Governor’s Awards Honors Inkster’s Malcolm X House Preservation Project

Annual Governor’s Awards recognizes historic preservation achievements in Michigan& If you’re from Inkster, you know that for the better part of the past decade, Aaron Simms and Dawon Lynn have been on a quest to turn Malcolm X’s Williams Street home into a national museum. The home is where Malcolm lived for nearly two years in the early 1950s with his brother and sister-in-law after he was released from a Massachusetts prison. “Detroit Red: This is where he laid his head and the foundation for the leader he became. He converted to Islam while he was living here with his brother. So it’s time for Inkster to hold its head high and say we had one of America’s greatest,” Simms told the Michigan Chronicle earlier this year. On May 2, 2024, Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) awarded Simms and three other Michigan preservation projects for the Governor’s Awards for Historic Preservation during a ceremony hosted by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Communities outside of Inkster represented by the projects include the Hiawatha National Forest region, the Keweenaw Peninsula, and Ludington.& Now in its 21st year, the Governor’s Awards for Historic Preservation program,...