Black Detroiters are
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
or African American residents of
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 ...
. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, Black or African Americans living in Detroit accounted for 79.1% of the total population, or approximately 532,425 people as of 2017 estimates. According to the
2000 U.S. Census
The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 cen ...
, of all U.S. cities with 100,000 or more people, Detroit had the second-highest percentage of Black people.
[Race and Ethnicity in the Tri-County Area: Selected Communities and School Districts]
."
Archive
''From a Child's Perspective: Detroit Metropolitan Census 2000 Fact Sheets Series''. Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. June 2002. Volume 2, Issue 2. p. 1. Retrieved on November 10, 2013.
Nearby suburbs also had higher Black populations, reflecting the history of settlement of African Americans here during the Great Migration of the early 20th century, when people were attracted to Detroit's industrial jobs:
Southfield had a Black population of 42,259, and
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
31,416. In 2002 the Michigan city with the highest percentage of Black residents was
Highland Park, where 93% of the population is Black.
[Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza.]
African Americans in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit
."
Archive
Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. February 2002. Working Paper Series, No. 8. p. 8. Retrieved on November 9, 2013. In the 2010 census, African Americans made up 22.8% of the total city and metropolitan area population in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.
History of African-American settlement
Pre-1865
Among African Americans who moved to Detroit from the American South before the end of slavery were
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
and
Richard DeBaptiste
Richard DeBaptiste (November 11, 1831 - April 21, 1901) was a Baptist minister in Chicago, Illinois. Before the abolition of slavery, he was an abolitionist and worked with his close relative, George DeBaptiste in the Underground Railroad, mainl ...
. They attended classes taught by Rev. Samuel H. Davis, the pastor at the Second Baptist Church in the city.
Marcus Dale attended the African Methodist Episcopal church led by Rev.
John M. Brown and others. In the days before the Civil War began, Detroit was an important site on the
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
, in which local people aided the passage of fugitive slaves to freedom. Its location just across the river from Canada, where slavery was abolished in 1834, made it a destination for many seeking freedom. Although Michigan was a free territory, some refugee slaves wanted to go over the border to Canada to prevent being captured by slavecatchers. Others settled in Detroit.
Local blacks involved in the Underground Railroad work included
Samuel C. Watson (who later opened a drug store in Detroit),
William Whipper
William Whipper (February 22, 1804 – March 9, 1876) was a businessman and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist in the United States. Whipper, an African American, advocated nonviolence and co-founded the American Moral Reform Socie ...
, Richard and George DeBaptiste, and others. William Lambert,
Laura Haviland
Laura Smith Haviland (December 20, 1808 – April 20, 1898) was an American abolitionist, suffragette, and social reformer. She was a Quaker and an important figure in the history of the Underground Railroad.
Early years and family
Laura Sm ...
, and
Henry Bibb
Henry Walton Bibb (May 10, 1815 in Shelby County, Kentucky – August 1,1854 in Windsor) was an American author and abolitionist who was born a slave. Bibb told his life story in his narrative ''The Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb: An American ...
were also involved. Many Detroit African Americans served in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
(1861-1865). The
102nd Regiment United States Colored Troops of Michigan and Illinois was recruited in large part in Detroit.
Blacks in Detroit had to face rising tensions from ethnic whites before and after the
Emancipation Proclamation was issued in January 1863. A Democratic Party paper, ''
The Detroit Free Press
The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...
'', supported
white supremacy
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
and opposed President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
's handling of the war. In addition, it consistently presented issues of the day as problems due to competition with free blacks, projecting threats to white men's power and forecasting worse labor problems if the mass of slaves were freed. In March 1863, a
race riot broke out in Detroit. Catalyzed by the arrest of a
mixed-race
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...
man for allegedly molesting a white girl, a white mob attacked blacks and their neighborhood, resulting in two deaths (one, white and one black), numerous people injured, 35 houses and businesses destroyed, and more than 200 people left homeless. As a result, the city established its first full-time police force.
1865-1890
After the war, African Americans formed an important political block in the city, led by Watson, George DeBaptist, John D. Richards, and Walter Y. Clark. Saginaw's
William Q. Atwood was an important figure outside Detroit who influenced the city's African-American politics as well.
1890-1929
![Ossian Sweet House Detroit MI](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Ossian_Sweet_House_Detroit_MI.jpg)
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 ...
