How Much Michigan Black History Do you know?
by Lisa Diggs
February is Black History Month, so we’re taking a look at a few of the many significant people and events that helped shape Michigan and the nation.
African Americans have been living in Michigan for nearly 250 years, arriving originally as slaves, until the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 banned human slavery, long before Michigan became a state.
In 1836, thirteen escaped or freed slaves petitioned the Michigan legislature for permission to start a church. Their efforts lead to the formation of the Second Baptist Church in Detroit. They purchased a permanent site in 1857, where the congregation still celebrates today.
Michigan residents played a pivotal role in the formation and execution of the Underground Railroad between 1830 and 1860. Station operators provided food, clothing, directions, and shelter to help slaves escape to freedom in Canada.
Nationally, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law forced the return of African Americans who had escaped the horrors of slavery. To counter that, the Michigan legislature prohibited the use of county jails for the detention of escaped slaves and directed county prosecuting attorneys to defend the recaptured slaves.
Fannie M. Richards moved to Detroit with her family in the 1850’s and fought for equal rights. She opened a private school for African American children in 1863, and joined others in 1869 in filing suit with the Michigan Supreme Court, and arguing that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. The court agreed and in 1871 she became the first African American teacher in the newly integrated Detroit Public Schools.
Barber, John Wilson, chosen as Wayne County coroner, became the state’s first African American elected to public office in 1876.
At a time when neither women, nor people of color, were encouraged to express their views, Sojourner Truth emerged. Born a slave in New York in 1797, she was freed in 1828, and moved to Battle Creek in 1856. She traveled throughout the nation preaching about emancipation and the rights of African Americans and women.
In 1864, Detroiter Henry Barns commanded Michigan’s first and only African American military regiment. 895 brave men served in what was eventually designated the 102nd U.S. Colored Infantry.
Elijah McCoy took a job with the Michigan Central Railroad in 1870, where he invented an automatic lubricator cup that eliminated the previous need for trains to stop along the way to oil locomotive bearings. His patented invention was often imitated, but not duplicated, leading to the term “the real McCoy”. [Andy Comment: McCoy had his shop in Ypsilanti, my home town. I never learned of him until I went to Washington, D.C.]
After being kicked out of a restaurant for refusing to sit in the “colored” section, Detroit native, William Ferguson, filed a discrimination suit. He lost originally, but won on an appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. He went on to become the first African American elected to serve in the Michigan House of Representatives in 1892.
In 1924, a then 10-year old Joe Louis moved to Detroit with his family. By age 19 he was already an amateur boxing champion. He won the heavyweight title of the world in 1937, and then became an icon for democracy and equality in 1938, when he defeated Hitler’s symbol of “Aryan Superiority”, Max Schmelling, in a first-round knockout in their famous rematch.
Songwriter, Barry Gordy opened his own recording company in 1953. The following year, he created Motown Records, and changed music history. The company launched the careers of Michigan natives, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and Diana Ross.
In the nation’s largest civil rights gathering up to that time, an estimated 125,000 people marched down Woodward Avenue in 1963. The march ended at Cobo Hall, where the Reverend Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech for the first time.
Forty-five years later, the United States has elected its first African American president. He stands on the shoulders of these and many other courageous men and women, who have fought for daily evidence of all of our inalienable rights.
To learn more, plan a visit to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.
