Life for Us Is What We Make It: Building Black Community in Detroit, 1915–1945(Blacks in the Diaspora)

"Thomas's ground-breaking study should occupy a central place in the literature of American urban history." —Choice " . . . path-breaking . . . a fine community study . . . " —Journal of American Studies "Thomas's work is essential reading . . . succeeds in providing a bridge of information on the social, political, legal, and economic development of the Detroit black community between the turn of the century and 1945." —Michigan Historical Review The black community in Detroit developed into one of the major centers of black progress. Richard Thomas traces the building of this community from its roots in the 19th century, through the key period 1915-1945, by focusing on how industrial workers, ministers, politicians, business leaders, youth, and community activists contributed to the process.

Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments One Early Struggles and Community Building Two The Demand for Black Labor, Migration, and the Emerging Black Industrial Working Class, 1915-1930 Three The Role of the Detroit Urban League in the Community Building Process, 1916-1945 Fourt Weathering the Storm Five Racial Discrimination in Industrial Detroit: Preparing the Ground for Community Social Consciousness Six Social Consciousness and Self-Helf: The Heart and Soul of Community Building Seven Protest and Politics: Emerging Forms of Community Empowerment Eight Conflicting Strategies of Black Community Building: Unionization vs. Ford Corporate Paternalism, 1936-1941 Epilogue Notes Sources Index

About the Author :
RICHARD W. THOMAS, Associate Professor of History and Urban Affairs Programs at Michigan State University, is author or co-author of numerous publications in race relations and black history.

Review :
"Patterned after Gilbert Osofsky's Harlem, the Making of A Ghetto (CH, Oct'66), older African American histories focused on the process of ghettoization. Joining newer works, e.g., Joe William Trotter's Black Milwaukee (CH, Jul'85), Thomas's book emphasizes the process of community building, led by the emerging African American industrial working class and domestic servants. In the period between the world wars, schools, hospitals, newspapers, self—help organizations, and a sense of place developed in black Detroit. The Detroit Urban League, the NAACP, The Booker T. Washington Trade Association, and the Housewives League of Detroit all played integral roles in this process. Progress was not without its problems, however; crime, poverty, and despair remained constants. Frequently, skilled African American workers were denied jobs, even in critical defense industries. During this period, African Americans demonstrated their newfound strength by challenging the racist system, first by breaking with the Republican party, and then by turning from the paternalistic support of Henry Ford and joiningg the UAW. Taken with earlier works like Thomas Philpott's The Slum and the Ghetto (CH, Sep'78) Thomas's ground-breaking study should occupy a central place in the literature of American urban history. Advanced undergraduates; graduate; faculty."—D. R. Jamieson, Ashland University, Choice, January 1993