Center for the Education of Women+ scholarship winners pose for a group photograph.
Group 26 i
Center for the Continuing Education of Women scholarship winners, 1971

The Inclusive History Project

A journey of institutional self-discovery committed to challenging our conception of the past and taking action to build a truly inclusive present and future.

A person takes a smartphone photo of a large painted portrait on an easel depicting Chancellor Blenda Wilson in regalia.
Group 26 i
Karla Lockard, a granddaughter of Jon Onye Lockard, takes a photo of his portrait of former UM-Dearborn Chancellor Blenda J. Wilson at the premiere of Best in Class: Blenda J. Wilson, Jon Onye Lockard, and the Portrait that Connected Them, UM-Dearborn, Feb. 2026

Year 3 Annual Report

The IHP is excited to share its Year 3 Annual Report, which highlights the incredible growth, achievements, and impact of the IHP this year. Learn more about the IHP’s large-scale project sites with teams of faculty, staff, students, and community members; granting programs that support compelling projects across our campuses; a significant increase in the IHP’s visibility and engagement through events and outreach; and the involvement of students throughout the IHP’s work as advisors, interns, researchers, and learners—especially through the tri-campus Student Advisory Committee. In the Year 3 Annual Report, you will also hear from a range of people involved with the IHP as they share, in their own words, their perspectives on the IHP’s collective work.

Our Charge

The IHP is committed to building a project that covers the whole university and engages deeply and meaningfully across and beyond our campuses.

Research

The IHP is charged with studying and documenting a comprehensive, inclusive history of the University of Michigan that stretches across the university’s Dearborn, Flint, and Ann Arbor campuses, as well as Michigan Medicine.

Engage

Through the histories we tell and the partnerships we create, the IHP is committed to engaging with faculty, staff, students, alumni, patients, and neighbors. This broad and deep engagement is fundamental to a fuller understanding of the university’s past and its contemporary effects.

Repair

The IHP must foreground the continuing impact of the university’s history on its present, and build out from a renewed knowledge and acknowledgment of our institution’s past to make concrete commitments to reshaping its future.

Women's basketball team poses for a group photograph.
Women's basketball team, Class of 1904

University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library
People gather around tables for Passover seder.
Hillel Passover Seder, 1942

Hugh Grannum, Detroit Free Press
Ivory Photo Collection, Bentley Historical Library
University of Michigan Library Digital Collections
© Regents of the University of Michigan
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
Intercultural Center staff participating in the UM-Flint Homecoming Parade, Sept. 2022
Intercultural Center staff participating in the UM-Flint Homecoming Parade, 2022

Courtesy of University of Michigan-Flint Intercultural Center
Rosa Parks receives honorary doctorate at UM-Dearborn Commencement, April 28, 1991
Rosa Parks receives honorary doctorate at UM-Dearborn Commencement, 1991

University of Michigan-Dearborn Campus Archive

 Parks was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree.
A large crowd listens to speakers at the 9/11 town hall.
Dearborn campus 9/11 town hall, 2001

University of Michigan-Dearborn Campus Archive

 UM-Dearborn Student Government led a 9/11 town hall called “A Time for Reflection” at the UMall on September 13, 2001.

Our Origins

The IHP was announced as a presidential initiative in June 2022. It emerged in response to contexts that include the rich histories of campus activism and institutional support for efforts to advance inclusion and equity here at the university, historical name reviews that have taken place on the Ann Arbor campus over the last several years, and the broad movement of other colleges and universities to reckon with their histories. The IHP also builds on wide-ranging efforts to study and reckon with U-M’s history that were already underway on our campuses, and is pursuing new projects that will increase our knowledge and understanding of U-M’s full history.

Drone view of UM-Flint campus in the fall, 2020
Group 26 i
Drone view of UM-Flint campus in the fall, 2020
Students crossing State Street in front of the Michigan Union on the Ann Arbor campus, 1947
Group 26 i
State Street in front of Michigan Union, 1947

Explore Our Research

The IHP is engaged in rigorous, scholarly work to study and document the university’s full history. Our research is organized by four frames, which are essential themes that provide a structure for our wide-ranging research. Within those frames are bounded, specific project sites that focus in on different periods and topics from U-M’s history.

Icon of a pencil

Funding from the IHP

Do you have an idea for a project, course, or event about the university’s history? The Inclusive History Project supports research, engagement, and teaching related to U-M’s histories of inclusion and exclusion. Opportunities for staff, faculty, and students include project grants, event cosponsorships, and funds for course development.

U-M graduate student Austin McCoy speaking at a protest in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Group 26 i
Black activism at U-M, 2015

Updates & Events

Stay informed about events, research findings, and other project news.

Exhibition
Blueprints of Power: The University and Urban Renewal in Flint
  • March 31, 2026 - August 02, 2026 (Time Varies (see details))
  • In-Person

Blueprints of Power: The University and Urban Renewal in Flint

"Blueprints of Power: The University and Urban Renewal in Flint" explores how UM-Flint’s downtown campus was shaped by urban renewal efforts that displaced predominantly Black neighborhoods in the name of redevelopment. The exhibition examines the tensions between civic ambition and community impact, asking visitors to consider who holds power in shaping a city’s future.
News
UM-Flint exhibition examines the university’s role in Flint’s urban renewal era
  • Jul. 2026
  • UM-Flint News

UM-Flint exhibition examines the university’s role in Flint’s urban renewal era

The University of Michigan-Flint has spent recent years working to deepen its roots in the city it calls home. A new exhibition in the university's campus pavilion asks visitors to hold that present-day commitment alongside a more complicated chapter of the institution's past, while also showing the impact that confronting that history had on the students who built it.
News
Ann Arbor symposium to explore community stewardship of archival collections
  • May. 2026
  • Mlive

Ann Arbor symposium to explore community stewardship of archival collections

A free University of Michigan symposium in May will bring together archivists and community members to examine how historical collections can better serve the people they document.
News
Symposium set to re-envision archival collections
  • May. 2026
  • Record

Symposium set to re-envision archival collections

The Communities in Conversation Symposium, set for May 21, will allow participants to work together to re-envision and re-connect archival collections to communities in engaging and ethical ways.
News
IHP Summit 2026 explores histories of inclusion and exclusion
  • Apr. 2026
  • The Michigan Journal

IHP Summit 2026 explores histories of inclusion and exclusion

The 2026 Inclusive History Project Summit held at University of Michigan-Flint brought together students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members for a day centered on two difficult but necessary questions: How can and should the University of Michigan confront its institution’s histories of inclusion and exclusion across its three campuses, and how do we ensure repair goes beyond simple acknowledgment?
Dispatch
From Acorn to Oak: A Dispatch from the Indigenous Advisory Board for Restoring Native Voice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn
  • Apr. 2026

From Acorn to Oak: A Dispatch from the Indigenous Advisory Board for Restoring Native Voice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn

The fifth installment in our series of IHP Dispatches is written by the Indigenous Advisory Board for Restoring Native Voice at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, a project funded by an IHP Research & Engagement Fund grant. The board shares the story behind the project and the guidance, presence, and stewardship that made project activities possible.