Lansing documentary chronicles racial impact of I-496

Kate Holloway
·1 min read

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The Historical Society of Greater Lansing produced a documentary last year about the impact of I-496’s construction in the 1960s on once-thriving Black neighborhoods.

A screening of Pave The Way: They Even Took the Dirt will be next Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 2:10 p.m. You can come to see it at LCC Dart Auditorium, 500 N. Capitol Avenue in downtown Lansing.

The documentary uses original interviews and historical footage to show how the cross-town expressway’s construction changed the community.

A screening of ‘Pave the Way: They Even Took the Dirt’ will happen on Feb. 27 at Dart Auditorium. (HSGL)
A screening of ‘Pave the Way: They Even Took the Dirt’ will happen on Feb. 27 at Dart Auditorium. (HSGL)

Construction on I-496 started in 1963. As HSGL has chronicled, the expressway would eventually turn 35 streets into dead-ends, acquire and destroy hundreds of homes and businesses to make way, and lead to Black residents being forced into apartments and small homes on Lansing’s Southside or near Westside.

After the hour-long screening will follow a discussion, moderated by Lansing Community College History Professor David Siwik.

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