The Legacies Project

Citizens targeted by their own government, while their neighbors look on helplessly. Sound familiar?
But while the rest of us move on with our lives, the victims don’t have that option.
Case in point: May Watanabe. May tells her Legacies Project team at Skyline High School in Ann Arbor what happened when she was nineteen-years-old – not much older than the students themselves. Seventy-four years later, those memories still cut deeply.

For our second feature of Black History month, we would like to shine a light on Shirley Beckley. She was a civil rights activist, education advocate, and police reform leader, all while raising 3 children as a single mother. She marched for more Black teachers and administrators, and was even arrested during a race riot at Pioneer High School in 1971. She worked tirelessly until she passed in April 2025. These are her thoughts on how she can help future students.

This was meant for May 1, but you get the point...