(light music) And my family came to Detroit via my grandmother, who at the time was Consuela Duncan.

And she came from Natchez, Mississippi in 1919-1920.

And she came as a basically a teenager.

She came through this facility.

So I kind of get goosebumps thinking, "Hey, I'm walking in my grandmother's footsteps literally," you know.

My other grandmother who was Viola Adams, she always took the trains and she would come and visit us from New Jersey.

And she was on one of the last trains that left from here before it closed down.

So I have both ends when somebody immigrant came here and then also one of the last trains that left going east.

And when my grandmother came here, then she, you know, got her two sisters to come and then she had my father who went to Detroit Public Schools, and joined the Army, went to fight in World War II, and also, you know, Korea.

And he ended up marrying my mom who was from New Jersey and she came here to live, you know, after he retired from the Army.

And so basically we are Detroiters, you know, because of the fact that she came here on that train by herself and, you know, willing to do whatever it took to achieve the American dream.

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