, Detroit had about 4,000 Black people, 1% of its population. In the 1890s, journalist and founder of the black paper, ''Detroit Plaindealer'',
Robert Pelham Jr. and lawyer
D. Augustus Straker
D. Augustus Straker (born 1842) was an American teacher, lawyer, and jurist. He won elections to the South Carolina legislature but was denied his seat on multiple occasions.
Early life and education
David Augustus Straker was born in Bridgetow ...
worked in Detroit and throughout the state to create branches of the
National Afro-American League
The National Afro-American League was formed on January 25, 1890, by Timothy Thomas Fortune. Preceding the foundation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the organization dedicated itself to racial solidarity ...
. The pair were active, in part through the league, in supporting Blacks in legal trouble. Pelham was also an important figure in the league at a national level.
The first major period of Black growth occurred from 1910 to 1930, during the economic expansion in the auto industry.
[ At the time in Detroit, most Blacks lived in mixed communities containing other racial groups, often recent European immigrants, as both groups were making their way and had to take older housing.][Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza.]
African Americans in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit
."
Archive
Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. February 2002. Working Paper Series, No. 8. p. 12. Retrieved on November 9, 2013.
Due to the war effort in World War I, many men enlisted in the armed forces, and employers needed workers. They recruited African Americans from the South, who were also on the move as part of the first Great Migration. They sought more opportunity and a chance to leave behind the oppression of the Jim Crow South. From 1910 to 1930, the Black population of Detroit increased from under 6,000 to over 120,000, as the city developed as the fourth largest in the country. By 1920, of Michigan's Black residents, 87% were born outside of the state, and most of those came from the South.[Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza.]
African Americans in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit
."
Archive
Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. February 2002. Working Paper Series, No. 8. p. 9. Retrieved on November 9, 2013. Because landlords began to restrict access to housing, Black residents were forced into small districts, which became overcrowded as the population grew. T. J. Sugrue, author of ''The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit'', wrote that the first geographic racial divisions between Whites and Blacks developed during the Great Migration.[
In 1912 the ]National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...
(NAACP) founded a Detroit chapter. The Detroit Urban League
The National Urban League, formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan historic civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of economic and social justice for African Am ...
was founded in 1916. Both organizations used the support of Black churches. Steve Babson, author of ''Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town'', wrote that in the early 20th century the Black population "was relatively behind the middle-class leadership" of the NAACP and the Urban League.[Babson, p]
28
Around the 1920s and 1930s Black people working in Henry Ford
Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...
's factories settled in Inkster because they did not want to commute from Detroit and they were not allowed to live in Dearborn. Whites resisted even middle-class blacks moving into their neighborhoods. In 1925 the State of Michigan charged physician Ossian Sweet
Ossian Sweet ( /ˈɒʃən/ ''OSH-ən''; October 30, 1895 – March 20, 1960) was an African-American physician in Detroit, Michigan. He is known for being charged with murder in 1925 after he and his friends used armed self-defense against a h ...
with murder after he used a shotgun to kill a white man who was part of a mob trying to force him to leave his newly purchased house, located in a mostly white neighborhood. Sweet was acquitted of his charges.
1930-present
During the Great Depression, the population stagnated.[ The Black population growth was at the lowest rate since 1910.][ As the US entry into World War II disrupted the labor market by drafting numbers of young men, the demand for labor grew with the expansion of the war industries. Sections of the auto industry were converted to wartime production of the arsenal and vehicles needed for war, and a new wave of Black people migrated from the South.][ President ]Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
issued an Executive Order to prevent discrimination among defense contractors, increasing opportunities for minorities in the range of jobs and supervisory positions. This was resisted by some working-class Whites. In the period from 1940 to 1950, more than 66% of the Black population in Detroit had been born outside the area, with most born in the South.[Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza.]
African Americans in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit
."
Archive
Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. February 2002. Working Paper Series, No. 8. p. 10. Retrieved on November 9, 2013. The increase in population had strained city schools and services for all residents.
