Twenty-five painted drums put American stories across Detroit for the 250th

Twenty-five painted drum sculptures are on view across Detroit this summer, each one shaped like a West African talking drum and each carrying a story meant to be passed on. The exhibition is called "The Stories of Us," and it is free to visit through July 22 at the Detroit Public Library's main branch, Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park, and the Joe Louis Greenway's Warren Gateway on the city's west side.

The work comes from a national nonprofit of the same name, co-founded by Ashley Shaw Scott Adjaye and Dennis Marcus. Its stated aim is to expand whose stories get told in the country's history, asking what it would look like for the nation to live up to the Declaration of Independence's ideals of equality. The timing is deliberate. This year the United States marks 250 years since that document, and the project uses the anniversary to gather the experiences of Americans often left out of the mainstream retelling.

The talking drum is a fitting vessel. Inspired by the hourglass-shaped drums of West Africa, the form is known for replicating the tone of human speech, which let villages send messages across long distances. Here the sculptures hold painted scenes by local and outside artists.

Detroit artist Darius Baber painted a drum installed near the riverfront, built around his own family history and his mother's ancestry. His piece layers an inverted American flag against the cultural flag of the Bubi people of Equatorial Guinea. "I hope it makes people think about their relationship to their heritage and what it really means to be an American," Baber told CBS Detroit. Another sculpture, "Infinite Journey," comes from artist Alanis Forde.

At each drum, a QR code tells you more about the artist who made it, and a speech-to-story platform lets you record your own thoughts, which are written up and added to a national archive. The point is participation. The show is built to collect voices, not only to display art.

Detroit is a return for the project. The Stories of Us debuted here in 2024 with 10 drums at Capitol Park, then traveled to Cleveland and to New Orleans for the Essence Festival of Culture. For now the drums stand in libraries, a park, and along the greenway, free and open to anyone passing by. Stop, look, scan the code, and if you want, leave a story of your own.