Lansing will honor Michigan’s sole African American Civil War regiment on April 11.
Mayor Andy Schor will proclaim the day "102 United States Colored Troops Day" in the city Saturday.
The 102nd United States Colored Troops, also known as the 1st Michigan Colored Regiment, was formed in Detroit in 1863. The regiment has a strong connection to Lansing due to the number of young men who enlisted out of the city.
Maurice Imhoff is the executive program director of the Gospel Army Black History Group, which is the largest student-led historical reenactment group in the nation.
He said the organization is student-led to better reflect the lives of the soldiers they’re representing.
“It's important for young Black men to tell the story of Michigan's colored regiment because Michigan's Black regiment was young Black men,” he said. “They weren't men in their 70s. A lot of the guys who enlisted from Lansing were 18- and 19-year-olds.”
Imhoff added that having students lead the group makes the living history demonstrations more impactful for participants and the public alike.
“You're talking young men who were born into slavery, and they escaped,” Imhoff said. “In some cases, they only spend a month, a week a year, two years, before they put their life and their freedom back on the line to put on that blue suit to go fight for the freedom of others.”
Connecting to this history is important, Imhoff said.
“We're descendants of slaves in America, so this story is important to us to be able to share, not just for everyone else, but for us as participants,” he said.
History is made every day, Imhoff said, and it’s more important than ever to learn from America’s past.
“This year, our nation celebrates 250 years,” he said. "It is important that we look back at our history, remember just how far we come as a nation, the battles that we went through, the men who fought for freedom in all of the wars.”
He said part of why the Gospel Army Black History Group was formed was to bring people into that history.
“We can read a book. We can watch a movie. We can even go to a museum and look behind glass,” Imhoff said. “But what we do in living history is we allow the public to come up, touch, feel, smell, get into a tent, right? Be immersed in the history that is in front of you.”
The Gospel Army Black History Group is partnering with the Capital Area District Library to host an hour-long Civil War-era living history program April 11.
The event is free to attend and starts at 1 p.m. at Foster Community Center Branch Library in Lansing.