Housing Crisis
Competition in employment and housing spheres increased social tensions in the city. Insufficient housing opportunities for African Americans led to a polarized political and economic landscape. The government attempted to ease the housing pressure by building projects for working-class families, but whites resented placement of these projects in their neighborhoods. As a result, black housing was allocated in deeply impoverished areas that regressed into further dangerous and disease filled locations. Since Black individuals were forced to take low-earning jobs, the density of Black families in this area known as "Black Bottom" increased, and further exacerbated its destitute living conditions.[ ugrue, Thomas J. (1996). The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540: Princeton University Press. p. 34. ./ref> Federal housing policies effectively stymied the progress of African Americans in the city of Detroit, and, consequently, housing shortages disproportionately targeted African American citizens.] African Americans in Detroit were systematically shut out of the housing market due to structural racism. This hindered their ability to accumulate generational wealth, putting generations of African Americans at a disproportionate economic disadvantage.
= Redlining
=
Residential segregation
Residential segregation in the United States is the physical separation of two or more groups into different neighborhoods—a form of segregation that "sorts population groups into various neighborhood contexts and shapes the living environment a ...
was prevalent as structures of disinvestment amplified hypersegregation along both racial and economic lines. In 1935, the Federal Home Loan Bank Act
The Federal Home Loan Bank Act, , is a United States federal law passed under President Herbert Hoover in order to lower the cost of home ownership. It established the Federal Home Loan Bank Board to charter and supervise federal savings and loan i ...
(FHLB) commissioned 239 lending maps for the Federal Housing Administration
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA), also known as the Office of Housing within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is a United States government agency founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, created in part by ...
(FHA) and the Home Owners Loan Corporation
The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) was a government-sponsored corporation created as part of the New Deal. The corporation was established in 1933 by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation Act under the leadership of President Franklin D. Ro ...
(HOLC) to document and evaluate what neighborhoods throughout the country were lending risks. Many areas of Detroit were redlined as a result of being designated "high risk" neighborhoods. Neighborhoods that were graded as hazardous for lending were primarily composed of minority groups, and these redlined neighborhoods illustrated the ways in which economic inequality disproportionately targeted African Americans. Citizens residing in these neighborhoods were denied loans by lending institutions, and consequently they were unable to purchase or fix homes. Since black individuals were not able to leave their impoverished neighborhoods and were not able to improve their homes through loans, the concentration of poverty within black bottom increased.[ ugrue, Thomas J. (1996). The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540: Princeton University Press. p. 43. ./ref> Such policies worsen the condition of black housing solely on the basis of race.] The lack of mobility for black people reaffirmed stereotypes white communities held about the moral integrity of black neighborhoods because of the destitute conditions black communities were stuck in.
= Racially Restrictive Covenants
=
Federal and state policies further exacerbated segregation through the use of racially restrictive covenants within the city. Racially restrictive covenants were legally bound contracts that outlawed the residency of African Americans within a given area. These covenants ensured the maintenance of racial homogeneity in white neighborhoods and their use was incentivized by early federal housing policy that awarded higher ratings to racially homogeneous neighborhoods. By 1940, 80% of Detroit's residencies abided by racial covenants, and thereby restricted black housing to historically impoverished and dangerous areas on the basis of race. The Michigan Supreme Court
The Michigan Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is Michigan's court of last resort and consists of seven justices. The Court is located in the Michigan Hall of Justice at 925 Ottawa Street in Lansing, the sta ...
upheld the enforceability of racial covenants.
= Public Housing
=
Despite these discriminatory policies, the federal government did attempt to help improve housing access to those they disproportionately disadvantaged. The Wagner-Steagall Act was passed in 1937 to subsidize local public housing agencies. However, public housing efforts throughout the 1940s were met with opposition from several parties. Suburban governments and community groups concerned with racial homogeneity resisted public housing projects. Real estate developers also opposed public housing projects as they believed that these projects threatened their private enterprises. Even elected officials opposed public housing to prevent backlash from their white, middle-class supporters. For instance, Mayor Albert Cobo outwardly supported white homeowner groups and pledged upon being elected in 1949 that "it will not be the purpose of the administration to scatter public housing projects throughout the city, just because funds may be forthcoming from the Federal Government". This strong opposition from local forces in Detroit undermined public housing efforts and solidified spatial barriers of race.
There were, however, pro-public housing groups, the most important being the Citizens' Housing and Planning Council (CHPC). The goal of this organization was to improve environmental conditions in slums by replacing suboptimal living and sanitary conditions with more adequate housing for African Americans. This reform aimed to ameliorate poor living spaces and construct a cleaner environment that was more conducive to public health and morale. This organization inevitably faced strong opposition from anti-public housing groups and white homeowners who were fixated on maintaining racial homogeneity in their neighborhoods.
