Black Bottom was a predominantly black neighborhood in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, United States. The term has sometimes been used to apply to the entire neighborhood including Paradise Valley, but many consider the two neighborhoods to be separate. Together, Black Bottom and Paradise Valley were bounded by Brush Street to the west, the Grand Trunk railroad tracks to the east, south to the

Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively referred to as Detro ...

, and bisected by

Gratiot Avenue M-3 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the Detroit metropolitan area of the US state of Michigan. For most of its length, the trunkline is known as Gratiot Avenue (, ). The trunkline starts in Downtown Detroit and runs through the ci ...

. The area north of Grand Boulevard was defined as Paradise Valley. Although the name "Black Bottom" is often erroneously believed to be a reference to the

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

community that developed in the twentieth century, the neighborhood was actually named by early French colonial settlers for the dark, fertile topsoil found in the area (known as river bottomlands). Binelli, p. 20. "The name was not as racist as it sounds: the area was originally named by the French for its dark, fertile topsoil." During World War I, Black Bottom was home to many Eastern European Jewish immigrants, and the Great Migration influx of southern African Americans combined with redlining created a majority black neighborhood within Detroit. As the Black Bottom grew, it soon became known as a lively area with jazz bars and nightclubs. From the 1930s to the 1950s, residents in Black Bottom made significant contributions to American music, including blues,

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

. Despite the rich cultural and musical hub of Black Bottom, the neighborhood was plagued with urban poverty. Most of Black Bottom's residents were employed in manufacturing and the automotive factory jobs. Some black business owners and clergymen operating in the neighborhood were able to rise to the middle class,however many moved to the newer and better-constructed Detroit West Side neighborhoods. Historical lack of access for the general population of African Americans to New Deal and Veterans Administration housing benefits combined with redlining segregated the neighborhoods from surrounding areas. In the early 1960s, the Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods were demolished for the purpose of

slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...

and to make way for the construction of I-375. Homes and businesses were demolished and residents relocated to outside neighborhoods.

History

Lafayette Park Detroit redevelopment over Black Bottom

Historically, this geographical area was the source of the River Savoyard, which was buried as a sewer in 1827.Detroit Historical Society
"Black Bottom Neighborhood,"
''Encyclopedia of Detroit.'' Retrieved February 20, 2015. The river's flooding produced rich bottomland soils, for which early French colonial settlers named the area "Black Bottom". Woodford, p. 170. " .. became the predominantly black residential section known as Black Bottom, so named for the rich, dark soil on which early settlers farmed." Before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, European immigrants populated the area and built the frame houses that would later be razed for urban renewal. In the early twentieth century, European immigrants and blacks lived together in an ad-hoc integrated neighborhood. Coleman Young, the first black mayor of Detroit, moved to Black Bottom with his family in 1923; he states his neighbors as Italian, Syrian, German, and Jewish. Young is quoted as having "loved that neighborhood." Surrounding neighborhoods passed restrictive covenants prohibting blacks from purchasing or renting property in the adjacent areas, functionally confining residents to Black Bottom. During the Great Migration, the area was primarily settled by blacks who established a community of businesses, social institutions, and night clubs. Detroit's Broadway Avenue Historic District contains a sub-district sometimes called the ''Harmonie Park District.'' It is associated with the legacy of Detroit's music from the 1930s-1950s. The area's main commercial avenues were Hastings and St. Antoine streets. ''Paradise Valley'' contained night clubs where famous artists such as

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

, Sam Cooke,

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

, Duke Ellington, Billy Eckstine, Pearl Bailey, and

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

regularly performed. In 1941, the city's Orchestra Hall was named ''Paradise Theatre''. Reverend C. L. Franklin, father of singer Aretha Franklin, originally established his New Bethel Baptist Church on Hastings Street. Paradise Valley housed the Gotham Hotel, which was known as a safe and upscale hotel for African Americans. Gotham Hotel was demolished in 1963. Black Bottom's business district contained doctor's offices, hospitals, drug stores, and other services. Black Bottom was one of the poorest and densest sections of Detroit, with a third of black Detroiters living within Paradise Valley. Homes commonly held three to four families within the dwelling. Overcrowding, disease, crime, and vermin ran rampant within the boundaries of Black Bottom and Paradise Valley. Income inequality and redlining contributed to deferred housing upkeep and maintenance, which further deteriorated housing conditions. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, two-thirds of the physical structures of Black Bottom had been classified as aging and substandard, lacking modern amenities, or sitting in significant disrepair. The city government considered these areas slums and designated those remaining after the highway construction for clearance through a series of revitalization projects. Areas of both Black Bottom and Paradise Valley faced destruction for the construction of medical and city-run institutions, as well as public housing projects." The passage of the

Federal Housing Act of 1949 The American Housing Act of 1949 () was a landmark, sweeping expansion of the federal role in mortgage insurance and issuance and the construction of public housing. It was part of President Harry Truman's program of domestic legislation, the Fai ...

funded demolition. The City of Detroit sent photographers out to document structures, the area dismissed as a "slum." The approximately 2,000 images document clapboard houses, churches, and corner stores; many of which appear in better repair than the formal descriptions. The photographs are now housed in the Burton Historical Collection at the

Detroit Public Library The Detroit Public Library is the second largest library system in the U.S. state of Michigan by volumes held (after the University of Michigan Library) and the 21st-largest library system (and the fourth-largest public library system) in the Uni ...

