The Long Before Detroit Became A Powerhouse

By this time Detroit had become the epicenter of the American automobile. Detroit’s grand boulevards, were now lost in this ever expanding industrial Mecca. Detroit was home to some of America’s biggest names in automotives, including Walter Chrysler, The Dodge Brothers, and the outspoken Henry Ford. Workers in these factories often earned more in wages than many unskilled labor positions around the country. As news of the high-wage jobs in the up-and-coming motor city made its way around the country, migrants began to flood the city in hopes of a better life. Overcrowding among blacks and the have-nots of society was a harsh reality in Detroit’s inner city ghetto, which went by the name of Black Bottom. Several families would cram into single family flats, often grateful to even have a place to stay. Many made due without luxuries like running water, and disease ran rampant along the dirty over-crowded streets. This migration was not often welcomed among white Detroiters. A message of “One Hundred Percent Americanism” was being spread and upheld by the Ku Klux Klan, and Negroes were not Americans. Many white Detroiters, whether they were with the KKK or not, felt that segregation was the way it should be. They feared that if blacks were to breach the color line into white neighborhoods then property values would plummet, real estate agents would not show the houses and the neighborhood would be ultimately

African Americans participated in the Great migration because they were terrorized and looked down upon in the South. They were lynched, housing situations were terrible, there were no jobs or education accessible to them. Economic inequality was a huge issue, African Americans worked unfair labor practices which made it easy when jobs became available in the North. Floods in Alabama and Mississippi pushed African Americans out of the area, as well as the impact that the boll weevil had on the crops, it took out cotton, the key cash crop (pg. 46-47). The segregation laws in the South were redundant and they led to a great deal of mob violence, particularly in Georgia and South Carolina (pg. 52).

Majority of the people that started working in the plants came from the south. These people were looking for work and the state of Michigan provided that for them, with no education needed to start working. This provided the men to take care his whole family. The job provided benefits, great pay, day care, and offer to pay for the schooling if interested while working for the car industry. More and more people started to move and settle in Michigan. When the country was going through its toughest time dealing with the recession people were laid off. People weren’t buying cars at that time because no one could afford it. When people have low income and the air that they breathe is polluted you might have some issues with the economy. With pollution and poverty running so high nothing will get solved but the problem could get worst if it is not prevented and halted. As the economy has gotten worse, the pollution got worse as

From the early 1900s – 1920s the Great Black Migration occurred. In addition, the Great Migration occurred in the early 1900s and ended shortly after the Great War. The Great Black Migration was a time where blacks left the south to seek a better lifestyle in the Midwestern, Northern, and Eastern states. Blacks fled the South to seek better jobs, escape racism and discrimination, and to look for better schooling for their children. The Great Black Migration mostly occurred in the states of Illinois, Missouri, New York, and California. During the Great Migration, more than 100,000 blacks migrated to Harlem, New York. In Chicago and New York City, blacks were empowered by black-owned businesses, newspapers, and communities. Newspaper

Detroit, Michigan grew up around the automobile industry. At its peak, Detroit was the fifth-largest city in the United States, becoming the home to over 1.8 million people by 1950 (Davey, Monica 2013). The prolific population was due greatly to the success of the auto industry in the city. At that time, Detroit was flying high, its name coined “The Motor City” (americaslibrary.gov), and automobiles greatly impacted commercialization. From transporting goods to hastening production, to selling parts, to manufacturing and selling new automobiles, the auto industry completely transformed Detroit. Things seemed

Without The Great Migration, or the migration of African Americans from 1915 to 1970 from the south to the north, the north would have suffered economically (Wilkerson 8). Specifically, without the Great Migration, the north would have faced extensive job shortages, that would have eventually led to economic turmoil. One cause of The Great Migration was the need for southern African Americans to take industrial jobs in the north. Furthermore, during times of war, many men were removed from the workforce, meaning that the north needed additional workers to fill the now vacated spots. (The Great) The north needed the southern African Americans in order to fill these slots, and without them, the north’s economy would have suffered

The Great Migration was a huge relocation of African Americans from the Southern states of the United States to northern and Midwestern cities. This occurred between the years of 1910 and 1970. Over 6 million African Americans traveled to Northern cities during the migration. Some northern city destinations were Richmond, D.C, Baltimore, New York, and Newark. Western and Midwestern destinations were those such as Los Angelos, San Francisco, St. Louis, Chicago, and Detroit. During this time period and previous years, Jim Crow laws in the South were greatly in affect and causing African Americans a rough time due to the racism they faced. After Reconstruction had ended, white supremacy had taken it's toll in the South and Jim Crow had

The Great Migration was the mass movement of millions of African Americans to the Northeast, Midwest, and West around 1910 to1930. African Americans moved away from the South to escape segregation and violence in search of better opportunities. With the U.S. entering into World War I and troops being sent overseas, more job opportunities opened up for African Americans. Blacks enjoyed the unsegregated cities and the benefits that came along with it like better jobs, schools, and homes. African Americans also got more involved in politics and became an important constituency in the North because they were not prevented from voting and some even ran for political offices.

Capital Mobility. In 2005, Thomas Sugrue identified the roots of Detroit’s crisis through his article, The Origins of the Urban Crisis. Sugrue (2005) argues that restructuring came in the form of capital mobility. The growth of a national and international market for automobile companies led General Motors and Ford to

It was them who became the driving force of the new black social and political life that was born in America. During the Great Migration, the inhabitants of the South left their agricultural states and moved to the industrial cities of the North, North-East and West of the country. This lasted from 1910 to 1970. During this period, about 6 million African Americans moved to the North . The industrial North was in dire need of labor, so the owners of the factories of the North had to recruit the labor of the South.

The Great Migration brought about changes that would bring prosperity to most, but little did they know, it would come with a price. That price was endured through various social, economic, and political challenges that occurred during this harsh time in black history. Many opportunities were available for families that would travel far to take advantage of opportunities that would start a new beginning. The Great Migration was a movement of hope that there is a land that is free of oppression and strife. However, black families in the north faced issues that were troubling and contradicting to their belief of the north. Their thoughts of living racism free and gaining economic power was far fetch when they experienced the challenges of the north. The challenges blacks faced during the Great Migration paved the way for numerous opportunities and breakthroughs we have experienced and have not experienced today.

Detroit was once the center of it all. The motor city people called it. The industrial city of the world, Detroit, was a bright eyed city. This city is where the legendary music record label originated, Motown Records. In the 60’s as stated in the video, “people were thriving...but Motown was booming”. The automotive industry’s assembly-line helped African-Americans reach middle class economically which is an aspect of the “American Dream”. Around the mid eighties, the Japanese constructed automotive plants in the southern parts of the USA. First, Detroit began to decline economically when a few of the largest vehicle companies started to suffer financially. In 2005 layoffs from automotive industry reached 70-80,000 people. As stated

Racial tensions were at an all-time high in Detroit, as the housing situation in the city was segregated as incidents of violence against blacks who dared to move out of Black Bottom were attacked and forced to move or reconsider purchasing homes ((Boyd 150-154; Poremba 274; Sugrue 29, 55, 75-76 110, 260; Widick 99-112.) Unemployment was about 6% for whites and double for blacks despite the war efforts, an additional factor into creating a recipe for a hostile environment leading to the Race Riot

After the war most Americans were eager to turn back to their normal lives. Autoworkers and UAW leaders pushed to secure a standard of living that would allow its members to earn a fair sum of money considering market inflationary pressures.

Thus, Detroit has faced massive employment losses as well as population losses in the past. Subsequently, the city started to decline rapidly both economically and socially.