= Slum Removal
=
The use of redlining and racially restrictive covenants trapped black Detroiters in inadequate, disinvested neighborhoods. The failure of the federal government to erect substantial public housing solidified this housing segregation. The Detroit City Planning Commission (CPC) then intentionally destroyed these already disadvantaged black communities and neighborhoods they referred to as "slums" in an effort to improve the city's conditions, highways, hospitals, and apartment buildings. Having Detroit's city leadership in the 1940s and 1950s attribute redevelopment and renovation with destroying "dangerous" parts of the city made black bottom especially vulnerable to displacement. The CPC subsequently failed to provide adequate resources for relocation to the black families whose homes and neighborhoods were destroyed. This resulted in the movement of displaced African Americans into already inadequate and overcrowded housing in disproportionately black neighborhoods. This displacement and disappearance of black communities resulted in the disappearance of black culture and tradition. Systematic discrimination in housing contributed to volatile race relations in the city of Detroit.
= Opposition from Homeowner Associations
=
After the decision of Shelly v. Kramer banned racial covenants, efforts to keep neighborhoods segregated were propelled by Homeowners associations. Members from white concentrated neighborhoods organized and used grassroots activism to prevent integration from sullying the “high character” that their white dominated neighborhoods provided.[ ugrue, Thomas J. (1996). The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540: Princeton University Press. p. 214. /ref> These associations flexed their agencies in a number of ways. Through the use of mutual reciprocal legal agreements, homeowners associations maintained racially specific language to bar black people from obtaining loans in white populated areas. Further, homeowners associations leveraged the ownership of the homes in their neighborhood to safeguard sales to black individuals. Associations such as the Plymouth Manor association required its members to only contract with approved real estate brokers that would guarantee that loans and property would only be sold to white individuals.][ ugrue, Thomas J. (1996). The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540: Princeton University Press. p. 222. /ref>
The legal power of the Homeowners associations was furthered when entering into administrative positions with Mayor Albert Cobo. Cobo opted to have several members of homeowners associations counsel zoning and urban development policies which attempted to further enforce de facto segregation within Detroit.] The influence of homeowners associations within the Cobo administration stretched as far as playing an integral role in disbanding the Mayor's Interacial Committee (MIC) which was aimed at facilitating integration within the city, and turning it into the Commission on Community Relations (CCR). The CCR was composed of homeowners association members and perpetuated segregated housing standards by emphasizing rights that belong to white homeowners to resist integration throughout the city. Racism within housing was therefore still intact after it was federally banned through these extralegal loopholes that were spearheaded by white homeowners associations.
The actions of the homeowners associations reflected the deep cultural ties that Detroiters developed within their neighborhoods. Historians have previously connected homeowners associations’ efforts to prevent integration to be tied to the sense of identity within the segregated neighborhoods in Detroit. Since the housing shortage affected both white and black populations, people clung onto aspects of their community for the feeling of security within housing. Segregated Detroit neighborhoods facilitated for this feeling of safety and stability to then be linked to race. Once this sentiment of safety was threatened with integration of black residents who have been construed as dangerous and inhumane, the agency of white homeowners associations was actualized.
= Predatory Inclusion
=
In 1968, the HUD Act was passed by the federal government to address the problems of housing availability and residential segregation that constrained the agency of African Americans. The HUD Act mandated the production of 10 million units of new and renovated housing within a decade and also guaranteed that the federal government would pay the full mortgage of any foreclosed homes. This incentivized real estate and mortgage bankers to sell homes to individuals they believed were likely to miss mortgage payments. Single black mothers on welfare were often targeted for this reason. Real estate companies used the existing poverty and inadequate housing conditions that redlining created as excuses to sell homes to African Americans at disproportionately higher prices. The HUD Act therefore led to this vicious, predatory cycle of real estate companies selling homes at a very elevated price to poor, black families so they could eventually foreclose the home, get federal money to cover their losses, and sell the home to the next desperate family.
1943 Riot
Postwar tensions and animosities culminated in the race riots of 1943. This riot started with a conflict among young men at Belle Isle, and it quickly spread into the city, inciting violence between whites and blacks. Although at the time blacks were largely blamed for the violence, studies have found that many young armed whites traveled across the city to attack majority-black areas east of Woodward Avenue. By contrast, blacks arrested in the riot tended to be mature family men who had lived longer in the city and were defending their homes. The riot ended when 6,000 soldiers of the United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
intervened to keep the peace and order in the city. As a result of this riot, white citizens learned to use violence to gain leverage in political and housing contentions.
