DETROIT – History officials are seeking public input on a potential marker for Detroit’s former Black Bottom neighborhood.
The Detroit Historical Society’s Black Historic Sites Committee plans to host Michigan History Center representatives Monday evening for a two-hour discussion . The Michigan Historical Commission wants ideas about what the marker would say and where one would be placed.
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Black Bottom was a predominantly black neighborhood demolished in the 1960s for a freeway and mixed-income development, Lafayette Park. Once home to an Eastern European Jewish community, it and the neighboring Paradise Valley district became a hub of black-owned businesses and featured a nationally known music scene.
The area suffered economic decline and was razed to combat what the city then called “urban blight.”
Black Bottom was named for the area’s native rich and marshy soils.