DETROIT – Celebrating Detroit’s legacy isn’t limited to 313 Day.
Stellantis recently unveiled the second part to its 1,500-foot mural that features city history and relevance of Detroit’s east side.
Stellantis built a wall around their Mack plant on Beniteau Street, behind Southeastern High School, as a sound barrier. The community wanted to add beauty and that’s how this massive mural came about.
“It was requested by the community when we developed the plant, Mack Plant, we added thousands of jobs,” said Ron Stallworth of Stellantis Public Affairs Department. “Related to that project was the community benefits agreement that we have, so we have a number of projects that took place related to the expansion of the plant and one was this beautiful mural.”
That community agreement was made back in 2019.
Stellantis hired Detroit artist. Dr. Hubert Massey and in 2022, Massey started on the first part of the mural. That portion took Massey a year to complete and tells the story of the great migration.
“We had from the 1920s to the 1970s, hundreds of thousands of Black Americans who moved from south to north and primarily work in the auto plants,” Stallworth explained.
Fast forward to 2024, and Massey has completed the second part of the mural that highlights the roots of the neighborhood.
“The Italian Americans really settled this area, and then Black Americans came in, so you see the flag, the other banner here has the Italian American colors, and then it changes over to red, black and green, which we know are the Pan African colors,” said Stallworth.
Southeastern High school is also represented in the mural, along with history makers.
“There are other images down there that include Sarah E. Ray. She was a civil rights activist who sued because she was denied access on a Bob-Lo boat. Her case went to the supreme court where she won, but it really served as a precursor for aboard the Brown v Board of Education,” Stallworth said.
When people walk or drive past, the hope is they see beyond the bright colors and that iconic area code, but the labor of love.
“In addition to the park we put in, it just creates a setting of sort of a community inclusiveness, a place of belonging, a place of destination, so it’s transformed this area to something greater,” said Stallworth.