- [Narrator] Coming up on "One Detroit," we'll examine the urgent needs of caregivers with a panel of local leaders connected to caregiving, professionally and personally.

Also ahead, as the nation celebrates Juneteenth, we'll talk about the importance of this newest federal holiday.

Plus, we'll tell you about the history behind one of the oldest potteries in the nation, located in Detroit.

And we'll give you some ideas on how you could enjoy this first official weekend of summer.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit."

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(pensive music) - I think, for me, that the significance behind Juneteenth... - [Narrator] Just ahead on "One Detroit," we'll discuss what Juneteenth means for African Americans today.

Plus, we'll have a truly Detroit story about a popular business on the city's east side that's still going strong after more than 100 years.

And we'll tell you about some of the activities taking place this weekend in Metro Detroit.

But first up, a new documentary titled "Caregiving" airs on June 24th at 9:00 PM here on Detroit PBS.

The film, executive produced by actor Bradley Cooper, examines the challenges and triumphs of caregiving in America.

In advance of the documentary, Grantmakers In Aging, in partnership with Detroit PBS, hosted a conversation about caregiving at Detroit's Hannan Center.

The panel discussion was moderated by Detroit PBS Senior Vice President of Production, Fred Nahhat.

It focused on the critical needs of caregivers and ways to provide them with support and resources.

Here's a portion of that conversation.

(pensive music) - You bring your life's experience in caregiving to the conversation.

So let's start with you.

You did begin at a very, very early age.

What moment in the screener really touched you?

What impacted you, and how did it differ or how was it similar to your own personal experience?

- Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me here.

I'm very excited to be here.

I think that it's so easy for me when I think about my caregiving journey and story to just think about 2019, where I became a caregiver for my mother at 23.

And I often forget about that I started at 14 years old when my father became ill and I was a freshman in high school, very similar to the young man in the film.

And I think that that title that was used in the end of being a caregiving student is something I didn't even think much about.

I am the daughter of older parents, so that journey did start very... a little bit sooner for myself.

But I think that ultimately, again, just resonated with the fact that so many, I'm not just the only one who had a caregiving journey that started so soon.

But also just having that title when you're the child yourself and how that overlaps with your childhood is such a fascinating experience.

I think, again, just getting comfortable with the title of being a caregiver is a big part of the journey, especially at a young age.

- Misha, you from the perspective of the foundation that you serve, you take an analytical look at needs in the community, and I want you to react to a moment in the film, but also take your orientation at a systems level.

What can be improved?

Where are the gaps?

How did it represent what you experience when you dig into these issues and make grants in the community about caregiving?

- At the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, we're very intentional about saying that we focus on the caregiver of older adults, not caregiving.

We're very intentional about centering the person and not their labor.

And so when you think about a systems, the systems, the systems prioritize the labor, they prioritize the quality of the labor, the time spent in the labor.

Are you full time?

Do they live with you?

Are you a part-time caregiver?

It's all about the statistic around like the value of the time spent caring, right?

And so for us, we are really looking for opportunities like this film and spaces like this to elevate that person.

For those of us who have social work degrees, we know all about person-centered planning, person-centered approaches.

That's what this work is really about for us and about helping to raise the stories of the caregiver, the visibilities of the caregiver, but also in reaching out and touching the caregiver, helping them to see themselves, and really living up to that idea that you gotta pour into your own cup before you can really pour into someone else's.

- Kristie, you are a social worker, but also lead this collaboration to improve services and deliver those.

React to a moment in the film that struck you, and how is it similar or different to reflect your own personal experience day-to-day?

- I think one thing, once again, thank you everyone as well.

A lot of partners are in the room, so thank you guys for being here.

One thing for me, I'm just gonna say that struck me that was a little different that I didn't expect was the history, the level setting they did with the history around caregiving.

Really thinking back of how long we've really been doing this journey, and how we've looked at it, how we've structured it, and how we're still in the same place.

