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Ingham County plans to preserve history of Malcolm X's attendance at demolished elementary school

Courtesy of the Ingham County Land Bank

The childhood school of civil rights leader Malcolm X in southwest Lansing is being demolished. Ingham County plans to preserve some of its history.

While the old Pleasant Grove Elementary School had attracted interest from developers over the years, none of the plans stuck. Officials say the school that Malcom X attended in 1931 as a child needed a lot of work; the building had asbestos, and the floors and ceilings were starting to collapse.

But Ingham County Land Bank Executive Director Roxanne Case says it’s important for Lansing to keep some of the building intact.

The former Pleasant Grove Elementary school in Lansing was demolished in May. The building is known for being the school civil rights activist Malcolm X attended in 1931.
Courtesy of Ingham County
The former Pleasant Grove Elementary school in Lansing was demolished in May. The building is known for being the school civil rights activist Malcolm X attended in 1931.

“We are saving bricks, we have saved some limestone all from the exterior, again, some other items on the interior and we want to use those as a memorial to Malcolm X,” she said.

Any future proposals for the former Pleasant Grove Elementary School site will require plans for a memorial, Case said.

“It would be great maybe if we could make a little courtyard with the bricks that we saved and some of the limestone, but that is not a vision that I am trying to pinpoint down, I’m hoping that maybe the developer who is awarded the project has a great vision for,” she said.

Ingham County will begin accepting proposals this month to redevelop the former Pleasant Grove Elementary School site.

Melorie Begay is the local producer and host of Morning Edition.
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