Black Scroll Network History & Tours

04/28/2026

117 Years Ago - on April 20, 1909, the Wayne County Road Commission paid over $14,000 (about a half million $ in today’s dollars) to pave one mile of Woodward Avenue in concrete.

It was the first mile of concrete paved road the world.

The auto industry was exploding in Detroit - with auto factories founded by David Dunbar Buick (1897); Ransom Olds (1897); Henry Leland (Cadillac, 1902); John & Horace Dodge (1902); Jonathan Maxwell (Maxwell, 1904, absorbed by Chrysler); Hugh Chalmers (1908); James & William Packard (1903); and Henry Ford (1903).

Woodward was the dividing line between the east and west side of Detroit. But when the road was expanded in 1922, the curve of Woodward towards the west, starting at 6 Mile (McNichols) is the beginning of John R. becoming the more accurate dividing line between east and west.

03/09/2026

204 Years Ago - on March 1, 1822 - John Patton was born in Ireland. He would grow up to become Mayor of the City of Detroit.

After moving to and working in New York City for years, Patton moved to Detroit in 1843, where he was a carriagebuilder.

In 1845, he started his own carriage business, but lost it due to the Detroit Fire of 1848. He rebuilt his business and became even more successful.

As John Patton became famous for his speaking ability and business acumen, he sought city positions as one of the leading Democrats in the city. He served as chief engineer of the DETROIT FIRE DEPARTMENT in 1852–1854 and the president of the Fire Department from 1855 to 1857.

He was elected a city alderman in 1853–1854, mayor in 1858–1859, county auditor in 1864–1869, Wayne County sheriff in 1869–1870, Justice of the Peace from 1880– 1892, and United States consul at Amherstburg, Ontario, from 1893 to 1897.

John Patton died November 15, 1900 at the age of 78.

02/14/2026

There are some things to need to be said…

02/08/2026

It’s Black History Month!
Day #6

Negro History Week was established by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1926.
That was 100 Years Ago.

As Official Historian of the City of Detroit, each day, I will be posting about a part of Detroit’s Black History of Resistance Against Oppression.

In November 1843, Richard Gordon, a Black man from Detroit, attempted to vote in Michigan. He was prevented from doing so on the basis of his race by the elections inspector - Farrar.

This would become a lawsuit - Gordon v. Farrar.

The case went initially to the Wayne County Circuit Court in 1844, where Gordon won. He was awarded 12 & a half cents. The court ruled that Gordon, who was of mixed-race and could nearly pass for white, should not have been challenged on his right to vote by the inspector, because there was no legal definition of “white” and “colored” in Michigan law.

The case was appealed and eventually reached the Michigan Supreme Court in 1847, who would decide that according to the Michigan Constitution, “voting was the exclusive right for white males.”

They also found that elections inspector Farrar was carrying out his duties (just doing his job) when he challenged Gordon’s vote, because it was his duty to challenge the vote of any man who appeared to have any “negro” “colored” or “African” blood (ancestry), and it was evident that Gordon was not fully white.

The votes of any “colored,” “negro” or “African” person was supposed to be challenged and refused, according to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Black men - who looked like Black men - would not be able to legally vote in Michigan until the 15th Amendment was ratified by Michigan in 1869.

But Black people in Detroit didn’t wait for an amendment before they got busy.

02/04/2026

02/02/2026

100 Years Ago - Negro History was established by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. In 1976, the week-long commemoration of Black History was extended to Black History Month!

As the Official Historian of the City of Detroit, I will be posting an important story of the Black History of Resistance to Oppression in Detroit.

69 Years Ago - on February 1, 1957 - Ethel Watkins, a 30-yr-old Black woman, moved into a 2-story brick home on Cherrylawn, in the Littlefield Community, near Wyoming and Fullerton.

She bought the home for about $12,000.
That’s the modern-day equivalent of about $140,000 today.

At the time, this was an all-white neighborhood.

Not long after she moved in, white residents began picketing outside of her home, busting her windows, and threatening her safety.

She received numerous bomb threats.

To organize a plan to force this Black woman out of the home, the white community held a strategy meeting at Temple Baptist Church, the white-mega church less than a mile away from the home.

Today, the former Temple Baptist church building where the whites met, is the home of Straight Gate International Church.

Temple Baptist?

The all-white church that facilitated the meetings to plan a way to keep Black people out of the area?

That’s Northridge Church in Plymouth, Michigan.

Black people and organizations in Detroit partnered with well-meaning white groups including the Catholic In*******al Council, the YMCA, and the city’s Commission on Community Relations, which later became a part of the Detroit Civil Rights, Inclusion and Opportunity Department.

Together, they worked to keep Ethel Watkins in her home, and after an arrest of one of the white racist leaders, Ethel Watkins was victorious and stayed in her home.

1.) Ethel Watkins, 30 yrs old, after moving in her home.
2.) Her home on Cherrylawn, with police outside, after her home was attacked by white racists.
3.) Police trying to control a crowd of white women who are protesting in front of Ethel Watkins’ house in an attempt to force Watkins to move.
4.) The former home of Ethel Watkins as it looks today.

02/02/2026

It’s Black History Month!

Let Our Motto Be Resistance!

As Official Historian of the City of Detroit, I will be telling a part of Detroit’s Black History of Resistance Against Oppression.

From Slavery to Segregation...
From School Inequality to Housing Discrimination...
From Racism on the Job to Police Brutality...

Black people in Detroit have never accepted oppression.
They have always resisted in every way thinkable.

Today, on the 1st Day of Black History Month 2026, I highlight the story of Denison v. Tucker - a Michigan Territorial case from 1807.

During the period of slavery, Black people resisted this form of racial oppression in various ways:

They broke the tools, they burned the crops, they refused to work, they put poison in the food of the slaveowners, they ran away.
They fought slave rebellions.

And they sued for freedom.

There were hundreds of lawsuits for freedom, the most famous being Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857).

But we in Detroit should know about a case that happened 50 years before that - Denison v. Tucker (1807).

Elizabeth ‘Lisette’ Denison Forth was born in slavery. Her parents, Peter and Hannah Denison, had 4 children - James, Elizabeth, Scipio and Peter Jr.

William Tucker was their slaveowner.

William Tucker died in 1806, and Catherine Tucker, his widow, eventually freed Peter and Hannah Denison, but not their 4 children.

The Denisons then sued for freedom.

Their attorney, was Elijah Brush, who had been the 2nd mayor of Detroit. Brush, for a period of time, was also a slaveowner, after inheriting the property of his father-in-law, John Askin.

The case - Denison v. Tucker (1807) was heard by Michigan Territorial Supreme Court Justice, Augustus Woodward, appointed by slaveowner and President Thomas Jefferson.

Before he came to Detroit, Woodward too, was a slaveowner.

He also named the main street dividing Detroit into east & west after himself. And he was one of The founders of the University of Michigan. When they lost the lawsuit. More of the story in the comments below ⬇️

01/07/2026

My class is on UofM main campus this semester! And it’s full!