I thought that was really ironic when we look at what Frances Perkins had actually written down.

We are actually in the exact same place we were 100 years ago.

And personally, for me, really looking at...

It was kind of, for me, I've been a caregiver.

My brother passed away a few years ago, but I was a caregiver for him off and on, part of a care team.

And so being part of that team made me kind of think about the young man, the freshman, because he had a young son who did a lot of that care in the house himself, who found my brother when he passed away.

And so thinking about that, and thinking about that experience, and just thinking about all the things that I didn't know that he may have been experiencing going to school every day, knowing that his dad was at home sick, kind of thinking through those pieces.

I was a sister, so I came in when he thought he needed me to come in if I was at the hospital or whatever that was.

So just thinking about that care experience over the years and how I've been in and out of it.

And now, with my parents being older and being in different places, just thinking about how that will actually impact my own life moving forward.

- Misha, a 30,000-foot view, like what...

If you had a top three, what are the three changes we could just implement?

If you could wave that magic wand and say, "Let's do this today, one, two three."

- If I could wave my magic wand, the first thing that I would change is the ability for all of our systems to talk directly to caregivers and about their needs without it having to be attached to the person that they care for.

Really, an example I use all the time is with health insurance plans.

So all of the services you can get through health insurance comes through the insurance of the person that you care for, as opposed to your own insurance.

Thinking about it, the way they think about smoking cessation or weight loss, and saying, "We know this is stressful, we know it will impact you down the line, so let's put it in the preventative care.

Let's put it in the behavioral health.

Let's make sure it's in all these spaces."

So, the first thing I would do is set up every system so that it could recognize the caregiver on their own and their needs.

And then another thing that I think is really important, and the film touched on this a little bit, is how our workplaces change.

And everything isn't about FMLA necessarily.

It's about managers and supervisors being prepared to talk to people about what their needs are, when they need to take that day to go take care of their father periodically.

It's about restructuring PTO so that you can say, "Yeah, we have to have these limited buckets of time, but here's a bucket that's just for caregiving roles."

Or your personal time doesn't have to be taken at half days.

You can take it two hours at a time, and you don't have to notify us 24 hours in advance, right?

So there are structural things that employers can do, whether you're a midsize, small, or large employer that is low lift and is honestly not incredibly expensive to adjust.

And then it allows caregivers to stay at work.

Like, a lot of folks are leaving the workplace and they don't want to.

But what else are you supposed to do?

- Damaris, give some advice to someone facing the same thing that you face.

Coach them up a little bit.

What would you tell them how to prepare for that?

I guess inevitability in so many ways.

- I would say definitely finding purpose in the work.

I have to talk about my faith in Christ Jesus as a big source of my hope and a big source of the reason why I do this every single day.

And for myself, I don't see caregiving, and it wasn't like this initially.

I saw it as, "I'm gonna take care, and then at some point, there are these other things that I wanna do that's gonna come into play."

And it wasn't until I found like, "No, caregiving is the preparation that I need to do these other things that I want in my life."

You know, staying organized and being strategic, whether it's me starting my own business or one advancing my career, those are skills.

So what are the transferable skills in that way?

So I would say, again, finding purpose and attachments to work, not separating it.

I'll also say owning the identity of a caregiver.

I didn't wanna call myself a caregiver for a very long time.

I've just warmed up to that about a year ago, if that.

But there is a joy and an honor in having that title.

So I would say those two things.

Accept the identity, find your peace, what amount of that identity you wanna take on.

And also to not see it as some separate aspect of your life, but the preparation that you need to achieve all the things that you want 'cause it teaches you so much about so many things.

- Kristie, final thought on that question just in general, and how to help.

- Yeah, I think the thing, the first thing that came to my thought was don't be afraid to ask for what you need.

So a lot of times, we hold it in, we don't, we like, "I don't wanna bother you, I don't want to talk."

Don't be afraid to ask for what you need.

Be very intentional around what you need, even if it is just that hour.

