Rafael Haskell News Today

Sarah Elizabeth Ray was asked to get off a boat while attending a graduation trip in 1945 because she was African American. In 1948, her case reached the U.S. Supreme Court - who ruled in her favor.

Shannon Steel said she hadn't heard of Ray before reading reporting about the plight of her home, but "it didn't sit right in my spirit that no one would" step up to save the house.

Months after the Detroit Land Bank Authority asked for proposals to help preserve the home of a civil rights activist that was nearly demolished by the agency, the future of the property remains precarious.

The land bank is taking proposals for the house itself in a first-of-its-kind program for the organization, which has typically sought to either tear down houses or make them habitable, through sales or other means.

Sarah Elizabeth Ray should have been heralded as a civil rights icon, but her legacy has mostly faded into obscurity. Now, a group of Detroit eastsiders, a former journalist and a documentary filmmaker are hoping to revive her story.

The house is small, run down, boarded up, surrounded by tall grass. A blue tarp covers the roof. The wood exterior is weathered gray from the elements,

The designation is a step to preserve the home and the story of Sarah E. Ray, who was kicked off a Boblo Boat in 1945.