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February 2019
Selector: Clayton Hayes
The Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s theme for 2019's Black History Month, Black Migrations, emphasizes the movement of people of African descent to new destinations and subsequently to new social realities. While inclusive of earlier centuries, this theme focuses especially on the twentieth century through today. Detroit owes a great deal to the Great Migration of Black southerners but, once here, Black Detroiters were given little freedom as to where and when they could migrate within the city itself. Racially restrictive housing covenants (legal until 1948) and hostile white neighborhood associations kept blacks from moving into white neighborhoods, while urban renewal programs bulldozed entire black neighborhoods with little or no compensation to residents.
The Great Migration and Life in Black Detroit
Black Detroit by Call Number: F 574 .D49 N429 2017Publication Date: 2017Award-winning journalist Herb Boyd chronicles the fascinating history of Detroit through the lens of the African American experience. Offering an expansive discussion of this iconic city, Boyd combines deep passion and a stunning eye for detail to seamlessly blend personal experience, exhaustive research, and eyewitness accounts collected from some of the city's wisest griots.
Before the Ghetto: Black Detroit in the Nineteenth Century by Call Number: F 574 .D4 K2Publication Date: 1973Scholarship and information on black settlements in Detroit before the 20th century can be hard to come by, so this book is an invaluable source of information on the topic.- Negroes in Michigan History by Call Number: E 185.93 .M5 W37 1985Publication Date: 1985Originally published in 1915 as the Michigan Manual of Freedmen's Progress, this volume offers a detailed look at Black Detroit before WWI.
The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford by Call Number: [ebook]Publication Date: 2012In the 1920s, Henry Ford hired thousands of African American men for his open-shop system of auto manufacturing. This move was a rejection of the notion that better jobs were for white men only. In The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford, Beth Tompkins Bates explains how black Detroiters, newly arrived from the South, seized the economic opportunities offered by Ford in the hope of gaining greater economic security.
- Detroit and the Great Migration, 1916-1929 by Elizabeth Anne Martin
Call Number: [HathiTrust ebook]
Publication Date: 1993
This bulletin from the University of Michigan's Bently Historical Collection provides a succinct yet detailed account of black migrants coming to Detroit. - The Negro at Work During the World War and During Reconstruction by George E. HaynesCall Number: [HathiTrust ebook]
Publication Date: 1921
Prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor, Haynes' survey provides a detailed account of black populations in industries across the United States in the post-WWI period, including Michigan.
The Great Migration North, 1910-1970 by Call Number: [ebook]Publication Date: 2011Provides a detailed account of the Great Migration. Explores the history of African Americans, the events leading up to their northern movement, and its lasting influence on society.
Sweet Land of Liberty by Call Number: E 185.9 .S95 2008Publication Date: 2008Sweet Land of Liberty is an epic, revelatory account of the abiding quest for justice in states from Illinois to New York, and of how the intense northern struggle differed from and was inspired by the fight down South.- Conant Gardens: A Black Urban Community by Call Number: F 574 .D49 N4334 2001Publication Date: 2001This book describes Conant Gardens, a (relatively) wealthy black neighborhood that thrived in the early-to-mid 20th century.
Library Databases, February 2019
- African American Experience This link opens in a new windowAn online collection on African American life, The African American Experience is an electronic research tool for African American history and culture. The two primary goals: to provide rock-solid information from authorities in the field, and to allow African Americans to speak for themselves through a wealth of primary sources. Designed under the guidance of leading librarians, this database gives voice to the black experience from its African origins to the present day.
- Urban studies abstracts This link opens in a new windowUrban Studies Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline.
- Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new windowThe Oxford African American Studies Center is a comprehensive collection of scholarship available online to focus on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture.
- African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new windowThis database provides access to a wide range of African American Newspapers published during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Wayne State University Press
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Picture of the Display
Mapping Detroit's Black Population
Housing and Urban Renewal
Race and Place by Call Number: F 574 .D49 A27 2001Publication Date: 2001This book focuses on the impact of residential changes on the attitudes and behavior of African-Americans and whites.- A Man's Home, a Man's Castle by Call Number: KF 224 .S8 W4Publication Date: 1971This book gives an account of Ossian Sweet, a black doctor who purchased a home in a whites-only neighborhood of Detroit in the 1920s. When white mobs attempted to drive Sweet and his family out a white member of the crowd was shot and killed, and Ossian was put on trial for their murder.
