Paying homage to one of Ann Arbor’s great historical leaders

On Monday, April 7, 1975, as Irina Ratushinskaya approached the end of her third year as a university student in Kyiv, Albert Wheeler was elected Mayor of Ann Arbor. Wheeler’s election was historic—he was the city’s first, and so far only, Black mayor.

Many non-Black residents of the city may not realize that, in the years leading up to his election, Ann Arbor remained segregated through a series of largely unspoken social norms. As the Ann Arbor News later wrote,

Far away from the segregated lunch counters and water fountains of the Deep South, Ann Arbor was wrestling with its own brand of racism in the 1940s and 1950s. Blacks moving to town were only shown houses in the North Fourth Avenue area, a grimy neighborhood heavy with the odor of slaughterhouses and coal-fired plants. Jobs for African Americans at the University of Michigan usually got no better than cleaning floors or operating elevators.

Mayor Wheeler was born in the city of St. Louis in 1915. He studied biology at Lincoln University, an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in Pennsylvania. He came to Ann Arbor in the late 1930s to study at the School of Public Health at the time that the Great Depression was winding down and the geo-political tension in Europe that was about to turn into WWII was increasing. In 1945, when Wheeler and his wife Emma attempted to purchase a house, the banker continually pushed them to look at buying only in Black neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the couple persevered. In 1952, Dr. Wheeler became the first Black professor at the University to be tenured. The Wheelers would go on to be instrumental in the founding of the Ann Arbor chapter of the NAACP. He first ran for mayor, unsuccessfully, in 1970, but ran again in 1975 and won.

As mayor, Wheeler worked to change beliefs about what a city government was supposed to do—working in the opposite of what we read about right now in national news, he advocated significantly increased services for its citizens. Wheeler’s path was not an easy one. Even in our fairly “liberal” city, he faced verbal and physical threats. He pushed forward anyway, working to help disadvantaged members of the community, create effective public housing, and more. He has been credited with instilling the idea that city government should be involved in human services, helping disadvantaged citizens, and that’s something the city continues to do. The Ann Arbor News noted that “a pattern of scattered public housing on small sites throughout Ann Arbor is another Wheeler legacy,” and that he “worked to avoid the large, isolated housing projects that other cities built with public funds.”

As Wheeler explained his deep dedication to working for Civil Rights in the city, “I thought I was working for what I was entitled to as a human being.” His daughter Mary McDade, an appellate court judge in my home state of Illinois, talks about how her father led with positive beliefs: “He recognized that as women and as Black people, it was going to be an uphill struggle to do anything in this life.” And yet, McDade says, “He was constantly reminding us that if you used your brains, if you applied yourself, there was nothing that you couldn’t do.”

In 1987, five years after we opened the Deli, the name of what had long been called Summit Park, a few blocks to the north of us, was changed to Wheeler Park. The plaque at the park says it well: “The city of Ann Arbor is a better place to live because of the Wheelers.” Albert Wheeler passed away at the age of 78 in 1994.

In order to honor Albert Wheeler’s good work, and mark the 50th anniversary of his accession to become mayor of Ann Arbor, the Coffee Company has created what we call “The Wheeler Latte.” It’s a super tasty coming together of the Coffee Company’s Espresso Blend #1, a housemade Demerara brown sugar syrup, and steamed milk that comes in from Calder Dairy in Carleton, Michigan.

As we see it, the Wheeler Latte is a tribute to Al Wheeler’s wonderful work here in the 20th century, and also a recognition of what we can all do to build on his caring community contributions. Order one up this week and make a toast to the mayor’s memory as a salute to the social improvements that he worked so hard to make happen, and that all of us remain responsible for today in the winter of 2025!

To sweeten the deal, and in support of Albert Wheeler’s life work, the Coffee Company is donating a dollar from every Wheeler Latte to the local chapter of the NAACP.

Have one ready and waiting