| | Sloan Museum Premieres St. John Street Neighborhood Oral History Project December 19
Personal Interviews Chronical How a Vibrant, Diverse Flint Neighborhood was “Destroyed” during Urban Renewal and Unfair Practices of the 1960s
St. John Street Neighborhood Oral History Project will premiere on Sloan Museum of Discovery’s YouTube channel tonight. Part I premieres at 4 p.m. and part II starts at 4:15 p.m. This two-part documentary features interviews with residents who lived in the vibrant and diverse St. John Street neighborhood that existed in Flint, Michigan, east of the former Buick City complex. Through a series of unfair practices, urban renewal and building I-475, the neighborhood was destroyed and its residents dispersed. “They cut the soul out of what we established. They destroyed our unity,” said Charles Winfrey, one of the former residents of St. John Street Neighborhood featured in the documentary. The Sloan Museum's History Gallery currently has an exhibition on Fair Housing, Neighborhoods & Interstates in the history gallery that chronicles the practices that led to the neighborhood’s destruction.
The St. John Street Neighborhood Oral History Project was produced by Jamal Bransford of NaaVah Media and Jerome Threlkeld, Community Engagement Coordinator at Sloan Museum of Discovery. The documentary production was funded by the Community Foundation of Greater Flint and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Millage funding allows free general admission for all Genesee County residents. The Sloan Museum of Discovery is located at 1221 E. Kearsley Street, Flint, Michigan. Visitors can go to www.SloanMuseum.org/History-Gallery for tickets or more information.
ABOUT ST. JOHN STREET NEIGHBORHOOD St. John Street Neighborhood was established in the late 1800s in north Flint, east of the former Buick City complex. By the early 1900s, St. John was one of Flint’s two racially integrated neighborhoods without restrictive covenants that prevented people of color from buying and living in the homes. As the demand for labor grew in the automobile industry, the neighborhood grew quickly. Civic life revolved around the St. John Street Community Center and a 4.4 acre park and playground commissioned in the 1940s and 1950s. Through a series of City of Flint urban renewal plans that began in the 1960s, including the construction of I-475 in Flint, the St. John Neighborhood was eventually destroyed and its residents dispersed. The St. John Historical Committee, former residents who seek to preserve the significant history of the neighborhood, have been instrumental in keeping the memory of their neighborhood alive. In August 2021, The City of Flint sold the former St. John Street community Center parcel. Half of the revenue from this sale is now being reinvested into the St. John Street Neighborhood Memorial Park. For those wishing to contribute to the St. John Memorial Park fund, go to cfgf.org/stjohnstreet. |
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| Sloan Museum of Discovery
1221 E. Kearsley StreetFlint, MI 48503www.SloanMuseum.org |
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