. By 1950, 423 residences, 109 businesses, 22 manufacturing plants, and 93 vacant lots had been condemned for one freeway project. The Federal Highway Act of 1956 funded the highway construction over Hastings Street and surrounding city blocks. The highways, such as the Chrysler (formerly Oakland-Hastings) Freeway, bisected the rest of the Lower East Side, including Paradise Valley and Black Bottom. The Edsel Ford Freeway also cut through the northernmost part of Paradise Valley. The sites of Black Bottom and Paradise Valley were replaced with private housing from the Gratiot Redevelopment Project. The City of Detroit also supported construction of Lafayette Park, a modernist residential development designed by

Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

, intended as a model neighborhood containing residential townhouses, apartments and high-rises with commercial areas. Many of the former residents of Black Bottom were relocated to

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

projects, such as the

Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects The Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects (officially named the Frederick Douglass Homes, and alternately named Frederick Douglass Projects, Frederick Douglass Apartments, Brewster-Douglass Homes, and Brewster-Douglass Projects) were the largest res ...

(a public housing project built near Black Bottom starting in the 1930s) and Jeffries Homes. Jeffries Home was demolished in 2001 and Brewster-Douglass demolished in 2008. In 2000, the final three structures of Paradise Valley were razed. A Michigan Historical Site marker sign on the former intersection of Adams Avenue and St. Antoine St., currently near Ford Field, exists as the last physical marker of the neighborhood. Architect Emily Kutil plans to recreate the neighborhood virtually, using photos from the Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Collection, through a website called Black Bottom Street View. The website will purportedly also feature oral histories from past residents. The University of Michigan and Olympia Development have announced a new project at 1400 S. Antoine St. (at the intersection of Gratiot Ave. and I-375) for a 190,000 square feet structure including "residential units, a hotel, a conference center and a business collaboration and incubation space." Project funders include Stephen M. Ross and

Dan Gilbert Daniel Gilbert (born January 17, 1962) is an American billionaire businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and majority owner of Rocket Mortgage, founder of Rock Ventures, and owner of the National Basketball Association' ...

. Professor Stephen Ward of the University of Michgan's Department of Afro-American studies has challenged the project; he signed a Change.org petition entitled "#UMichRegentrifiers: Invest in Detroiters" which has been created by a University of Michigan student opposing the project. In September 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded Detroit a $104-million Department of Transportation grant for the I-375 project in Detroit which would demolish the current 1.062 mile-long sunken highway to construct a proposed lower speed boulevard at street-level by 2024. This project will reconnect neighborhood streets cut off by the sunken highway for decades.

Geography

Historically, the primary business district was in an area bounded by Vernor, John R., Madison, and Hastings, with Gratiot Avenue running through the district as a spoke on the "hub-and-spoke" road layout of Detroit. The business district included hotels, restaurants, music stores, bowling alleys, shops, policy offices, and grocery stores. There were 17 nightclubs in the business district. Woodford, pp. 170-171. "John R. on the west, and with Gratiot cutting through it, was the area's business district. It contained shops, music stores, grocery stores, bowling alleys, hotels, restaurants, policy offices, and seventeen nightclubs." The sunken I-375 highway passes directly over where Hastings Ave. once was.

Notable people

* Fard Muhammad *

Elijah Muhammad Elijah Muhammad (born Elijah Robert Poole; October 7, 1897 – February 25, 1975) was an African American religious leader, black separatist, and self-proclaimed Messenger of Allah, who led the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1934 until his deat ...

Della Reese Delloreese Patricia Early (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017), known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades. She began her long career as a s ...

* Joe Louis *

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regard ...

Robert Hayden Robert Hayden (August 4, 1913February 25, 1980) was an American poet, essayist, and educator. He served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1976 to 1978, a role today known as US Poet Laureate. He was the first African-Ameri ...

* Stephen M. Ross *

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with The Supremes, The Miracles, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

* Coleman Young

References

Bibliography

* * *Sugrue, Thomas J (2005). '' The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit.'' United States: Princeton University Press

External links

Lafayette Park/Mies van der Rohe Historic District

Walter P. Reuther Library
Article on the history of Black Bottom
When Detroit paved over paradise: The story of I-375

1930s and 1940s photographs of children in Black Bottom and Paradise Valley
at the Walter P. Reuther Library
The Destruction of Detroit's Black Bottom
by Howard Husock in Reason Magazine (Mar 2022)
Black Bottom Street View
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