Our next book club meeting is Thursday, September 22 at 6:30pm. We can’t wait to discuss Herb Boyd’s Black Detroit: A People’s History of Self-Determination with you! This is a modern-day classic that’s incredibly relevant for our neighborhood development work and our community organizing.

“In 29 chapters, spanning more than three centuries, Boyd offers an unusual retelling of Detroit’s past, with black voices on nearly every page. The arc of his narrative is a familiar one in which he traces the transformation of Detroit from a French trading outpost to the world’s automobile production center to a national symbol of urban decline and rebirth. Along the way, Boyd introduces us to some of Detroit’s key social movements: abolitionism, union organizing, civil rights and black power. But this book is not a conventional urban history. Boyd’s purpose is to celebrate the black men and women, the city’s “fearless freedom fighters,” who would otherwise remain on history’s margins.” – Thomas Sugrue, NYTimes

Take a listen to this brief clip from Herb Boyd about a couple of facts we can almost guarantee you didn’t know before. It’ll definitely make you even more eager to read or listen.