Detroit River Skiff & Schooner Program
A hands-on learning program that connects local youth with the cultural and environmental heritage of the river through tall-ship sailing and boat-building experiences.
Detroit River Stories Podcast
A student-produced podcast series featuring interviews with local residents about their relationships with the Detroit River.
Gala Library
A library of three interactive, STEM-focused curricular modules, designed for high school and college students, take the Detroit River as an accessible and engaging case study for learning about carbon emissions, data visualization, and scientific communication.
Lives of Leisure and Labor on the Detroit River
An interactive essay exploring the experiences of those who built, maintained, and traveled on Detroit River steamboats at the turn of the 20th century, with special attention to key events in local labor and racial history and the ways they reflected shifting social and political attitudes of the time.
Resistance on the River Curriculum
An extensive collection of learning materials and lesson plans that engages middle school students with the history of anti-slavery and anti-racist organizing along the Detroit River corridor.
Decarbonizing the Detroit River Corridor
A sequence of scaffolded exercises uses DRSL’s carbon emissions visualization tool to teach high school students about environmental justice issues and local decarbonization policy options facing Detroit River communities.
The House that Changed Lives
A lesson plan based on the life and community building work of Sarah E Ray, an activist known as the Rosa Parks of the Boblo Boat. Consisting of a comprehensive, multi-media discussion guide and a curated collection of archival materials for classroom use, this adaptable curricular module will support social science classes at the middle and high school level throughout the Detroit River region.
Underground Railroad Research Guide
A compilation of regional history resources focused on struggles for freedom in the Detroit River borderland including a selected bibliography, annotated lists of digital and physical archives, miniature biographies of local freedom seekers and abolitionists, and suggested angles for future research.
Exploring Community and Connection on the Detroit River
A display poster created by UM graduate student Crystal Cole describing her development of an experiential learning module focused on water quality and ecological connections with the river for use aboard the schooner Inland Seas.
Home Archival Guide
An introduction to the practice of home preservation developed as part of the 100 Years 100 Stories project at the Detroit Historical Society.
Detroit River Region Timeline
A working prototype for a robust visual and interactive resource for exploring the environments, institutions, and actors that have shaped the Detroit River corridor over the past millennium.
River Heritage Resource Map
An interactive digital map that catalogues approximately 100 public heritage sites, public spaces, and trails along the Detroit River corridor, providing a visual argument in support of regional heritage development efforts relating to the Underground Railroad and other historical events.
Heritage Designation Primer
A resource guide providing an overview of state, national, and international heritage designation opportunities and protocols.
The Detroit River and the University of Michigan
An illustrated history of the many-layered connections between U-M and the region’s defining waterway dating back to the university’s founding in the early 19th century, just a few blocks from the river’s edge.
