mimic the masterful style. It definitely put me on a path that understood how external details of a place and of a person can be incredibly revealing. I give Hemingway a lot of credit as one of my influences in terms of harnessing observation.
Kristen Gallerneaux: As a seasoned storyteller, why is it important for us to tell stories of our past, keep our histories at the forefront?
Nelson George: History is a tool to understanding how we got to the places we are. I think that Americans in general have a very superficial sense of history, and they tend to make the same mistakes over and over again.
History can be extremely instructive in understanding why we’re in the positions we’re in, economically, culturally, government wise. At the same time, there are techniques that were employed in the past that are still applicable now. Yes the technology changes, but I don’t think the human condition changes necessarily as deeply, so there are ways in which we can use ideas and philosophies of the past to move forward. I also think history allows us to “see.” Going back to my comments about obstacles, we can see how obstacles that got in the way of individuals were overcome. That’s where the inspiration part comes in and where history can be so useful.
Any museum, particularly ones that are collecting objects from the past, can really inspire people, too. The scale of The Henry Ford is really kind of stunning in terms of that.
Kristen Gallerneaux: Yes! I think not only the scale but also the breadth of the collections of The Henry Ford are sometimes a shock to people. What role do you see institutions such as The Henry Ford playing in the documentation of everyday Black and African American culture and history?
Nelson George: We talked about Spike’s decision about Brooklyn. We’ve also talked about Berry Gordy in Detroit. These buildings, these sites, are really only significant because of a person’s decision to use them as a headquarters for potentially historic things.
At The Henry Ford, I see a building like the Jackson House representing a similar significant location.
Why was this place selected and why did Dr. King and his advisors think it was the right place to be? How did the Jackson family create an environment supportive of these efforts? How did their daughter, Jawana Jackson, realize the value of what happened in her home and document it and preserve it the best she could for over 50-plus years?
Greenfield Village has so many spaces like this that represent different moments in American history — that represent the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people to create a better America. Hopefully the Jackson House project will pay tribute to the efforts that took place there and the efforts that were made to maintain this structure.
Kristen Gallerneaux: We’re so lucky that Ms. Jawana Jackson and her husband, James Richie, believed in this project and maintained stewardship of the house and its stories over such a long period of time. I’m sure there were points of exhaustion as they dealt with the ambivalence that brought the house from Selma to Detroit in the first place.
Nelson George: In retrospect, they were not getting a lot of support from the state of Alabama. And those specific obstacles, they will definitely be a part of the storytelling of my film. What happened? Why was the house not supported? It’s one of the ways I hope to create empathy for Jawana’s and her husband’s efforts in the face of great indifference.
This post was adapted from an article in the Winter/Spring 2025 issue of The Henry Ford Magazine.
