“It is just really important to emphasize that history is looking at the whole picture,” Jonathon Stanton, the historical commission’s chairman, said in an interview. “If we’re only talking about the parts that make us proud, then what we’re doing isn’t really history.”

Now, instead of Dearborn confronting its past, Mr. Stanton said, people are talking about how the city is reluctant to discuss history.

“We really agree with the mayor’s views about the present and the efforts on inclusivity,” he said. “Everyone on the commission is an admirer of the mayor, which adds to the confusion of why he made this decision. He’s gone to the mat for our Arab-American and Muslim neighbors when there is racism. We definitely think of him as a man of consciousness and integrity.”

At lunch at the Al Ameer Restaurant in a part of Dearborn renowned for its Middle Eastern eateries, Kareem Ali, 22, said young people in Dearborn rarely associated the city with Mr. Ford as much as they did with its fast-growing Arab-American and Muslim populations. He said that until this week, he had not been aware of Mr. Ford’s anti-Semitic history, so he was glad the mayor’s “wrongheaded” decision had led to so much media attention and publicity.

“It does nobody any good to censor this kind of thing,” said Mr. Ali, who attends a local community college. “I’m against hate towards anyone, and it’s important to remember history because it reminds us that just because you’re rich and famous doesn’t mean you’re a perfect person. Everyone has flaws.”

Felicia Calvo, a 45-year-old Dearborn native, said her father, who worked for the Ford Motor Company for 34 years, told her that as venerated as the company founder was, he “definitely had an impact on the trials that the Jewish community went through.” She finds the mayor’s actions odd, given that Ford’s history of anti-Semitism is a piece of his biography that Dearborners grew up learning.

“This is not something that Ford Motor Company, or the Ford family have ever denied,” said Ms. Calvo, who works in information technology. “I was also aware that Ford Motor Company took great steps to address the damage that Henry Ford had done. To me, there was nothing in this article that hasn’t been shared before, that isn’t publicly available. I’m sure the mayor is kicking himself, because the article never would have gotten this attention had he not banned it.”