James and Grace Lee Boggs School

01 / The story of this place

Make time for these

After years of planning by co-founders Julia Putnam, Amanda Rosman and Marisol Teachworth, the James and Grace Lee Boggs School opened its doors on Detroit's east side in 2013, named for the longtime Detroit activists and philosophers James Boggs and Grace Lee Boggs, whose decades of writing and organizing shaped the city's grassroots social-justice movements. The school built its curriculum around the Boggses' place-based educational philosophy, rooting lessons in the community's own history, geography and people, an approach drawn partly from the Detroit Summer youth program the couple helped inspire. It first operated from a building on Mitchell Street before moving in 2020 to a permanent home on Goethe Street on Detroit's east side, close to the Field Street house where James and Grace Lee Boggs themselves lived for decades. The K-8 charter school continues to operate there today, serving around 160 students.

1. Opened in 2013, named for activists James and Grace Lee Boggs
2. Built around their place-based, community-rooted educational philosophy
3. Originally on Mitchell Street, moved to Goethe Street in 2020
4. An active K-8 charter school today