Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly suggested that the benefit event was being held at the Redford Theatre in Detroit.

Detroiter James E. Wheeler collected 40,000 pieces of Black independent film memorabilia, preserving the history of what is known as “race films” and more. Wheeler died in 2022, but his kids Alima Wheeler Trapp and Ali J. Wheeler started The Black Canon to preserve and show the collection.

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The Black Canon, with support from the Redford Theatre, is hosting its first benefit Art of the Ages, on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. at Taylor’d Garden in Livonia. The event will include an exhibition of rare Black films dating back to the 1920s. Brunch will also be served.

Redford Theatre Programmer and volunteer John Monaghan joined The Metro on Monday to discuss the collection and how you can see part of it this weekend.

“It all starts with my friendship with James Wheeler, who is sort of a well known figure in Detroit, really, for the last 40 or 50 years as an activist, as a collector, involved in theater,” Monaghan said. “He passed about three years ago. And his kids, Ali and Alima, they’ve taken on this amazing project of cataloging and preserving all the stuff that he collected over the years. And I’m talking about a lot of stuff. This is a warehouse that’s filled with, I compare it to that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, maybe a little smaller. But it’s just, it’s full of books and records and posters and magazines, toys, dolls, photos, and a lot of 16 millimeter film.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Monaghan.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 7, 2024:

• The rural landscape of West Tennessee is undergoing a massive change. That’s because Ford is building a “BlueOval City” complex that spans six square miles and is expected to bring 6,000 jobs to the area. Last week on Created Equal, Stephen Henderson spoke with Mason, Tennessee resident and BlueOval Good Neighbors member Shannon Whitfield and Tennessee for All Statewide Coordinator Rebekah Gorbea.
• The College For Creative Studies recently launched a Practicing Design Center meant to not only provide work experience for students, but also advance design efforts for Detroit nonprofits and organizations. Vice President of Strategy and Communications at CCS, Olga Stella, joined the show to discuss how the program will benefit students, nonprofits and small businesses in the city.
• Vesey Lane Goods is a Detroit small business that sells crafted goods and personalized items. But it’s also a space for artists and educators to connect and grow a community. Owner Robin Wilson joined the show to discuss how the space is fostering community. Author Jean Alicia Elster will give a talk and book signing at the store from 2 to 3:30 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 12.

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The Detroit Parks Coalition’s Freedom Arts Festival is celebrating the Buffalo Soldiers on Saturday at Rouge Park with a family-friendly blues festival.

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The Buffalo Soldiers were an all-Black U.S. Army unit that made a name for themselves during the 19th century. The Buffalo Soldiers Heritage Association (BSHA) has kept the history of African Americans in the military alive by introducing youth in the community to horses housed in Rouge Park. In 2007, with support from the Friends of Rouge Park, BSHA worked out an agreement with city officials to operate the Rouge Park barn after the Detroit Police Mounted Division relocated. 

Read more: Detroit students follow the path of the Buffalo Soldiers in Yosemite

The Buffalo Soldiers and Blues Freedom Festival will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Rouge Park Horse Barn, 8886 Lahser Rd., Detroit. The free event will offer pony rides, games, food, and live music from Big Pete and Friends and others.

Friends of Rouge Park Program Director Lex Allen and Land Stewardship Manager Antonio Cosme joined The Metro on Thursday to discuss the history of the Buffalo Soldiers and how they’re being honored through this weekend’s event.

Use the media player above to hear the conversation with Allen and Cosme.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 3, 2024: 

• Vice Presidential Candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz met on Tuesday for their only scheduled debate of the 2024 election. Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump took the stage in September and are not likely to meet for another debate. We are 33 days away from the election and absentee voting has already started in Michigan. To discuss what young people are thinking about the election and the importance of local media today, freelance reporter Sam Robinson joined the show. 
• Some residents and experts believe that Detroit no longer needs to capture taxes to grow downtown since it is already developed. The Metro Producer Sam Corey spoke with Citizens Research Council of Michigan President Eric Lupher on a new report they published advocating for the phasing out of the tax capture practice.
• Last week, the Michigan House passed two bills that aim to improve reading instruction. They specifically would help schools identify and teach students with dyslexia or other reading difficulties. They would also require that public schools and teacher programs emphasize phonics to teach children to read. American Public Media Reporter Chris Peak joined the show to discuss the new bills. He investigated U.S. reading curriculum for the podcast “Sold a Story.”

