The Metro: Black film history treasures coming to Redford Theatre
The Black Canon is teaming up with the theater this weekend to display a rare collection of Black films dating back to the 1920s.
The Redford Theatre, located in Detroit's Old Redford neighborhood, first opened in January 1928 as a neighborhood movie house.
The Redford Theatre has been a longtime fixture in the heart of the Detroit community. Located just off of Lahser and Grand River in Detroit, the theater prides itself on showing unique films to movie buffs.
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Detroiter James E. Wheeler collected 40,000 pieces of Black independent film memorabilia, preserving the history of what is known as “race films” and more. Wheeler died in 2022, but his kids Alima Wheeler Trapp and Ali J. Wheeler started The Black Canon to preserve and show the collection.
The Black Canon is teaming up with The Redford Theatre this weekend to display the rare collection of Black films dating back to the 1920s. The Black Canon is also hosting its first benefit, Art of the Ages, on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. in Livonia, which will include an exhibit and brunch.
Redford Theatre Programmer and volunteer John Monaghan joined The Metro on Monday to discuss the collection and how you can see part of it this weekend.
“It all starts with my friendship with James Wheeler, who is sort of a well known figure in Detroit, really, for the last 40 or 50 years as an activist, as a collector, involved in theater,” Monaghan said. “He passed about three years ago. And his kids, Ali and Alima, they’ve taken on this amazing project of cataloging and preserving all the stuff that he collected over the years. And I’m talking about a lot of stuff. This is a warehouse that’s filled with, I compare it to that scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, maybe a little smaller. But it’s just, it’s full of books and records and posters and magazines, toys, dolls, photos, and a lot of 16 millimeter film.”
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