Did you know that Horizons-Upward Bound (HUB) had its own flag and that it was created by a HUB student? Continuing with the HUB Records digitization project, I came across evidence of this unique item and an interesting story behind it.

In 1974, Gregory Loving, HUB student and a senior from Cass Technical High School (17 years old), won a flag design contest for Cranbrook School’s event, Soulfest II. Building on the tradition of institutional flags at Cranbrook begun by Henry Scripps Booth, Gregory’s design incorporated three wide vertical stripes. The center stripe displayed multiple hands of varying skin tones holding an upward-pointing arrow, a motif that would repeat often in HUB graphics and is likely based on Cranbrook School’s logo.

Soulfest was an biannual and major community fundraising event for the HUB program in the 1970s. It was inspired by HUB parent, Lula Barnes, who also provided the recipes, and created and organized by Margot Snyder. Margot, “whose sustaining and nurturing hands…helped shape Horizons-Upward Bound since its beginnings, ” was an integral and beloved member of the Cranbrook Schools and HUB community and wife of HUB founder Ben M. Snyder (HUB class brochure, 1994).

In a memo to Cranbrook School and HUB faculty in March 1974, Margot writes, ” We look upon this as a project stressing Cranbrook’s involvement with the community at large…we hope to raise some much need funds for HUB, we are trying to beat the high cost of living and labor.” Gregory’s winning flag design can be viewed as a visual interpretation of Margot and the Soulfest committee’s goal of increased community involvement. Both the event and flag embody collectivity and upward mobility through the work of multiple hands from varying backgrounds.

—Courtney Richardson, Project Archivist, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research

HUB digitization is funded by a NHPRC Archival Projects Grant for projects that ensure online public discovery and use of historical records collections. The NHPRC was established by Congress in 1934 as a statutory body affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration and chaired by the Archivist of the United States.