Join us for a film screening and discussion of “There Went the Neighborhood: The Closing of Jones School”, a 2024 film exploring the 1965 decision by the Ann Arbor Board of Education to close the majority-Black Jones School.

Jones School was an anchor of Ann Arbor’s historically Black neighborhood until it was closed in 1965, a move that was part of a nationwide trend of school desegregation during the Civil Rights Era. It reopened as Community High School in 1972. When Community celebrated the building’s 100th anniversary last year, the history of Jones School was a strong focus.

Produced by the Ann Arbor District Library and 7 Cylinders Studio (7CS), the documentary features interviews with former Jones students and Black community leaders, capturing their memories of the school and the neighborhood that once thrived in the area now known as Kerrytown and Water Hill. Through firsthand accounts, archival photographs, and a filmed walking tour, the film offers a poignant exploration of a pivotal chapter in Ann Arbor’s history.