Apr 23, 2019
Detroit was becoming an eclectic mix of cultures during the 1920s -- African-Americans from the south, immigrants from southern Europe, and a growing Catholic population. The Ku Klux Klan exploited the fear of outsiders and almost elected a Detroit lawyer named Charles Bowles during that decade. He ran again and won...
Apr 16, 2019
There must be some reason behind Detroit's bad luck in the last three-plus centuries. We have the explanation: Du Nain Rouge in French, or the Red Dwarf in English. Legend has it the creature has been spotted whenever something really awful happens. And now, some fun-loving creative types in this city have turned it...
Apr 9, 2019
In 1920, General Motors was a company in trouble. Its founder was fired- for a second time. Henry Ford was eating G.M.'s lunch with his Model T. But a decade later, G.M. had revamped itself into the model of a big business, and would remain so for decades, largely following the same playbook written by Alfred P. Sloan,...
Mar 31, 2019
The topic of busing proved to be one of the most volatile issues in metro Detroit during the early 1970s. This came to a head in the case of Milliken v. Bradley. Two federal court orders mandated the forced busing of children to remedy segregation in metro Detroit. The reaction: The KKK dynamited buses in Pontiac....
Mar 24, 2019
It's been more than 60 years since the Detroit Lions won an NFL Championship. In the 50s, the Lions were one of the most dominant dynasties in the league, winning three championships in six years. It was a season of comebacks with their coach quitting weeks before the season and star QB Bobby Layne going down with a...