Civil Rights Movement
The civil rights movement in the South affected minorities in northern and western states as well. In Detroit, activists pushed for more representation in local government, including the white-dominated police force, and for equal justice in housing and employment. At the same time, African Americans were proud of their progress in Detroit. In 1965 the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, or The Wright, is located in Detroit, Michigan in the U.S.; inside the city's Midtown Cultural Center is one of the world's oldest independent African American museums.
Founded in 1965 ...
was founded in the city.
According to columnist Keith Richburg, in the 1960s a social divide developed between the many black people from Alabama and those from South Carolina; they lived east and west of Woodward Avenue
A woodward is a warden of a wood. Woodward may also refer to:
Places
;United States
* Woodward, Iowa
* Woodward, Oklahoma
* Woodward, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place
* Woodward Avenue, a street in Tallahassee, Florida, which bisects th ...
, respectively. The migrants from South Carolina believed they were more refined than those from Alabama, who were from rural areas and thought to be lower class. Richburg described the divide as "more psychological than geographic".
From 1950 to 1970 ''de facto'' racial segregation in the Metro Detroit area increased. Those white people who were more established economically moved out of the city to newly developed suburbs, which often were divided by class and income levels. In that period black growth in the suburbs averaged 2.7%, while in previous decades it had been 5%.[ Social tensions increased as blacks felt oppressed by discrimination, a majority-white police force, and restricted housing. Resentments erupted in the widespread destruction and violence in black neighborhoods of the Detroit riot of 1967, considered the worst in urban America. That summer similar riots erupted in numerous cities across the country. Both middle-class whites and blacks began to leave Detroit in greater number. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, there was renewed violence in a civil disturbance along 12th Street, the center of the 1967 unrest. It was quickly controlled. In the 1970s, the number of middle-class blacks moving to the suburbs increased, as they also sought newer housing, better schools, and neighborhoods with less poverty and crime.][
]
Auto Industry
Pressures on the auto industry and restructuring of heavy manufacturing across the region caused high job losses, adding to the strains of the city. Overall population in the metro area declined, with many people moving to other areas for work. Detroit suffered concentrated poverty in sections, where people were unable to leave. The quality of schools declined, creating a cycle that appeared to trap people in place. The city struggled to support those in need at a time of declining revenues.
Demographic Changes and Suburbanization
By 1970 Detroit and six other municipalities, Ecorse
Ecorse ( ') is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 9,512 at the 2010 census.
Ecorse is part of the Downriver community within Metro Detroit. The city shares a northwestern border with the city of Detroit ...
, Highland Park, Inkster, Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
, River Rouge, and Royal Oak Township
Royal Oak Charter Township is a charter township in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 2,374. The city of Royal Oak, Michigan, Royal Oak is s ...
, had higher than average black populations. The six suburban municipalities with higher than average black populations held a total of 78.5% of the suburban black people in the tri-county area.[Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza.]
African Americans in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit
."
Archive
Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. February 2002. Working Paper Series, No. 8. p. 11. Retrieved on November 9, 2013. During this suburbanization period, many middle-class blacks also moved from Detroit to Southfield.[Binelli, p]
133
Suburban development and growth increased among all populations, and blacks became more widely distributed.
By 2000, blacks in the six suburban municipalities that had held the great majority in 1970 made up only 34% of the blacks in the suburbs.[ From 1990 to 2000, black people migrating to the suburbs constituted almost half of the total population growth there. In the decade 1990–2000, the highest number of blacks moved into the Detroit suburbs of any decade in the 20th century. In that decade, the black population of Southfield increased by more than 20,000 people.][ At the same time, the total number of black people in Detroit decreased for the first time in the city's history. But other ethnic decreases resulted in black people in the city making up a higher percentage of its overall population: from 76% to 82%.][Metzger, Kurt and Jason Booza.]
African Americans in the United States, Michigan and Metropolitan Detroit
."
