Neloms and Glover Present on Raising Awareness of Social Issues through Music Video Production

Drake Glover and Quan Neloms

DEARBORN, MI - To an audience of students, staff, and community members, Quan Neloms and Drake Glover presented methods for raising awareness of social issues through music video production on October 8, 2016 in the College of Education, Health, and Human Services (CEHHS).

Quan Neloms

Recipient of the Fannie M. Richards award, Neloms teaches United States history and digital storytelling at the Douglass Academy for Young Men in Detroit.  He created an afterschool program, the Lyricist Society, through which high school students create music videos on social issues.

In 2016, three of his students, Drake Glover, Deon Butler, and Kamar Graves received the EMMY® for best high school music video from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Michigan.

During the presentation, Glover described the creative process and the motivational impact that his involvement in the Lyricist Society has had.  Preservice teachers learned about Neloms’ model and methods for advancing academic achievement through the production of hip hop music videos.

CEHHS would like to thank Julie Anne Taylor for having coordinated this event.

Art on the Move!

"Barack Obama" by Joshua Johnson.
Graphite and charcoal on paper, 2015 

During the last two weeks of February, in observance of Black History Month, portraits of prominent African Americans by students at The Douglass Academy for Young Men will be on display as posters in the stations of the People Mover. The works were created as part of a project on the use of  portraiture in social studies education. Julie Anne Taylor, associate professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Okezie Iroha, chair of the social studies department at The Douglass Academy for Young Men, engaged four social studies classes in the project. The students learned about the social, political, and historical purposes of portraits. They considered how portraits are used in the construction of historical narratives.

"Federick Douglass" by Dakari Randall.
Graphite and charcoal on paper, 2015

"Jesse Jackson" by Daylon Randall.
Graphite and charcoal on paper, 2015

After studying paintings, photographs, statues, and computer-generated portraits, the students created portraits of African Americans using charcoal, graphite, and colored pencil. The People Mover donated space in its stations to display their work. Three original drawings, selected by the students through a voting process, will be exhibited in the reception area of the UM-Detroit Center from February 16- March 15, 2015. The drawings are by Joshua Johnson (Barack Obama); Dakari Randall (Frederick Douglass), and Daylon Randall (Jesse Jackson).

Read the article in Press & Guide.