Usually I go into lectures expecting to just simply take notes and try my best to relate to the topic enough to retain the information for as long as i can. This week I did not have to try as hard. The topic hit very close to home.
The video was very interesting and eye opening and while I watched, I kept asking myself if my grandmother had experienced any of the things put forth in the video. I didn't know for sure because that's not something that comes up at Christmas dinner. I had never asked her questions about her childhood with concerns of the exact location she grew up in. I knew it was in Detroit, but I had not idea there was a specific black community such as Black Bottom, therefore I figured the communities were similar to how they are now, just a little older.
After class I called my grandmother and asked her where she grew up. She told me she grew up around the Hastings Street area. That led to a rather long story about her daily routine, which included going to many of the various black owned businesses.
When I asked about things such as the building of the highways and the GI Bill and things of that nature, I received a surprising reaction. She had an air of positivity in her responses. First of all, she was not personally affected by the formation of the highway. She lived a little ways from the construction so her home was not demolished. What was taken away was her hangout spots. But still she was very pleasant about the situation. "We just hopped on the streetcar and rode down to Woodward Avenue" was how she addressed the issue.
In concerns with housing, she says that the fact that the whites were leaving Detroit, gave her an opportunity to be a homeowner. She loved the city and didn't plan on ever leaving (which she hasn't), and did not have any desire to live by whites anyways. Therefore she does not feel as though she suffered much during that time.
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I think it was great that you called your grandmother after this lecture. I am even happier she was willing to share this part of the past with you, and then from you to us. For those of us who's grandparents grew up in this nation, I think they are an incredibly useful historical text, filled with pages and pages of information about the construction of American history post WWII.
ReplyDeleteYour message makes me want to call my grandpa and ask him about his life during the 1950's. He is a white man, and I think his experiences will relate to our class discussions and lectures. I urge everyone to call their lineage, if they still exist and discuss their lives. I am sure they would love to share!
My Grandparents grew up in the South and came to Michigan when they were still in elementary school during the Great Migration so they have strong ties to Detroit despite their Southern origins. Although I had never heard of Black Bottom or how creating I-75 changed African Americans, I do know that its legacy still lives on. My Grandmother continues to patronize the black-owned businesses that she knows about in the community. Although there aren't many left in her neighborhood, she has been a loyal customer for years. For example, she has gone to the same pharmacy since she was a young woman simply because she wants to give the owner business. I think that this shows how the idea behind Black Bottom continues even though it no longer exists.
ReplyDeletei think it is really cool that you were able to talk to your granma about this, soon there will not be anybody left to share experiences like that so im glad that you will be able to pass along that story. i accually talk to my grandpa about his experiences duirng the depression and WWII all of the time and i know that i have learned a lot, and that we have gotten a lot closer as a result so im glad that you can have that same experience with your grandmother. this video was also very moving to me, although i can not relate to the experiences in it.
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