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Just finished reading 'Arc Of Detroit' by Historian Kevin Boyle. The coda informs the reader of what happened to the major players, but I would be interested to know when the neighborhoods racial demographics changed, and what happened to minor players in the drama.......I wonder how many descendants of the situation still reside in the metro Detroit region....
Kevin Boyle, from the east side of Detroit I believe and with an undergrad degree from U of
D and a doctorate from Michigan, wrote one of the most informative books about the history
of this city. I think the title is Arc of Justice. It is a tremendously valuable essay about the
city's history.
Kevin is indeed a native Eastsider, attending St. Clare of Montefalco and Austin High School. He's currently teaching at Ohio State University.Quote:
Originally Posted by renf
The full title of his terrific book is Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age.
FYI...
Book Discussion: Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age, Saturday, January 21, 2012, 11am. Professor Thomas Klug, Director of the Institute for Detroit Studies at Marygrove College, leads the Detroit Public Library Hubbard Branch Adult Book Club and other community residents in an extended discussion of Kevin Boyle’s award-winning book Arc of Justice, this year’s selection for the Great Michigan Read. Boyle’s National Book Award winner is a masterful recounting of a landmark historical event, culminating in an epic legal battle that helped lay the foundation of the civil rights movement. In 1925, African American physician Ossian Sweet purchased a home in a white neighborhood in Detroit. Determined to protect his family and property, Sweet chose to defend himself from the mob organized to drive him out. Arc of Justice provides essential historical background as Americans continue to confront issues of tolerance and equality. Free and open to the public. Light refreshments provided.
http://detroitpubliclibrary.org/even...ts_hubbard.htm
And...
Great Michigan Read: "Arc of Justice" Sweet Trials Reenactment, Saturday, January 14, 2012, 1-5pm. "Arc of Justice" by Kevin Boyle tells the story of African American Dr. Ossian Sweet and the chain of events that occurred after he purchased a home for his family in an all-white Detroit neighborhood in 1925. This event includes a dramatization of the historic Detroit murder trials involving Dr. Ossian Sweet, Clarence Darrow, and Judge Frank Murphy that became an early and significant marker for civil rights efforts, a short literary arts interpretation by InsideOut, and a panel discussion with Q & A regarding historic and contemporary racial equality issues. Schedule of Activities: 1:00-1:15 pm: Welcome & Opening Remarks; 1:15-2:30 pm: "Dr. Sweet's Tinderbox" dramatization;
2:30-2:45 pm: Interpretive reading by students of InsideOut Detroit; 2:45-3:00 pm: Intermission; 3:00-3:45 pm: Panel Discussion featuring Jocelyn Benson, John Conyers Jr., Judge Denise Page Hood, Dr. Irshad Altheimer, and students of the Detroit Urban Debate League; 3:45-4:30 pm: Question and Answer session. Free and open to the public. This event takes place at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, located at 315 E. Warren.
http://www.thewright.org/upcoming-ev...ls-reenactment
http://lookupdetroit.com/blog/2011/12/22/wright-museum/
Highly recommend Boyle's fine book - engrossing, well-written, great story. Prof. Klug is sharp, great speaker, no doubt this wil be a fine event. M.L.Leibler uses that book in his Detroit class at WSU...
Kevin Boyle is as good a speaker as he is a writer. I've heard him a couple of times and he's a spellbinder. I also have heard him say he grew up on Chatsworth. His parents are Irish immigrants.