Black Detroit
A People's History of Self-Determination
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Narrated by:
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James Shippy
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By:
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Herb Boyd
About this listen
The author of Baldwin's Harlem looks at the evolving culture, politics, economics, and spiritual life of Detroit - a blend of memoir, love letter, history, and clear-eyed reportage that explores the city's past, present, and future and its significance to the African American legacy and the nation's fabric.
Herb Boyd moved to Detroit in 1943, as race riots were engulfing the city. Though he did not grasp their full significance at the time, this critical moment would be one of many he witnessed that would mold his political activism and exposed a city restless for change. In Black Detroit, he reflects on his life and this landmark place, in search of understanding why Detroit is a special place for black people.
Boyd reveals how black Detroiters were prominent in the city's historic, groundbreaking union movement and - when given an opportunity - were among the tireless workers who made the automobile industry the center of American industry. Well-paying jobs on assembly lines allowed working-class black Detroiters to ascend to the middle class and achieve financial stability, an accomplishment not often attainable in other industries.
Boyd makes clear that while many of these middle-class jobs have disappeared, decimating the population and hitting blacks hardest, Detroit survives thanks to the emergence of companies such as Shinola - which represent the strength of the Motor City and its continued importance to the country. He also brings into focus the major figures who have defined and shaped Detroit, including William Lambert, the great abolitionist; Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown; Coleman Young, the city's first black mayor; diva songstress Aretha Franklin; Malcolm X; and Ralphe Bunche, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
With a stunning eye for detail and passion for Detroit, Boyd celebrates the music, manufacturing, politics, and culture that make it an American original.
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- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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From leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., to lesser-known figures such as Barbara Rose Johns and Jim Zwerg, each man and woman made the decision that something had to be done to stop discrimination. These moving accounts of the first decade of the civil rights movement are a tribute to the people, black and white, who took part in the fight for justice and the struggle they endured.
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This is a must in every household.
- By victor mercer on 07-12-19
By: Juan Williams, and others
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New World Coming
- The 1920s and the Making of Modern America
- By: Nathan Miller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 18 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Jazz. Bootleggers. Flappers. Talkies. Model T Fords. Lindbergh's history-making flight over the Atlantic. The 1920s was also the decade of the hard-won vote for women, racial injustice, censorship, social conflict, and the birth of organized crime.
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My High School History Class Never Told
- By Charles Stembridge on 06-29-04
By: Nathan Miller
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A Nation of Nations
- A Story of America After the 1965 Immigration Law
- By: Tom Gjelten
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1950, Fairfax County, Virginia, was 90 percent white, 10 percent African American, with a little more than 100 families who were "other". Currently the African American percentage of the population is about the same, but the Anglo white population is less than 50 percent, and there are families of Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Latin American origin living all over the county. A Nation of Nations follows the lives of a few immigrants to Fairfax County over recent decades as they gradually "Americanize".
By: Tom Gjelten
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Latino Americans
- The 500-Year Legacy That Shaped a Nation
- By: Ray Suarez
- Narrated by: Ray Suarez
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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As the largest minority in the country, Latino Americans make up an integral part of American history and continue to make major social, cultural, and political contributions. Latino Americans, vividly and candidly tells how the story of Latino Americans is the story of the United States, revealing the personal struggles and successes of immigrants, poets, soldiers, and others who have made an impact on history.
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Unknown Latino History
- By Lou on 11-27-18
By: Ray Suarez
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Black Against Empire
- The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party
- By: Joshua Bloom, Waldo E. Martin Jr.
- Narrated by: Ron Butler
- Length: 18 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In Oakland, California, in 1966, community college students Bobby Seale and Huey Newton armed themselves, began patrolling the police, and promised to prevent police brutality. Unlike the Civil Rights Movement that called for full citizenship rights for blacks within the US, the Black Panther Party rejected the legitimacy of the US government and positioned itself as part of a global struggle against American imperialism.
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the explanation of rise and fall Black Panther
- By Antwine Hurst on 03-24-17
By: Joshua Bloom, and others
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Beale Street Dynasty
- Sex, Song, and the Struggle for the Soul of Memphis
- By: Preston Lauterbach
- Narrated by: Mirron Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Following the Civil War, Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, thrived as a cauldron of sex and song, violence and passion. But out of this turmoil emerged a center of black progress, optimism, and cultural ferment. Preston Lauterbach tells this vivid, fascinating story through the multigenerational saga of a family whose ambition, race pride, and moral complexity indelibly shaped the city that would loom so large in American life.
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Narration Speed...It's Half the Battle
- By B. Westman on 03-21-17
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100 Amazing Facts About the Negro
- By: Henry Louis Gates Jr.
- Narrated by: Dominic Hoffman
- Length: 14 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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With élan and erudition - and with winning enthusiasm - Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives us a corrective yet loving homage to Rogers' work. Relying on the latest scholarship, Gates leads us on a romp through African, diasporic, and African American history in question-and-answer format. Among the 100 questions: Who were Africa's first ambassadors to Europe? Who was the first black president in North America? Did Lincoln really free the slaves? Who was history's wealthiest person? What percentage of white Americans have recent African ancestry?
