00:00It is the all-new Morning Rollout with Leisha B. and Clay, and we are having a great time here
00:05at Greenfield Village.
00:06And honestly, you should be too, because not only is the historic Jackson home here, and you can walk through
00:11history,
00:11but there's also so many other amazing aspects of the block party that's happening until 5 p.m. today.
00:18Sage Sampson here with us right now.
00:20Sage, you were kind of tasked with, let's make this a block party, let's make this a thing.
00:25When you first heard about this, where did your head go?
00:29What were your initial thoughts?
00:30How did you want this to look?
00:33So when we were talking about planning a block party, a block party is about inviting the community out.
00:38It's about inviting your neighbors out, having everyone come together.
00:41And so it's one thing to invite guests to come to Greenfield Village and see what we have,
00:46but it's another thing to invite the whole community to come in.
00:49So we wanted to have participation from all around Metro Detroit.
00:53We have our Black-owned Business Market bringing people in.
00:55We have community organizations coming in.
00:58We have living historians coming in.
01:00We're partnering with other institutions all around so that we can really show what we can do,
01:05but also give other people the platform to show what they can do outside of us.
01:08And how incredible is it to go from the planning process to now reality,
01:13seeing all of the things that you and the team have worked so hard to create,
01:17like now you're literally witnessing it.
01:18How does it feel to now be here on the final day of the block party weekend?
01:23It's amazing to see the community support people coming out, not just to see the Jackson Home,
01:27but to be part of what we're trying to do here at Greenfield Village, and being able to see themselves
01:31here.
01:32We want to be able to be that place where everyone can see themselves represented at Greenfield Village.
01:37They think about the Henry Ford Museum.
01:39They think about Americana.
01:41Where do they fit in?
01:41And we're telling them, you fit in here.
01:43I love that.
01:44So we've spent a lot of time so far today just walking through the black business market,
01:49something that you worked hard to put together.
01:51We talked to Marcel earlier today as well.
01:54When you think about who you want to participate,
01:57what do you look for when you're thinking about businesses to be part of the black business market?
02:02I look for businesses that align well with what we already do here at Henry Ford Museum.
02:06We have a living history farm.
02:08We have a dye program where people can learn how to dye their own fabrics and dye their own yarns.
02:14And so we want to invite people in who are good for that aspect of it,
02:17but also people who are already doing good in the community.
02:20So we have those two sides.
02:21For example, we have Yarn Nerds, which really hits up the people who come here
02:24because they want to see our dye program.
02:26And how did you dye things historically in the 1760s?
02:29How are they dyeing things now?
02:30And where can they be crafty?
02:32But then also the people who work out in the community, like Bags to Butterflies.
02:35They work with women who have been recently released from prison.
02:38To get them into the job force and help them on their way as they transition back into regular life.
02:44I love how intentional you and your team have created this event,
02:48especially the living history aspect.
02:50Can you tell us a little bit about what you guys have done with that specifically?
02:55We're known for our living history programs here at the Henry Ford Museum or here at Greenfield Village.
03:00And for events like this, we get all of our houses active as much as we can,
03:04including homes like the Maddox Home, which tells the story of a black family living in 1927, Georgia.
03:10With our emancipation party, we've done our cakewalk over there.
03:13So if you've seen some people dancing about, those are our cakewalkers.
03:16We also partner with outside groups that come in, like the 102nd USCT Company C,
03:21to do some living history and tell us all about the history of black soldiers during the Civil War.
03:27Now, there are events planned all day long and right up until 5 o'clock.
03:32One of the bigger events, one of the things that we've talked a lot about with everybody is Juana Jackson
03:37is actually going to speak.
03:38How much interaction have you had with Juana and when it came to the vision of how this goes?
03:43Is that something to where she had input with you?
03:45You talked to her or how did that work?
03:48Yeah.
03:48I've spoken to Juana about how we interpret because I'm also the person who manages the presenter team here.
03:54And so it's really important that we carry her legacy and tell her story right.
03:58And I wanted to make sure that we were doing right by her every step of the way.
04:00I love that.
04:01And I love that there's also not only history that you can learn, but it's also fun as well.
04:07Yeah.
04:07Because I know that we're having a baseball party or a baseball game later.
04:11You know, the weathers that be are not vibing with us right now,
04:16but I hope that they vibe us enough to do, you know, a little diamond party or something.
04:21Sage, yeah, it's true because, Sage, do you believe in the Greenfield Village bubble?
04:24Is this a belief thing for you that the weather sometimes will split and we'll be safe?
04:30I'm going to hope it is because I'm really looking forward to the historic baseball game.
04:34We're also known for our historic baseball here.
04:36We're playing an 1869 rules game against Historic Hamtramck Stadium,
04:40which is a stadium that is vested in Negro League's history out of Hamtramck.
04:46And they've come here and they've partnered with us to have a game against us,
04:50Pythians versus Olympics, where the Olympics, Hamtramck is the Pythians,
04:54and we're going to be celebrating the history of early black baseball players.
04:57So hopefully the weather holds out so we can have that game go on.
05:00And if not, hopefully we're going to keep going and do this every single year
05:03so we can get maybe a little rivalry going and we can see who wins each game.
05:08Are you going to be a part of one of the players?
05:10I cannot play, but I can watch.
05:14And really that's all you have to do is come on out and watch
05:17and just soak it all in the atmosphere out of Greenfield Village.
05:21This whole weekend has just been, I don't want to say it's been electric.
05:25It's been a lot of excitement, but it's just been a lot of learning,
05:28a lot of things, stories that maybe people haven't heard before.
05:31Has there been anything that you've learned through this process
05:33that you were like, oh, my gosh, I can't believe I didn't know this?
05:38I think it is honestly the baseball game for me.
05:42I'm more of a living history person, not so much a sports person,
05:48but it goes to show how history can touch you in all these different ways.
05:52Because even though I'm not really sports-minded,
05:55learning more about the Pythians team, about how they were founded in the 1860s
05:59to uplift African-Americans during this pivotal time right after the Civil War,
06:03and the legacy of voting rights that goes along with the Pythians,
06:06about how their founders were voting rights organizers for African-Americans
06:10in Philadelphia in the 1860s and 1870s, it really pulls me in in a way
06:15that maybe just seeing a baseball game wouldn't have.
06:17Right.
06:18There you go.
06:19I'm telling you, this weekend is truly incredible,
06:21and if you are not here already, you are truly having FOMO
06:24and teasing peace to you, truly.
06:26I don't know what else to say.
06:27And I do want to say thank you so much for taking the time
06:31to curate something truly incredible.
06:33This is my first experience seeing something like this at Greenfield Village,
06:37and I love it.
06:38And I know that everyone else who will be here will also love what you've created.
06:42So thank you.
06:43Thank you, guys.
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