Editing Howell, Michigan (section)

==History==
January 1836 saw the establishment of the first [[post office]]. Flavius J. B. Crane was [[postmaster]], and the post office was in the Eagle Tavern.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A history of the township and village of Howell, Michigan |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.historyoftownshi00crit/?st=pdf |access-date=2024-08-01 |newspaper=The Library of Congress}}</ref> In March of this same year, there was a mail route started in the village of [[Kensington, Michigan|Kensington]] that went through Howell until ending in [[Grand Rapids, Michigan|Grand Rapids]]. The pioneer manufacturing enterprise of Howell was a sawmill built in 1836, soon followed by a blacksmith shop.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=The History of Howell |url=https://www.cityofhowell.org/residents/about_the_city_of_howell/history.php |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=www.cityofhowell.org |language=en}}</ref>

The City of Howell is the [[county seat]] of [[Livingston County, Michigan|Livingston County]]. On 24 March 1836, the legislature passed an act organizing Livingston County. Howell was slated to become the county seat, but the newly established [[Brighton, Michigan|Brighton]] nearby claimed the seat for the next 12 years.

The town was originally called Livingston Center, formed as a village by an act of the legislature on 14 March 1863 consisting of sections 35 and 36, and the south half of sections 25 and 26 of [[Howell Township, Michigan|Howell Township]].<ref>[https://www.cityofhowell.org/residents/about_the_city_of_howell/history.php City of Howell: History of Howell], accessed 31 December 2020.</ref>

===20th century===
The Howell [[Home Rule Cities Act (Michigan)|Home Rule]] City Charter was adopted in 1955.<ref>[https://www.cityofhowell.org/residents/city_ordinances_charter/index.php Howell City Charter index page], accessed 31 December 2020.</ref>

The [[Ku Klux Klan]] first took hold in the area in the 1920s, and membership in Livingston County increased during the American [[civil rights era]].<ref name="Walker1994">{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Sam |title=Michigan Town Battles Image of Racism |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/1994/1003/03071.html |access-date=21 August 2024 |work=Christian Science Monitor |date=October 3, 1994}}</ref> Since the 1970s, Howell has had a national reputation for being associated with the Klan. White supremacist leader and Michigan [[Ku Klux Klan titles and vocabulary#Grand Dragon|Grand Dragon]] (1971–1979) [[Robert E. Miles]] held gatherings on his farm 12 miles north of the city in [[Cohoctah Township]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Counts |first=John |date=21 March 2014 |title=A tale of two towns: Newest racial incident has Howell facing its past |url=http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2014/03/a_tale_of_two_towns_newest_rac.html |access-date=2016-01-05 |website=MLive}}</ref> Miles died in 1992, but the gatherings, including the burning of crosses, continued.<ref name="Walker1994"/>

The Livingston Diversity Council, founded in response to a 1988 [[cross burning]] on the lawn of a Black family,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Livingston Diversity Council|url = http://www.livingstondiversity.org/history.html|website = www.livingstondiversity.org|access-date = 2016-01-06|archive-date = 2016-01-31|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160131113501/http://www.livingstondiversity.org/history.html|url-status = dead}}</ref> has been promoting diversity and inclusion in the county.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Livingston Diversity Council|url = http://www.livingstondiversity.org/index.html|website = www.livingstondiversity.org|access-date = 2016-01-06|archive-date = 2016-01-20|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160120214244/http://livingstondiversity.org/index.html|url-status = dead}}</ref> While they are numerous in [[Metro Detroit]], as of 2011, Howell was not listed as an active home to any [[hate group]] by the [[Southern Poverty Law Center]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://michiganradio.org/post/report-35-hate-groups-michigan#stream/0|title=Report: 35 "Hate Groups" in Michigan|first=Mark|last=Brush|website=michiganradio.org|date=23 February 2011 |access-date=3 May 2017}}</ref>

