The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits Hardcover – October 3, 2017

Every so often a book comes along that awakens us. A book that causes us to look up from the pages with a knowing feeling in our hearts. It is the knowledge that we will not be able to look at the world the same way and that our worldview must now change to match reality. That's the feeling I had very shortly after I started reading Tiya Miles' Dawn of Detroit. The fact that her book comes out at a time when every human being should be questioning their preconceived notions of history only makes her book more powerful and timely.We are tied together in that 'single garment of destiny' (MLK) much more closely than anyone knew. Enslavement of African Americans was not unique to the South. There is no part of our country, and our daily lives, that are not touched by the effects of slavery and dehumanization of both African Americans and Indigenous Americans. It is a legacy that haunts us even now. Ms. Miles not only provides the detailed research that is required for such a shift in thinking, but she does it in a way that brings to life the stories of those who lived under the rule of slavers in Detroit. How a brilliant, resourceful woman like Elizabeth Denison struggled and fought to live authentically and help others in a society that dehumanized people of color. Maybe that's why I love this book so much. It forces us to face the brutal facts of our past and in doing so empowers us to fight on -- until every person can live authentically and as equals.

I feel as if I were watching a play with actors clustered to one side of the stage mechanically following choreography when suddenly Dr. Miles grabs the handle of a dusty light switch and slams it up, showing us that the vast unlit part of the theater had been populated all along. By giving us the entire cast and animating them with sparkling insights she brings the entire story to life.I’ve read dozens of books on colonial Detroit. Dawn of Detroit is special. I am familiar with much of the source material used in this book but I’m still scratching my head in awe. How did she do it?It would be easy to think of this book as the slavery in early Detroit book. It’s not.It would be easy to imagine the author - like Howard Zinn with People’s History - intentionally creating a counterbalance to centuries of previous work about Detroit. She doesn’t.This book is the first whole book on early Detroit.There are now three canonical books for understanding colonial Detroit: Brian Dunnigan’s Frontier Metropolis for the images, Helen Tanner’s Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History for the maps and Tiya Miles masterpiece The Dawn of Detroit for the story of North America’s most interesting and soulful city.It makes me smile to think how far Dr. Miles has taken us from Francis Parkman.

I often wondered why I felt so strong upon moving to Detroit late last century. Via this incredible study, I think I intuited the strength that many oppressed groups, among them people of African descent, had in the area long before the arrival of Berry Gordy's Motown. Miles shows us many things including how the enslaved, not unlike Native Americans, strategically played European powers off of one another. Indeed, after late 18th century developments largely abolished slavery in a good portion of the area we now call the Midwest, and after the border between the U.S. and Canada were more clearly defined, an opening was created for African Americans to thoughtfully attempt to improve their desperate condition. Black women in particular are unveiled as complex individuals in this fascinating and persuasive study. One woman was forced to execute a white laborer. Another one owned property by the time of the Civil War. Geography is also an important topic in this book. But Miles is never heavy-handed as she points out why space matters. For example, the reader learn about why the many waterways made Detroit more like New York than generally acknowledged especially when it comes to urban slavery. Read this book, which is the latest in Miles' important treasure chest of historical writing.

Tiya Miles has written an historical account that is a must read for anyone interested in the early formation of the United States. With painstaking accuracy she has chronicled the lives of all those whose names have been forgotten in the dusty corners of court houses, ship logs and church records and acknowledges their contributions and endurance. Her compassion shines through in weaving the stories of not only the more prominent names but all that were involved in the daily interactions, both humane and inhumane, and gives voice to the untold stories behind those names. She delves fearlessly into some of the most difficult topics that many authors choose to ignore regarding slavery, racial bias, gender roles, trade routes, displacement, law and early corporate endeavors with a clear vision. She brings to light many accurate and hidden truths that are often left out of your typical history book. Unbiased and full of illumination, this is a book that explains and details life in early Detroit with surprising back stories that will challenge and enhance anything you thought you knew about how this Nation was built.

An important book that will change how we look at the history of slavery, especially in this part of the world. All too often, in places like Detroit, we rest comfortable in the notion that we were northern, Yankee, whatever and thus on the "right side of history." Miles recovers the long history of involvement on the "other side" of slavery in the City of the Straight. Shows the complicity in slavery of early Detroiters -- Campau, Macomb, John R. Williams, and many others whose names still define our streetscape and political geography.