For alumna Amber Mitchell, Black History is much more than a month — it’s a career

Standing beside the bus Rosa Parks made famous in 1955, Wayne State University history alumna Amber Mitchell '13 explains why she loves her job. As the first-ever Curator of Black History at The Henry Ford, a five-venue, 250-acre destination that attracts more than 1.7 million visitors annually, she sees guests get excited about learning history every day.

"What I enjoy most about being a curator and public historian is watching visitors grasp something in person that they've only read about in a book," Mitchell said.

Managing collections related to African American history and leading acquisitions, interpretation and reinterpretation of 2D archival materials and 3D objects, Mitchell is the museum's champion for historical storytelling about Black Americans in a variety of forms - written, filmed and presented. She also owns a consulting firm, ANM Cultural Strategies, which consults with organizations seeking to enhance exhibits and experiences that center Black histories and futures. This work, she said, is essential.

"We have a responsibility to ensure we are preserving the stories of those whose voices have been shouted down, ignored and stolen over the last several hundred years, both in the United States and elsewhere," Mitchell said. "Black history means uplifting the many experiences of African Americans and the African diaspora without extraction or compromise.

"In addition to sharing the stories of their resilience and resistance within the American system, public historians can convey that information differently with exhibits and artifacts to tell a deeper, richer story," Mitchell added.

Since 2023, Mitchell has been entrusted with carefully relocating the Dr. Sullivan and Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson Home 1,060 miles from Selma, Alabama, to The Henry Ford's Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Opening to the public in June, it will be the first house added there in 40 years. Inside, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement planned the Selma to Montgomery marches and held phone calls with President Lyndon B. Johnson half a century ago. Dr. and Mrs. Jackson's daughter, Jawana, has worked in tandem with Mitchell to ensure the home's history comes to life for generations to come.

Role, modeled

When Wayne State launched its Master of Arts in Public History (M.A.P.H.) program in 2015, Mitchell had already completed a master's in public history at another university. As an undergraduate from 2009 to 2013, her interest in the subject caught the Department of History's attention, and they created the new degree pathway with students like her in mind. Given her professional success, Wayne State asked her to join the M.A.P.H. board in 2019, where she continues to provide invaluable insights.

Mitchell said her Wayne State bachelor's degree prepared her for the rigor of historical training, noting that history professor Kidada Williams, Ph.D., implored her to uncover African American histories too often left untold.

"Dr. Williams' dedication to telling unique and challenging stories about African Americans definitely forced me to think differently - not only learning about those stories but how we share them in different forms and fashions," Mitchell said.

In addition to expanding minds, Wayne State expands career opportunities.

"Connections at Wayne State allowed me to have all kinds of roles throughout the country and prepared me for sharing Black history in new ways," Mitchell said. "My path to becoming a curator has been very roundabout, and my variety of experiences has made my skill sets moldable and attractive in the very competitive museum workforce."

Through her service with the public history board and conversations with Wayne State history students, Mitchell advises anyone, especially people of color, interested in becoming public historians to acquire diverse experience and ask for help.

"Ask questions and advocate for yourself. Most of my opportunities materialized because I asked someone for help and had mentors advocate for me."

Coming home

After growing up on Detroit's west side, Mitchell's work took her to other states from 2013 to 2023.

This included time as director of education at the Whitney Plantation, a nonprofit museum in Louisiana dedicated to the history of slavery, situated on a historical sugar, indigo and rice plantation, and as assistant director of public engagement at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. As rewarding as these and other roles were, Mitchell said she is happy to be back home for her first curatorial position.

"Wayne State is central to the story of how I earned this job I've been working toward my entire life, and I'm so glad it's here in my hometown, a place like nowhere else," Mitchell said. "Those of us with families like mine who never left Detroit, even as it became associated with decline, have a unique opportunity to be able to talk about how resilient this city is.

"You cannot talk about the future of America without talking about Detroit, and you cannot talk about Detroit without talking about the distinct experience that it is to be Black in Detroit," Mitchell added. "It's the right moment and place to be doing this work at a time when our histories are constantly being contested, but I can proudly say the story of African Americans and others in Detroit can never be unwritten."