Detroit+Historical+Museum

On my field trip, I visited the Detroit Historical Museum. When I first came to Wayne State University, I had a class called //the History of Detroit//. Today, the class does not exist. My professor was Dr. Phillip P. Mason. Today, he resides in the State of Arizona. Our field trips included the Detroit Historical Museum and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum. In studying Detroit, I learned that the city of Greenwich is now called Ontario, Canada. As I traveled throughout the museum, I learned more history about the automobile industry. Detroit was the Mecca of the automobile industry. In 1908, the Model T car got America on wheels. It was a cheaper and an affordable car for Americans to buy. According to microeconomics, if the product is cheaper, the demand will increase. In the late 1800s, cars became one of the gross domestic products (GDP) in America. In the 20th century, the American automobile industry became international (Globalization). At the Detroit Historical Museum, I did a scavenger hunt on the city’s flag. Detroit’s Flag has many symbols. It is divided into 4 sections. The flag was adopted in 1948. In the upper left hand corner, the white stars in the blue field represent the 13 original colonies. On the lower left hand side, there are the 5 golden flowers in the white field. This section represents the French arriving in Detroit in 1701. On the upper right hand corner, there is a red field with 3 golden lions. This section represents Great Britain who ruled Detroit after defeating the French. The British controlled Detroit from 1760 to 1796. The lower right hand corner represents the 13 original colonies of the United States. In the center of the flag are two women. One woman is comforting the other woman after a huge fire erupted in Detroit. The Latin words in the flag means that “//We hope for better things//” and “//It will rise from the ashes//.” This was written by Gabriel Richard (the first school teacher in Detroit), after the fire of 1805. According to the //Great Lakes: an Environmental and Resource Book//, the Native Americans were the first people living in United States of America. Known as the 3 fires, the Ottawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwa Native Americans were living in Detroit before the coming of the Europeans. The Native people were the first to use many resources of the Great Lakes Basin. Abundant game, fertile soils and plentiful water enabled the early development of hunting, subsistence agriculture, and fishing. The lakes and tributaries provided convenient transportation by canoe, and trade among groups flourished. (1995) In 1701, Antoine De La Mothe Cadillac was first European (Frenchman) to come to Detroit known as //Day-Twah// meaning straits. When the French came to Detroit, they traded fur, guns and alcohol with the Native Americans. When the Frenchman arrived in the city, they were looking for the beaver. The beaver’s fur was made into hats. In the book//, the History of Detroit//, it stated that before the mid 19th century, Detroit retained many characteristics of a river front trading post. From the time of its founding in 1701 until well into the 1800s, business was almost exclusively concerned with the fur trade and it handmaiden the Indian trade. In 1830, fur was no longer a major factor in Detroit’s economic life. The Michigan wilderness was being opened up for settlement; game was vanishing and the fur trade moved west, centering in St. Louis. Instead of Michigan swamps, ponds and streams, trappers were ranging the headwater country of Missouri and its tributaries for beaver. Detroit had become a commercial town, a town of wholesale and retail establishments supplying the needs of the settlers quickly filling up the interior. (Woodford, 1969) If I was taking a class on a field trip to the Detroit Historical Museum, I will have them to walk through the old streets of Detroit. Students will observe the old stores that used to be in the city. I observed old bicycles, record, record players, barbershops, banks, and Kresge (5 and 10 cents) store. Students will adore the train station. Before I leave the museum, I will make sure that everybody will get to see the //Body Drop section// of the museum. Children will discover that Detroit is known for its inventions such as Vernors beverage, Faygo soda, ice-cream soda, and Better Made Potato Chips. Detroit was known as the Motor City and Motown. In 1959 Berry Gordy, an African-American entrepreneur started his own record business in Detroit. Previously, Berry Gordy worked in the Ford Motor Company before becoming an entrepreneur. Berry discovered many people with gifts and talents. These performers were Diana Ross, the late Michael Jackson, Jackie Wilson (a Detroiter and boxer), Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the late Teena Marie and many more. On the upper level of the Museum, I have discovered that slaves lived in the State of Michigan. In the book, //Detroit Perspectives: Crossroads and Turning Points//, it stated that black slavery did exist in the North. The book mentioned that black slavery increased during the British period, reinforcing itself numerically through several channels. After the occupation of the city, the economic system remained the same except that systematically British merchants took over the fur trade from the French until they controlled it absolutely by the 1780s. A number of Irish, Scotch and English traders, and also a few farmers, settled in the Detroit area. A number of them were slave-owners and brought their chattels with them. A few residents also introduce slaves acquired in the American South. During the American Revolution many Detroit based Native-Americans against American settlements in the valley of the Ohio River and in Illinois. In those raids, the so-called Indians often killed the whites whom they could not sell, but kept the Black slaves whom they could exchange for guns, ammunition, and liquor. (Henrickson, 1991). In conclusion, I enjoyed my field trip to the Detroit Historical Museum. I believe that the museum should have more additional information on Detroit. For example, the Shrine of the Black Madonna started in Detroit in the 1960s. Albert Cleage was an Indiana native. He was the founder of the church. The church has a bookstore on Davison and Livernois. The Shrine of the Black Madonna has 3 locations in the United States. Albert Cleage was a student of Wayne State University. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology. Cleage got his ideas from the late Malcolm X. Like black scholars, Cleage believe that African-Americans were written out of history and they should have a bookstore to teach them their true knowledge of themselves. Before the Shrine of the Black Madonna, the Nation of Islam started in Detroit on July 4, 1930 during the Great Depression Era. As a Macon, Georgia native, Elijah Muhammad came to Detroit to find a job in the automobile industry. Muhammad worked for Ford’s Motor Company. He lived in the Black Bottom section of Detroit. He was a 3rd grade educated man who received his knowledge from Master Fard Muhammad. Fard came to Detroit from Arabia. Fard taught Elijah for 3 years with 104 books. When Fard Muhammad left Elijah Muhammad, the Nation of Islam became known. Elijah Muhammad was one of the most successful African-Americans in history. He was an entrepreneur. He believed in freedom, justice and equality for all people. He believed that black people can choose to separate or integrate with the white race. He believed that Black people should separate from the white race and form their own nation. I have learned that a nation is unity, freedom, justice, equality, commerce, religion, land, agriculture, education and independence. Elijah Muhammad established the first black owned school in Detroit. His followers included Malcolm X and Classius Clay (Muhammad Ali). This year, the Nation of Islam will be celebrating their 81st anniversary. Tomorrow, they will be celebrating the birth of Master Fard Muhammad. As Detroit being the largest city in Michigan, I hope that one day, it will build a Michigan Museum. // “History is more or less bunk. We do not want tradition. //   // We want to live in the present, and the only history that is worth // // A tinker’s damn is the history we make today.” // By     Henry Ford, as quoted in      Chicago Tribune, May 25, 1916 **__ References __** 1. __ Detroit Perspectives: Crossroads and Turning Points __ edited by Wilma Wood Henrickson. Wayne State University Press. 1991. Phillip P. Mason, editor. Walter Reuther Library. Detroit, MI. Pg. 85.   2. __ All Our Yesterdays: A Brief History of Detroit __ edited by Frank B. Woodford and Arthur M. Woodford. Wayne State University Press. Detroit, MI. 1969. 3. __ The Great Lakes: An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book __ by Government of Canada Toronto, Ontario and the United States Environmental Protection Agency: Great Lakes National Program Office. Chicago, Illinois. 1995. Pg.17 4. __ Detroit at 300: Then and Now….( __ 2001). Magazine. Keith E. Crane
 * Detroit Historical Museum **