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

For many Black Americans, the idea of religion intersects with freedom in a complicated way. Enslaved Africans came to this country with religions and traditions, most of which were stripped upon arrival and replaced with new forms of worship. 

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Once the freedoms of Black Americans were slowly granted after the Civil War, the ideas for what the future could look like and how to achieve that future were beginning to take root. Black-led cities, towns and small communities began to flourish — many short-lived — but their ideas of a paradise on earth persisted. 

Detroiter Aaron Robertson’s new book, “The Black Utopians: Searching for Paradise and the Promised Land in America,” takes a nonfiction look at what happened when Black Americans were dreaming of better lives and different ways of religious thinking. 

The book follows along the histories of these movements — including the history of the Black Christian Nationalist Movement and the Shrine of the Black Madonna in Detroit.

Roberston joined The Metro on Tuesday to chat more about the book and its significance.

Use the media player above to listen to the full conversation with Robertson.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 1, 2024: 

• A recent set of bills passed by the Michigan state House and Senate would allow home health care workers to unionize. Gongwer News Service reporter Elena Durnbaugh joined the show to discuss the proposed legislation.
• In the late ’80s and ’90s, Michigan adopted punitive criminal policies — at one point incarcerating more juvenile lifers than any other state in the country. But while they’re still possible, life-without-parole sentences are not automatic and much less likely after U.S. Supreme Court rulings limited these sentences. Still, many in criminal justice reform spaces are trying to end life-without-parole sentences completely in Michigan. Tonight, several former juvenile lifers are speaking at Wayne State to share their stories as part of a panel conversation and film called “Life Beyond Life.” Community Engagement Specialist for Safe & Just Michigan Ronnie Waters joined the show to share more about the event.
• Art has the ability to tell stories and weave us together. That’s the theme of a newly renovated studio, gallery and event space, Schinkel Fine Art, located on East Jefferson in Detroit. The gallery’s inaugural exhibition, “Threads of Connection” opens on Thursday, Oct. 3, with a public reception. Gallery owners and mother/son duo Linda and Teddy Schinkel joined The Metro to talk about the new gallery space.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

• Alice Randall is a New York Times best-selling author, award-winning songwriter, educator and food activist.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

The Charles H. Wright Museum is hosting a series of carefully curated lectures by both nationally-recognized and local performers.

The series, titled The Wright Performances, kicked off on Thursday with a set of performances from internationally acclaimed actor, playwright and director Roger Guenveur Smith — best known for roles in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” “Malcolm X,” and Ridley Scott’s “American Gangster.”

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Smith began the series with the first of three solo performances, titled “Frederick Douglass NOW.” Smith joined The Metro on Thursday before the show to talk about Douglass and this weekend’s performances.

“We’re in a very extraordinary political moment in this country. And I think that Douglass certainly [would have] a lot to say about this particular moment,” Smith said. “He spoke in 1861 when Fort Sumter was fired upon by Confederate troops. And he saw it as an immediate opportunity for the country to liberate the one-seventh of the inhabitants of the country who were enslaved at that point,.

“He saw the Civil War as an abolition war, and I think that he would see this particular moment as a continuation of that war in which people are fighting for freedom and people are fighting for a certain kind of slavery.”

Smith will perform the second one-man play of the series, “Otto Frank,” on Friday, followed by “In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat” on Saturday.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Smith.

More headlines from The Metro on Sept. 26: 

• The Federal Reserve recently lowered interest rates to hopefully tame prices, but a new report by the U.S. Census Bureau just showed that Michiganders household incomes are falling behind rising prices. To discuss why this is happening, and what can be done about it, economist Don Grimes joined The Metro.
• A collection of musicians are coming together at the Fox Theater for Smooth Jazz Fall Fest. Founder of Detroit Musix Sam Donald and Co-owner of Anderson and Denham Entertainment Derek Denham joined the show to share more about the event.
• Detroit is full of artists, but many of them are not well known. Art Clvb is a new app that works to connect artists and collectors. And as part of their work, the app is throwing an in-person event called Art Fair at five locations around Detroit starting Friday. The event will include about 200 artists selling their work. Detroit artists Dorota and Steve Coy joined the show to talk about the Art Clvb app and Art Fair event.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.