North Macomb NAACP scavenger hunt pushed back
A scavenger hunt/history walk created by the North Macomb Chapter of the NAACP to recognize Black History Month and introduce the organization to the community has been pushed back to Memorial Day weekend.
The NMNAACP, which was formed last summer, had hoped to host to the event during Black History Month in February or before the birthdate of abolitionist Harriet Tubman on March 10. But the organization’s acting vice president, Tristam Craig, said the event is growing, and organizers wanted to do it right rather than rush it.
“It’s getting bigger and bigger,” Craig said. “We expect to have about a dozen locations.”
Formed in June 2020, the NMNAACP will represent all Macomb County communities north of M-59. Macomb County has had a NAACP branch since 1926 and it is the third-oldest branch in Michigan. At its meeting Sunday night, Craig said the group determined the scavenger hunt will be virtual rather than in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan is to introduce players to locations in and around the village of Romeo that reflect the community’s role serving in the Underground Railroad to help escaped slaves find freedom and other ways the community helped with diversity.
Craig said web site work is ongoing to provide players the ability to help find clues to move from one location to the next. Players, who can be one a team of up to 10 or a single person, will go to the Romeo Historical Society website to begin the hunt and will be provided clues along the way to virtually head from one site to the next. At this point, Craig said it looks like the hunt will take place the entire Memorial Day weekend.
“Nothing is set in stone yet,” he said.
Craig’s mother, 103-yearold Pearl Craig, one of the first Black school bus drivers in the Romeo Community Schools, will be featured with a visit to the RCS Transportation bus garage on Sisson Street, south of Croswell. Pearl Craig was featured in The Macomb Daily in February to announce the scavenger hunt. Some new sites just added, Craig said, will include the Romeo Cemetery, which is the final resting place for three Black soldiers who fought for the Union Army during the Civil War. The McKay House on McKay Road was a major stop in the Underground Railroad, and that site will feature the history of the home and the McKay family.
The Starkweather Arts Center, a non-profit art center named after Helen Starkweather, who was an art teacher in the Romeo Schools, will demonstrate how the Starkweather family was prominent in helping Romeo diversify. The First Congressional Church, other historical Black churches and school buildings and a 1906 community baseball team featuring players of color will also be in the hunt.
The group is in the process of developing a NMNAACP website and additional information will be available at the NMNAACP Facebook page.