Archive
Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
. February 2002. Working Paper Series, No. 8. p. 13. Retrieved on November 9, 2013. As of 2002, a total of 90% of the black population in Wayne, Macomb, and Oakland counties resided in Detroit, Highland Park, Inkster, Pontiac, and Southfield.[
Migration of black families out of Detroit continued. By 2010 Southfield became 70% black.][ In 2010 9% of Macomb County's population was black,][Binelli, p]
134
and the black population in Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
from 2000 to 2010 increased from 4,000 to 18,000.[Binelli, p]
133134
By 2011 black suburbanization had increased across the area, as blacks settled in more different localities.[ By 2011 black suburbanization had increased across the metro region, no longer limited to a few communities. From 2000 to 2010, Detroit had lost around 200,000 people, as many families continued to leave the ailing city.][
The housing market in Metro Detroit declined during the ]Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
, enabling some blacks to move into areas that had previously been too expensive. At the same time, many white suburbanites were unable to sell their houses so stayed in place, resulting in the development of more integrated neighborhoods. Mark Binelli, author of '' Detroit City is the Place to Be'', wrote "In a funny way, the recession had helped this integration along."[ Some suburban residents, including middle-class blacks, resented the new arrivals, feeling they brought unwelcome patterns of behavior that disrupted the peace of the suburbs.][
]
Institutions
* NAACP of Detroit.
*KICK
A kick is a physical Strike (attack), strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee (strike), ...
is an organization that serves LGBT African Americans.
Media
The ''Michigan Chronicle
''The Chronicle'' is a weekly African-American newspaper based in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1936 by John H. Sengstacke, editor of the ''Chicago Defender''. Together with the ''Defender'' and a handful of other African-American newspap ...
'' and '' The Michigan FrontPage'', both owned by the company Real Times, serve the African-American community.
Recreation
The " Hotter than July" annual LGBT festival is held in the park Palmer Park; the festival states that it caters to the "black same-gender-loving".[Case, Wendy.]
Affirming Ferndale
"
Archive
''Metro Times
The ''Detroit Metro Times'' is a progressive alternative weekly located in Detroit, Michigan. It is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area.
History and content
Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed ...
''. May 30, 2007. Retrieved on January 24, 2013.
A Buffalo Soldiers
Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the Black Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in t ...
museum is located in western Detroit, near Rouge Park
Rouge National Urban Park is a national urban park in Ontario, Canada. The park is centred around the Rouge River and its tributaries in the Greater Toronto Area. The southern portion of the park is situated around the mouth of river in ...
. It interprets the history of African-American soldiers who fought in the West.
Ruth Ellis, a black lesbian, held house parties at her residence, "The Spot". It became a socializing place for black lesbians and gay men, allowing them to avoid heterosexism and racism in their society. Ellis, who was featured in the documentary ''Living With Pride'', was the oldest-known black woman who identified as a lesbian until her death in October 2001. She lived in Detroit until her death.
Politics
In the 2020 United States presidential election in Michigan
The 2020 United States presidential election in Michigan was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Michigan voters chose ele ...
African-Americans in Detroit were a major demographic contributing to Joe Biden winning that state. The same happened in the 2020 United States Senate election in Michigan
The 2020 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent Michigan. It was held concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other election ...
in regards for Gary Peters
Gary Charles Peters Sr. (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator from Michigan since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representa ...
.
Notable people
* Dennis Archer
Dennis Wayne Archer (born January 1, 1942) is an American lawyer, jurist and former politician from Michigan. A Democrat, Archer served as Justice on the Michigan Supreme Court and as mayor of Detroit. He later served as president of the Amer ...
(Mayor of Detroit
This is a list of mayors of Detroit, Michigan. See History of Detroit, Michigan, for more information about the history of the incorporation of the city.
The current mayor is Mike Duggan, who was sworn into office on January 1, 2014.
History ...
)
* Dave Bing
David Bing (born November 24, 1943) is an American former professional basketball player, businessman, and politician who served as the 74th mayor of Detroit, Michigan from 2009 to 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
After starring a ...
(Mayor of Detroit)
* James Boggs
* Gary Brown (politician)
* Kenneth Cockrel, Jr.
Kenneth Vern Cockrel Jr. (born October 29, 1965) is an Americans, American journalist, nonprofit executive, businessman, and former politician who served as the List of mayors of Detroit, 73rd mayor of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan from September 20 ...
* John Conyers
* Monica Conyers
Monica Ann Conyers (née Esters; October 31, 1965) is an American politician in Detroit, Michigan. Elected to the Detroit City Council in 2005, she was elected by its members to serve as ''president pro tempore'' of the council for the four-year ...
