‘It’s like a reunion.’ Hundreds gather for Ann Arbor’s 28th African American festival

ANN ARBOR, MI — Khalil Peaks has been with Ann Arbor’s African American Festival since the beginning. “When I started my business back in the ’70s, and when this festival started, I enjoyed coming up here because I could reminisce about when I was going to school,” Peaks said. In the 1960s, when Peaks studied at the University of Michigan, he would get his hair cut at a barbershop at Fourth Avenue and Ann Street, where he said the Black community hung out. “This is a famous area back in the day. They used to have a pool room and a barber shop,” Peaks said. Now, the Black-owned businesses have been pushed out. But, Peaks and other vendors come back once a year to set up tents and celebrate Ann Arbor’s Black heritage at the African American Festival. Community leader Lucille Porter started the festival 28 years ago, in 1997. Now, Teesha Montague organizes the day-long event. She uses it as a way to educate the community about Ann Arbor’s Black history. Tents displaying handmade jewelry, colorful dresses and custom prints lined Ann Street and Fourth Avenue. Performers filled the air with music, and food trucks emitted a subtle sweet...