Who Were These People? 2 — Detroit Edition

Who Were These People? 2 — Detroit Edition
Detroit is known around the world for automobiles, Motown, sports, music, and grit.
But beneath the history everyone knows is another Detroit — a city filled with Black pioneers, forgotten communities, buried injustices, courageous resistance, thriving businesses, groundbreaking institutions, and stories that many Detroiters were never taught.

Who Were These People? 2 — Detroit Edition continues the mission of Who Were These People? by bringing that question home.
This time, the focus is Detroit.

From Black families who challenged housing discrimination to communities divided by walls and redlining, from athletes and entertainers to churches, businesses, radio pioneers, civil-rights figures, and ordinary Detroiters who made extraordinary history, this book digs beneath the familiar landmarks and street names to uncover the stories hiding in plain sight.

Some of these stories happened on streets we still drive every day.
Some took place inside buildings that are still standing.
Others were nearly erased completely.

Readers will encounter pieces of Detroit history connected to people and places such as Dr. Ossian Sweet, Sarah E. Ray, Detroit’s Black baseball legacy, the Eight Mile Wall, Black radio, historic Black businesses, and the neighborhoods that helped shape the city — along with many other stories that deserve to be remembered.
But this book is more than a collection of historical facts.
It is also a look at what happened to Black Detroit — how thriving communities were built, how policies and prejudice changed neighborhoods, how families fought back, and how generations of Black Detroiters continued creating, surviving, and rebuilding despite everything placed in their way.

For lifelong Detroiters, some stories may bring back memories.
Others may leave you asking the same question that started this entire series:
How did I grow up here and never know this?
Who Were These People? 2 — Detroit Edition is a journey through the forgotten, overlooked, painful, proud, and powerful Black history of Detroit.
You know Detroit’s name.
You know Detroit’s music.
You know Detroit’s cars.

Now it’s time to learn some of the stories Detroit forgot to tell.
— E. Wright

Coming in 2028