If it's 30 minutes, be intentional.

Don't be afraid.

And also, your mental health, your mental health is so important.

We oftentimes, we don't address it, it doesn't exist.

But think about that, who you're talking to.

Maybe it's a mental health professional, maybe it's your faith-based leader, whatever that is and whatever that looks like for you.

Ask for what you need and take care of your mental health the best that you can.

- [Narrator] And next week, in conjunction with the airing of "Caregiving," Detroit PBS will hold a live virtual town hall on Monday, June 23rd, from 7:00 to 8:00 PM, examining the challenges, needs, and successes of being a caregiver.

It'll be moderated by "American Black Journal" host, Stephen Henderson.

This is the fifth year that the nation is celebrating Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

It was June 19th, 1865 when the last group of enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally learned they were free, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.

"American Black Journal" host and "One Detroit" contributor, Stephen Henderson, sat down with Lance Wheeler, Vice President of Learning and Engagement at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, to talk about the importance of Juneteenth Independence Day.

(pensive music) - When I talk to people about Juneteenth, I still...

I still get surprised from some folks that it is a federal holiday.

And then beyond that, there are still people who ask me, "Well, what is that?

What is Juneteenth?"

Well, mostly not people in our community, but people from the outside.

And I think part of the point of this is getting everyone to understand the significance of this and why we pause every year on this day to think about it.

- Yeah, and I think for me, that the significance behind Juneteenth is it isn't just remembering the enslaved people in Galveston, Texas found out about it, it's now freedom.

- [Stephen] Yes.

- What does that mean?

- [Stephen] Right.

- What do we do as Black Americans to now grasp something that's new to us?

I mean, experiencing that, right?

And so for us, for me, Juneteenth is a moment to reflect of who we are.

- [Stephen] Yeah.

- Where we come from, but also where are we going?

- Yeah, yeah.

- Right.

- You're fairly new here and at the museum.

Tell me how important this day and this celebration is at the museum and why the Wright is the right place for us to do this.

- I will say that the museum's been around, we're really celebrating our 60-year anniversary this year.

- [Stephen] Yeah, right.

- What does that mean, right?

In a Black city.

Right, but also important I want to point out that before Juneteenth was a national holiday, the museum was always celebrating Juneteenth- - [Stephen] Was always acknowledging it, right?

- We always acknowledged it, right?

We, as people and as an institution, we didn't need someone to tell us, "This is a national holiday."

For us, it was always a celebration, a freedom, remembrance, and honoring our ancestors and today.

And so the museum is still gonna continue to do that 60 years later down the road, whether it is a national holiday, right?

Still, or whether it's not, we're gonna still always celebrate, and honor, and remember who we are.

- Also talk about this year and what, I guess, I would assign additional importance to for recognizing not just this day, but, as you point out, the idea of freedom.

We're having quite an intense, I think, debate about what freedom means and should look like in this country.

And not just for African Americans, for- - [Lance] All people.

- For all people.

- I think the word freedom can be very subjective.

It means different things for people, right?

I think for me, if I had to talk about, for me personally, freedom means a sense of peace, right?

A sense of imagination, right?

And I think the Charles H. Wright African American Museum does that, right?

Dr. Wright had a vision of like, "How do we create freedom?

How do we create imagination?

But also how do we remember who we are and where we're going?

And so for me, that is what freedom is.

Even in the complexities of this country, I think we have to take moments to remember those moments.

And I think the museum does a fantastic job of reminding us of who we are, how we got here, and where we're going.

- Yeah, yeah.

That sense of peace, I think, is really key right now.

Because I think there are so many people who don't feel at peace because they feel like the freedom is threatened.

- [Lance] Yeah, you don't know where we're going.

- And question in a way that it wasn't before.

How do we sort of settle that discussion so that everybody does feel that sense of peace?

- I think for me, if we're thinking about Juneteenth, right?

And we're honoring and remembering former enslaved people, right?

They went through a process of a system that broke them, right?

