Volume II The Public Viewing of Coleman Alexander Young, Museum of African American History, Detroit, 1997
30 8x10 gelatin silver contact prints
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Public Viewing, Museum of African American History, Detroit, 1997
30, 8 x 10 Gelatin Silver Contact Prints
Public Viewing is more like a public passing— the passing of people by the former mayor, the passage out, back to the open air—back to life. The doors are a metaphor for death itself, opening just enough, then too much. The circle of life, the ushering out of life, the reductive power of it all, to a small color photo on one side and a bio on the other. A remembrance of a day perhaps more than the man. A day when thousands stood in the freezing rain for one last glimpse. A chance for families to stay connected through their shared grief or celebration. Entering one space after leaving another, the doors anchor the commotion and direct the flow at a randomly dispersed rate; sometimes trickling, mostly pouring, constantly coming through another's life into their own.
-Marco Lorenzetti, 1998
“We must not let the doomsayers and naysayers cause us to lose faith in our city, in ourselves, and in each other. Much of the negative propaganda with which we are bombarded is calculated to disarm us. Without love and without hope there can be no future for anyone.”
-Coleman A. Young, 1918-1997
A longtime civil rights and social activist, Coleman Alexander Young won elections as Detroit’s first black mayor in 1973 and served an unprecedented five terms.
The oldest of five children of William Coleman and Ida Reese Young, Coleman Young was born May 24, 1918 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The family moved to Detroit in 1923. Coleman Young had a thirst for knowledge and excelled in school, graduating with honors from Detroit Eastern High School. Denied college scholarships because of his race, Young briefly attended technical school before going to work as an electrician’s apprentice in the auto industry and later as a postal worker. He got fired from those and other jobs for trying to organize labor unions. From 1942-46, he served in the U.S. Army and the Army Air Corps, becoming the first black bombardier. Young was part of the famous Tuskegee Airmen, the nation’s first all-black aviation unit.
After leaving the army, Coleman Young became director of organization for the Wayne County Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). He drew the attention of the U.S. House Un-American Activities committee in 1952 while serving as executive secretary of the National Negro Labor Council. His defiant testimony made him a hero to many Americans as he challenged the committee’s role in spying on and oppressing ordinary citizens.
Young served in the Michigan State Senate from 1964 until his election as mayor. His first mayoral campaign was a tight contest with white police brutality against black citizens a main issue. Young reformed the police department and made it a model for neighborhood crime prevention programs. He subsequently won reelection by wide margins and became one of the nation’s leading Democratic politicians. During 20 years in office, he was responsible for numerous downtown, riverfront, and neighborhood projects: the completion of the Renaissance Center, new auto plants, and a system of neighborhood recreation centers, Museum of African-American History, Victoria Park Subdivision and much more. He received the prestigious Spingard Medal in 1981 for distinguished achievement. Becoming a father late in life, Young soon came to enjoy parenthood. Shortly before retiring in 1993, he wrote an autobiography, Hard Stuff. He later joined the faculty of Wayne State University. Coleman Alexander Young died November 29, 1997 after a long illness. He left to cherish his memory a son, Coleman Young Jr.: two sisters, Bernice Grier and Juanita Clark; a host of nieces, nephews, and cousins; and a citizenry grateful for his years of public service.