Saving the Neighborhood by Call Number: [ebook]Publication Date: 2013Saving the Neighborhood tells the charged, still controversial story of the rise and fall of racially restrictive covenants in America, and offers rare insight into the ways legal and social norms reinforce one another, acting with pernicious efficacy to codify and perpetuate intolerance.
The Origins of the Urban Crisis by Call Number: [ebook]Publication Date: 2014Once America's "arsenal of democracy," Detroit is now the symbol of the American urban crisis. In this reappraisal of America's racial and economic inequalities, Thomas Sugrue asks why Detroit and other industrial cities have become the sites of persistent racialized poverty.
Redevelopment and Race by Call Number: [ebook]Publication Date: 2013In the decades following World War II, professional city planners in Detroit made a concerted effort to halt the city's physical and economic decline. Their successes included an award-winning master plan, a number of laudable redevelopment projects, and exemplary planning leadership in the city and the nation. Yet despite their efforts, Detroit was rapidly transforming into a notorious symbol of urban decay.
- The Negro in Detroit by Forrester B. WashingtonCall Number: [HathiTrust ebook]
Publication Date: 1920
This survey, prepared by Washington for the Associated Charities of Detroit, is an incredibly detailed account of the lives and challenges of black Detroiters, from the city's founding to the period immediately following WWI.
- Sand Against the Wind; The Memoirs of John C. Dancy by Call Number: E185.97 D22 A3Publication Date: 1966John Cambell Dancy, Jr., was the son of a prominent politician and journalist from North Carolina, and served as the director of the Detroit Urban League from 1918 to 1960.
Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes by Call Number: F 574 .D49 N476 1994Publication Date: 1993More than one hundred individuals who lived in Detroit at some time during the period from 1918 to 1967 share stories about everyday life. By featuring the histories of black Detroiters during the first six decades of the century, this unique oral history contributes immeasurably to our understanding of the development of the city.
Primary Sources, February 2019
Collections at the Reuther Library:
Compiled with assistance from Meghan Courtney
- Untold Tales, Unsung Heroes Oral HistoriesFrom 1990 to 1994, the Detroit Urban League created an oral history of Detroit's black population, with a focus on the period between 1918 and 1967. Many of the interviews touch on issues covered here.
- African-American Labor Oral HistoriesConducted from 1967 and 1970 by Herbert Hill, labor director for the NAACP, there are several oral histories relevant to this topic. In particular, the interviews with Joseph Coles, Raymond Hatcher, and Birney W. Smith touch on issues raised here.
- Blog Post: Detroit's Black Bottom and Paradise Valley NeighborhoodsThis blog post describes two of Detroit's most prominent black neighborhoods, Black Bottom and Paradise Valley, and provides links to a wide range of primary source materials housed at the Reuther Library.
- Carl Almblad PapersAn urban planner, Carl Almblad worked with the Chicago Plan Commission, the Detroit Plan Commission, the City of Detroit Community and Economic Development Department and the Detroit Historic District Commission. The papers of Mr. Almblad relate to urban planning, urban renewal, and historic district development in the cities of Chicago and Detroit.
- The Folklore ArchiveThe Folklore Archive contains thousands of student field research projects covering a broad range of topics, typically consisting of transcripts of oral interviews reflecting the rich ethnic diversity and work-oriented heritage of Detroit and southeastern Michigan.
- Civil Rights Congress of Michigan RecordsThe Civil Rights Congress (renamed the Civil Rights Federation in 1938) operated from 1935 to 1955 and fought against racist organizations and discrimination in the area. It would eventually focus specifically on problems faced by blacks and political minorities.
- UAW Fair Practices and Anti-Discrimination Department RecordsDetails race relations in industry and talks about what the UAW did to combat racism, including assessments of what did or didn't work and issues of unequal employment and integration in work and recreation.
- NAACP Detroit Branch RecordsThe NAACP was established in 1910 to help African-American citizens secure their rights, obtain legal justice, and gain equal political, economic and social opportunity. The Detroit Branch was established in 1911, and their records reflect their work over the years, including material on discrimination in housing, employment, and education.
Online Repositories:
- Michigan MemoriesMichigan Memories provides access to collections from cultural institutions throughout the state of Michigan. These collections are created and maintained by archivists, librarians, and curators who are dedicated to the preservation of Michigan's history and heritage.
- DPLA (Digital Public Library of America)The DPLA brings together images, books and more from the digital collections of public institutions across the United States.