That destroyed them, that ripped families away from them.

But those individuals kept moving forward, right, in the hope of, one day, freedom.

- [Stephen] Right, right.

- Right?

And transition that to individuals, like Dr. King, Dr. Wright, Malcolm X, Dr. Betty Shabazz, right?

Looking and remembering, "I do remember where we come from."

- Right, right.

- Right.

I remember that they had held on hope, and hope was pouring into me, and freedom was poured into me.

And so I think for me, that's the way that we continue to do that, even in turmoil in this country.

- Yeah.

- Right?

Is remembering the past to say, "Hey, if we can get through that process, we can get through this again."

- [Narrator] Let's turn now to a truly Detroit story about a business that is popular among art lovers.

Pewabic Pottery has been a mainstay in Detroit's East Village neighborhood for more than a century.

The distinctive tiles and other ceramic art produced at the pottery are a huge part of the city's history.

"One Detroit's" Bill Kubota has the story.

(pensive music) - [Bill] A fixture on Detroit's east side on Jefferson in East Village, Pewabic Pottery, (clay mixing machine whirring) where you'll see a really old clay mixing machine.

- It was made very well back in 1912 and it's still operating today like a charm.

(clay mixing machine whirring) - [Bill] Pewabic Pottery turning out ceramic vases, decorative and architectural tiles.

A Detroit legacy that goes back to the turn of the last century.

- Well, I think that's kind of the beauty of Pewabic is we started at a time where this was really popular throughout the United States, but we are really one of the oldest continuously operating historic pottery.

So, not many more left like us.

- [Bill] Pewabic was thriving in the 1920s, part of the Arts and Crafts movement, a reaction to the industrialization sweeping the nation, especially places like Detroit.

How to bring some humanity, art, and beauty amongst all these machine-made things.

Meanwhile, dental equipment supplier Horace Caulkins created a kiln to fire enamel for porcelain teeth.

- Horace was a really good businessperson, and so kind of realizing that there was this entire new art trend growing within the city of Detroit known as China painting, he expanded his line of kilns into kilns for the firing of pottery.

- [Bill] Caulkins began working with a China painter.

Mary Chase Perry, - Our founder, Mary Chase Perry, later Mary Chase Perry Stratton, was born in Hancock, Michigan.

- [Bill] Hancock in the Upper Peninsula with its copper mines, including a mine called the Pewabic.

Stratton liked that name.

- Mary was really the artistic vision of the organization, and that was something that was fully supported by her business partner.

- [Bill] Education Director Annie Dennis has been discovering Pewabic's history, doing a deep dig into the archives.

- But we are finding that she had connections to the Detroit Suffrage movement, and I think it was really inspiring for women artists to find a woman-run organization.

And that's no different today.

I think the coolest and best part about Pewabic, and not just today, but just historically, are the people that continue to be drawn to this place and care for it.

- [Bill] Back in the clay mixing room, Cameron Hodge runs the machine that removes excess water.

- 'Cause it's still one of the best ways that you can produce clay.

My last major position was as a distiller, and it was actually a very similar process of mixing a batch of whiskey and then mixing a batch of clay.

So that's actually how I got hired on in fabrication.

- [Bill] The molds that shape the clay for a lot of projects to process, pretty much the same as it's always been.

- Take the slug, put it into the mold, use my arbor press to press it into all the corners.

I like when the public comes around 'cause it's a nice reminder of like how special this job actually is that we do to make these tiles that some of them are about 100 years old as far as the design goes, and we're just continuing the legacy and being a part of the history of Detroit.

It's pretty cool.

- [Bill] After the shaping, some get a sprayed coat.

This tile is an original Stratton design, hand-painted by Glaze Technician Cassidy Downs.

Then comes the firing.

But the process isn't all old school.

Brett Gray's in the kiln room.

- I have a degree from CCS and ceramics.

Before that, I made custom surfboards, and then I ended up here working in the vessel department.

