A pair of community meetings will be hosted next week in order to gather information about Niles’ African American history for a new exhibit at the Michigan Historical Center.

Dr. Michelle S. Johnson, of the Michigan Historical Center, will host two meetings with members of the public in order to gather information concerning this portion of history.

The meetings will be held at 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1 at Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, which is located at 601 Ferry St., in Niles.

The purpose of the meetings is to gather information that will help tell the story of pre-1915 African-Americans in the Niles area.

Johnson’s goal is to learn where members of the African-American community lived, what types of jobs they had, what organizations they belonged to and other relevant details.

This information will be incorporated into a new exhibit at the Michigan Historical Center. Researchers will also be able to access the information online.

The current Michigan Historical Center exhibit portrays the history of Michigan’s African Americans through the Civil War. The new exhibit will tell the story of black Michigan communities from the end of the Civil War to 1915.

Johnson said that Niles’ history is very significant because of its intact “black corridor.”

The corridor is comprised of the area encompassing Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, Ferry Street School, the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge building, Franklin AME Church and the house where artist Lottie Wilson lived.

For more information visit the museum’s website at nileshistorycenter.org or call Carol Bainbridge at (269) 683-4700, ext. 4010.