The effort includes a companion statue for Detroit and support for scholarships, training for young Detroiters

For Detroit sculptor Austen Brantley, the pose mattered. His depiction of Coleman A. Young stands with arms crossed, a deliberate choice meant to convey the confidence and conviction of Detroit’s first Black and longest-serving mayor.

Brantley described the figure as taking “a strong, grounded stance with his arms crossed, a posture that communicates confidence, conviction and self-assurance,” The Detroit News reported. That approach gives physical form to the resolve of a leader whose influence extended well beyond City Hall.

On Oct. 20, Brantley joined Coleman A. Young Foundation (CAYF) leaders at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to unveil a preliminary sculptural model. The gathering marked a milestone in an effort to bring Young’s likeness to the U.S. Capitol while creating a companion tribute in the city he led.

The Coleman A. Young Statue Initiative has raised more than $1.2 million, with support from philanthropic, business, government and civic leaders, including The Kresge Foundation.

Young’s statue will represent Michigan in the Capitol’s National Statuary Hall Collection, which allows each state to contribute two statues honoring people whose lives helped shape its history. It will replace the statue of Lewis Cass and join Michigan’s other honoree, President Gerald R. Ford.

The Michigan Legislature unanimously approved the resolution selecting Young in December 2022. Former state Sen. Adam Hollier, who sponsored the resolution, described the effort at the celebration as a chance to consider whose leadership Michigan chooses to honor.

Mayor Coleman A. Young’s legacy

Young’s life offered many reasons for that recognition: his service as a Tuskegee Airman, his work in organized labor and civil rights, his years in the state Senate and his leadership of Detroit. Together, those experiences place his story within the larger history of Americans working to expand opportunity and representation.

The Michigan Statuary Hall Commission oversees the initiative. Its members include Suzanne Shank, a Kresge trustee and co-founder and CEO of Siebert Williams Shank & Co., and Wendy Lewis Jackson, managing director of Kresge’s Detroit Program. Hollier, Christopher Ilitch and John A. James also serve on the commission.

“Mayor Young’s legacy lives in the people, institutions and opportunities he helped shape in Detroit, Michigan and beyond,” Jackson said. “This fundraising success reflects the deep respect philanthropic, business, government and civic leaders hold for his courage, vision and public service.”

Detroiters will have a place to encounter that legacy close to home, too. Bedrock CEO Jared Fleisher was on hand to announce that the company is commissioning a companion statue for Detroit’s downtown riverfront as part of the planned redevelopment of the Renaissance Center’s civic space.

For the Coleman A. Young Foundation, the campaign also carries a responsibility to the young people who will inherit the city Young helped shape.

Young established the foundation in 1982. Since then, it has helped more than 500 Detroit students access and graduate from colleges and universities, while more than 3,000 Detroit-area youth have participated in its REAL Skills youth development program.

Continued fundraising will support scholarships and programs that help students stay in college and REAL Skills: The Long Game, an expanded initiative focusing on education planning, AI-powered financial literacy and pathways into skilled trades.

At the celebration, CAYF Executive Director Khary Turner described the campaign’s two objectives simply: “Honor the past, finance the future.”

Scholarship alumnus Arthur Harrington offered a personal account of what that investment can make possible. A Cass Technical High School graduate and first-generation college student, Harrington told the audience that the foundation invested $20,000 in his education. He graduated from Hampton University a year early and is now in his final year at Wayne State University’s law school.

His remarks brought the evening’s ambitions back to the lives behind the fundraising totals and the work that will continue after the statues are installed.

“A statue can preserve a man’s image,” Harrington said, “but only our actions can preserve his legacy.”

To learn more or contribute to the statue initiative and its next chapter, visit the Coleman A. Young Foundation’s website.