Not too long ago on The Saturday Six Pack, I talked with Ypsi Community Schools (YCS) art teacher Lynne Settles, local historian Matt Siegfried, an Ypsi High student by the name of Paris, and Jackson-based artist Douglas Jones about the work they’d done, along with several dozen YCS students, to create a new mural on the south side of Ypsi commemorating the incredible life and accomplishments of HP Jacobs, a runaway slave from Alabama who made his way to Ypsilanti, became a janitor at what is now Eastern Michigan University, and then went on to found both a church and a school for black children here, before heading back south for several years after the Civil War, where he served in the Mississippi State Senate, helped found what is now Jackson State University, and, at the age of 65, become a doctor. Well, as much as I’d like to think that, during our discussion, we collectively conveyed a sense of just how incredibly inspiring this project was, there’s really no substitute for seeing Ypsi’s young artists working on it firsthand. And, now, thanks to the folks at Dream Real Photo & Video, you can do just that… Check out this incredible piece of video.
[The HP Jacobs mural can be found on the side of Currie’s barbershop, at 432 Harriet Street, in Ypsilanti.]