On October 22, 1994, less than a dozen Ku Klux Klansmen from outside Howell held a rally on the steps of the historic [[Livingston County Courthouse (Michigan)|Livingston County Courthouse]]. According to a reporter for the ''Livingston Post'', the town may have been chosen because of its reputation for intolerance. Ben Bohnsack, the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in nearby [[Brighton, Michigan]], at the time, described the approaching rally as an "assault on the values" of the community. On the day of the rally, the courthouse was put under the protection of 174 police officers from every law enforcement agency in the county. An 8-foot-tall chain-link fence was erected around the courthouse, with two additional sections raised on Grand River Avenue to contain protesters and observers. The fence was dismantled after the rally, and on the following day, citizens assembled with brooms, mops, and buckets for a symbolic cleansing of the courthouse steps.<ref name="Stuart2019">{{cite news |last1=Stuart |first1=Maria |title=25 years ago: When Livingston County told the KKK where it could go |url=https://thelivingstonpost.com/25-years-ago-when-livingston-county-told-the-kkk-where-it-could-go/ |access-date=18 August 2024 |work=The Livingston Post.com |date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200407050820/https://thelivingstonpost.com/25-years-ago-when-livingston-county-told-the-kkk-where-it-could-go/ |archive-date=7 April 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===21st century===
Activities associated with the [[Ku Klux Klan]] persisted into the 2000s, with events such as a public auction of Klan items scheduled for [[Martin Luther King Jr.]]'s birthday in January 2005,<ref>{{Cite news |title = Auctioning Memories in a Town Haunted by the Klan |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/23/us/auctioning-memories-in-a-town-haunted-by-the-klan.html |newspaper = [[The New York Times]] |url-access=registration |date = 2005-05-23|access-date = 2016-01-05|issn = 0362-4331|first = Jeremy W.|last = Peters}}</ref> the 2010 suspension of a teacher who removed students for wearing a [[Confederate flag]] and making [[anti-gay slur]]s,<ref>{{Cite web|title = Michigan teacher suspended over anti-gay punishment - USATODAY.com|url = http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-16-michigan-teacher-suspended-gay_N.htm|website = usatoday30.usatoday.com|access-date = 2016-01-05}}</ref> and students' racist tweets toward a racially mixed team in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Young |first=Molly |date=March 15, 2014 |title=Shocking racist tweets follow high school basketball win by all-white team |url=http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/03/members_of_howell_high_school.html |access-date=2016-01-05 |website=MLive}}</ref>
[[File:P20211005AS-1308 (51760515132).jpg|thumb|President Joe Biden delivers remarks on his Build Back Better agenda, Tuesday, October 5, 2021, at the Operating Engineers Training Facility in Howell, Michigan.]]
On October 5, 2021, President [[Joe Biden]] visited Howell for a speech to build support for his [[Build Back Better Plan]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=President Joe Biden visits Howell |url=https://www.livingstondaily.com/picture-gallery/news/2021/10/05/president-joe-biden-visits-howell/6007241001/ |access-date=2024-08-21 |website=Livingston Daily Press & Argus |language=en-US}}</ref>

On July 21, 2024, about a dozen masked white supremacists marched through downtown Howell, chanting "[[Heil Hitler]]" and carrying signs with messages such as "[[White Lives Matter]]" and "End the War on White Children". They began their demonstration on the lawn of the Livingston County courthouse, where, in 1994, members of the community symbolically scrubbed the steps following a Klan rally. Several miles east of Howell at the Latson Road/I-96 overpass in [[Genoa Township, Michigan]], pictures posted to a community Facebook group showed demonstrators hanging Klan and [[Nazism|Nazi]] flags over the side of the overpass. One of the photos showed them with a [[Donald Trump]] flag, while the ''Livingston Post'' uploaded a video made by a passerby in which one of the protestors is heard saying, "We love Hitler. We love Trump."<ref name="King2024">{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Jon |title='We love Hitler. We love Trump.': White supremacists march through Howell • Group hung Nazi and KKK banners on highway overpass |url=https://michiganadvance.com/2024/07/22/we-love-hitler-we-love-trump-white-supremacists-march-through-howell/ |work=Michigan Advance |date=22 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240722185003/https://michiganadvance.com/2024/07/22/we-love-hitler-we-love-trump-white-supremacists-march-through-howell/ |archive-date=22 July 2024 |access-date=17 August 2024 |url-status=live }}</ref> On July 28, 2024, one week after the white supremacist march, at an anti-white supremacist counterprotest in downtown Howell, residents cleansed the sidewalk to symbolically wash away the racism.<ref name="King2024 a">{{cite news |last1=King |first1=Jon |title=Residents symbolically cleanse Howell after white supremacist march • 'This isn't how it's going to work around here anymore' |url=https://michiganadvance.com/2024/07/29/residents-symbolically-cleanse-howell-after-white-supremacist-march/ |access-date=17 August 2024 |work=Michigan Advance |date=29 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240729190211/https://michiganadvance.com/2024/07/29/residents-symbolically-cleanse-howell-after-white-supremacist-march/ |archive-date=29 July 2024 |url-status=live }}</ref> On August 20, 2024, [[Donald Trump]] visited Howell for a campaign speech.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Powers |first=Sara |date=2024-08-21 |title=Trump visits Michigan, campaigning on law and order, often speaking out against VP Harris |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/michigan-sheriff-trump-visit-howell-livingston-county/ |access-date=2024-08-21 |work=CBS Detroit |language=en-US}}</ref>