* Demetrius and Terry Flenory
* LZ Granderson
Elzie Lee "LZ" Granderson (born March 11, 1972) is an American journalist and former actor, currently writing for the Los Angeles Times as a sports and culture columnist. He was a senior writer and columnist for ''ESPN The Magazine'', a co-host ...
(journalist)
* Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Carolyn Jean Cheeks Kilpatrick (born June 25, 1945) is a former American politician who was U.S. Representative for from 1997 to 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In August 2010 she lost the Democratic primary election to Hansen ...
* Kwame Kilpatrick
Kwame Malik Kilpatrick (born June 8, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the 72nd mayor of Detroit from 2002 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the 9th district in the Michigan House of Repres ...
(Mayor of Detroit)
* Charles Pugh
* Ossian Sweet
Ossian Sweet ( /ˈɒʃən/ ''OSH-ən''; October 30, 1895 – March 20, 1960) was an African-American physician in Detroit, Michigan. He is known for being charged with murder in 1925 after he and his friends used armed self-defense against a h ...
* Jimmy Womack
Reverend James Womack (born November 30, 1953) is an American politician and retired doctor from Detroit, Michigan. In 2008 he was elected to serve the citizens of the 7th District in the Michigan State House of Representatives. The 7th District ...
* Coleman Young
Coleman Alexander Young (May 24, 1918 – November 29, 1997) was an American politician who served as mayor of Detroit, Michigan, from 1974 to 1994. Young was the first African-American mayor of Detroit.
Young had emerged from the far-left ele ...
(Mayor of Detroit)
* Big Sean
Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...
* 42 Dugg
* Tee Grizzley
Terry Sanchez Wallace Jr. (born March 23, 1994), known professionally as Tee Grizzley, is an American rapper best known for his singles " First Day Out", "No Effort", "Colors", and "From the D to the A" (featuring Lil Yachty).
After being relea ...
* Kash Doll
Arkeisha Antoinette Knight, known professionally as Kash Doll, is an American rapper and actress from Detroit, Michigan. Signed to Republic Records, she is best known for her singles "For Everybody" (2017) and "Ice Me Out" (2018), the latter ...
* Sada Baby
Casada Aaron Sorrell, known professionally as Sada Baby, is an American rapper and singer. He initially gained recognition in 2018 when the music video for his song "Bloxk Party" went viral, leading to him signing to Asylum Records. A prominent ...
* Diana Ross
* Ben Carson
Benjamin Solomon Carson Sr. (born September 18, 1951) is an American retired neurosurgeon and politician who served as the 17th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2017 to 2021. A pioneer in the field of neurosurgery, he ...
* Jalen Rose
Jalen Anthony Rose (born January 30, 1973) is an American sports analyst and former professional basketball player. In college, he was a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines' " Fab Five" (along with Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy K ...
* Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record l ...
See also
* Black Bottom, Detroit
Black Bottom was a predominantly black neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan, 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. Togeth ...
* Demographics of Metro Detroit
As of the census of 2010, there were 5,196,250 people, 1,682,111 households, and 1,110,454 families residing within the Detroit–Warren–Ann Arbor Combined Statistical Area (Detroit CSA). Within the Detroit–Warren–Dearborn Metropolitan St ...
* History of Mexican Americans in Metro Detroit
* Hotter than July (festival)
References
* Babson, Steve. ''Working Detroit: The Making of a Union Town''. Wayne State University Press
Wayne State University Press (or WSU Press) is a university press that is part of Wayne State University. It publishes under its own name and also the imprints
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), ...
, 1986. , 9780814318195.
* Binelli, Mark. '' Detroit City is the Place to Be''. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company (New York). First Edition, 2012. (hardback version).
* Carrillo, Karen Juanita. ''African American History Day by Day: A Reference Guide to Events''. ABC-CLIO, August 31, 2012. , 9781598843606.
Notes
Further reading
* Sugrue, Thomas J.
A Dream Still Deferred
" (Op-Ed) ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''. March 26, 2011.
* Simmons, William J., and Henry McNeal Turner. Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising. GM Rewell & Company, 1887.
External links
KICK: The Center in Detroit for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered African Americans
{{Detroit
African Americans
African-American demographics
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 ...
History of Detroit