(tiles clattering) The biggest difference between historic kilns and these kilns are these are all computer-controlled, and we do about five different glazes in here right now.

So, as I'm pulling these out, I'm kind of looking over them to make sure everything looks good.

There's no imperfections.

(tiles clattering) This came out perfect.

99% of the time, they do.

- It's hard to talk about Pewabic glazes without starting with iridescent glazes because it's really what essentially helped to put Pewabic on the map well over 100 years ago, - [Bill] Glazes with an iridescent finish.

- [Brett] So this is a before and after, before it goes into iridescent.

This one has the iridescent on it, which is also a third firing.

- [Bill] Here's where art and science converge.

In the old days, elements like lead and uranium gave these works, which you can see at the museum here, that remarkable luster.

This finish is replaced with far less hazardous materials now.

Stratton's work brought together other creatives who established modern Detroit's legacy of art and design.

- I really think it was this network of designers, and architects, and artists that kind of helped to form the path of Pewabic Pottery.

And this group not only influenced the aesthetics of the city of Detroit and kind of this visual landscape, but also the educational communities.

For example, the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts is still alive and well in Detroit.

It's now known as the College for Creative Studies.

They also had ties to the University of Michigan.

In fact, Mary helped to found the art program at U of M. The first Wayne State University ceramics classes for the first 15 years existed here at Pewabic.

- [Bill] Pewabic tiles abound around Detroit, projects old and new: The Guardian Building, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Comerica Park, and now, right now, renewed interest about what's going on at Pewabic.

- The digital age that we're in right now had people refocus on things that celebrate things made by the human hand.

And so we're actually seeing this really incredible resurgence of people understanding now more than ever why it's important to have artists work and create things by hand.

(machinery whirring) - [Narrator] Summer arrives this weekend, and there are plenty of outdoor activities taking place around town.

From festivals, to fairs, and fireworks, there's fun to be had in Metro Detroit.

Haley Taylor and Dave Wagner from 90.9 WRCJ have today's "One Detroit Weekend."

(pensive music) - Hey everyone, Haley and Dave here, with festivals and fireworks to brighten up the week ahead in Metro Detroit.

- Okay, Haley, let's start with the Bay-Rama Fish Fly Festival in Downtown New Baltimore running through June 22nd.

This small-town tradition, features carnival rides, a parade, and family-friendly entertainment on the scenic waterfront.

- [Haley] And in Lansing, the Fiesta & Carnival at Adado Riverfront Park continues through June 22nd, celebrating community and culture with food vendors and vibrant music performances.

- [Dave] Pride continues in Downtown Wyandotte with the Downriver Pride.

June 20th and 21st.

Celebrate love and inclusivity with live drag performances, community resources, a bar and retail crawl, all with a very welcoming atmosphere.

- [Haley] On June 21st, the Juneteenth Books, Music, & Arts Fair returns to The Commons in Detroit, bringing together Black authors, vendors, performers, and artists for a day of culture and celebration.

- [Dave] And don't miss the Ford Fireworks on June 23rd.

The Parade Company lights up the Detroit Riverfront with one of the biggest firework shows in the Midwest.

Find a good spot early to ensure the best viewing of this really spectacular show.

- And Detroit has seemingly endless options to entertain us, so stick around and see a few more suggestions.

(pensive music) - [Narrator] That'll do it for this week's "One Detroit."

Thanks for watching.

Head to the "One Detroit" website for all the stories we're working on, follow us on social media, and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

- [Announcer 1] This program is made possible in part by Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation.

Support also provided by Timothy Bogert, Comprehensive Planning Strategies.

- [Announcer 1] From Delta faucets to Behr paint, Masco Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

Masco, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia & Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

- [Announcer 2] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Through our giving, we are committed to meeting the needs of the communities we serve statewide to help ensure a bright and thriving future for all.

Learn more at dtefoundation.com.

- [Announcer 1] Nissan Foundation and viewers like you.

(pensive music) (uplifting music)