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great book
- By Anthony Costello on 06-14-18
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Gotham
- A History of New York City to 1898
- By: Edwin G. Burrows, Mike Wallace
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 67 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In Gotham, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace have produced a monumental work of history, one that ranges from the Indian tribes that settled in and around the island of Manna-hata, to the consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898. It is an epic narrative, a story as vast and as varied as the city it chronicles, and it underscores that the history of New York is the story of our nation. The events and people who crowd this audiobook guarantee that this is no mere local history. It is in fact a portrait of the heart and soul of America....
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THANK YOU!!!!!
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 09-29-18
By: Edwin G. Burrows, and others
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White Flight
- Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism
- By: Kevin M. Kruse
- Narrated by: Aaron Williamson
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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In this reappraisal of racial politics in modern America, Kevin Kruse explains the causes and consequences of "white flight" in Atlanta and elsewhere. Seeking to understand segregationists on their own terms, White Flight moves past simple stereotypes to explore the meaning of white resistance. In the end, Kruse finds that segregationist resistance, which failed to stop the civil rights movement, nevertheless managed to preserve the world of segregation and even perfect it in subtler and stronger forms.
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Local history is important
- By Adam Shields on 10-02-19
By: Kevin M. Kruse
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Waging a Good War
- A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: JD Jackson
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Thomas E. Ricks offers an utterly new perspective on America’s greatest moral revolution—the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s—and its legacy today. While the Movement has become synonymous with Martin Luther King Jr.’s ethos of nonviolence, Ricks draws on his deep knowledge of tactics and strategy to advance a surprising but revelatory idea: the greatest victories for Black Americans of the past century were won not by idealism alone, but through recruiting, training, discipline, and organization—the hallmarks of any successful military campaign.
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I was born and raised in Alabama. Jim Crow Era.
- By Moses Pitts on 10-06-22
By: Thomas E. Ricks
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Trailblazer
- A Pioneering Journalist's Fight to Make the Media Look More Like America
- By: Dorothy Butler Gilliam
- Narrated by: January LaVoy
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Dorothy Butler Gilliam, whose 50-year-career as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers a comprehensive view of racial relations and the media in the US.
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Struggled to finish
- By SL41639 on 04-06-20
What listeners say about Black Detroit
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Ellen Shannon
- 06-29-17
Love this book!
Fascinating and thoughtful book about the history of Detroit I have listened to it twice and I know I will listen to it at least one more time. Highly recommended for all, but especially for those who think they already know Detroit. Puts many issues into proper context.
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2 people found this helpful
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- BrilliantlyBlind313
- 10-01-21
EXCELLENT READ!
Speaking from a “Black/Negro/African-American” perspective… THIS WAS A PHENOMENAL STORY TO READ! Being a “born, and raised” native Detroiter of the “Black” persuasion, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about my city, and the contributions, as well as pit falls my race/people have made, as well as suffered! I think that EVERYONE needs to read this book… “Black Detroit” is Detroit, and I feel that everyone needs to know it’s AWESOME story! This book was “5 Stars” across the board!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Yolanda F. Herbert
- 08-27-17
Great book about the past and present of Black Detroit
This book was the story about self-determination between blacks and the history of their existence here in Detroit. It also detailed the contributions african-Americans made. It gave great hope for the city in an outlined some of things we must do in order to continue to bring things full-circle and forward.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Michael Simanga
- 05-21-18
Great writing and storytelling by Herb Boyd
This is an important book about the history of African Americans in Detroit and the US. Herb Boyd is a masterful storyteller who not only captures the times but the mood, the texture and dynamics of each moment and each subject.
The performance quality is poor but doesn't diminish the writing. It does distract and disappoint because it is so full of mispronunciations and lacks the energy and nuance that is needed for such a powerful rendering of History.
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- Rick
- 07-19-17
Selective Recall
I found the history interesting though like any historical account somewhat one-sided or better yet, selectively represented. From the Race Riots of the 60's-70's where the author painstakingly justifies looting to conveniently skimming over the entirety of the Kwame Kilpatrick scandal, how can the book as a whole be taken as factual? &quot;Kilpatrick being found guilty on 6 felony charges&quot; hardly tells the story of how an elected official, one of their own, used Detroit as a platform for his personal coffer, and gangster lair. He cheated an entire city, black and white and was sentenced to 28 years as a result. Tell the whole story!
James Shippy does an adequate job of narration though his even tone sometimes sounds more monotone than anything and at best lacks inflection and emphasis which (almost) makes the book longer than it actually reads.
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3 people found this helpful
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- jerald p stallworth
- 06-17-17
narration
What made the experience of listening to Black Detroit the most enjoyable?
how the author led you through the black history in Detroit decade by decade
Who would you have cast as narrator instead of James Shippy?
James Shippy need brush up on his pronunciation of certain street names
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
the union period
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1 person found this helpful
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- rwoodhouse
- 06-06-19
Worth Reading
As a Detroiter, I heard many mispronuciations of names of people and places. Otherwise, good historical perspective.
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- Tonia Marie
- 03-27-21
Great !! absolutely loved this audobook.
It took me a bit longer to finish than I hoped, but it was pretty good, & very historical. For those who are into history, I would highly recommend this!
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