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The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits by Tiya Miles
wleonardf's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
5.0
Amazing borderlands history; as a Canadian fascinating to read how slavery and freedom operated on both sides of the river and all in the context of Indigenous dispossession. Miles is masterful in weaving together this narrative despite the small documentary record.
allytomsik's review against another edition
3.0
I am an English student who is pursuing a minor in American History and honestly this book is probably the most interesting one I’ve read for a class. It takes a look into a side of history that isn’t generally looked at in class. It focuses on slavery in the Midwest, which is really fascinating because no one really ever talks about it.
kaitiekait05's review against another edition
5.0
As Black person born and raised in Windsor, Ontario Canada, a descendent of those who travelled on the Underground Railroad from the southern United States this book was refreshing. This well researched book about the saga of slavery is welcomed. Too often Northern States and Canada whitewash the history of enslavement by using the Underground Railroad as the exemplar of that region. Canada had enslavement. Northern states had enslavement. This needs to be truthfully spoken about more. Those Indigenous and Black enslaved lives matter and need to be acknowledged and celebrated. Thank you to the author for providing an important perspective of the fluid border between Windsor/Sandwich and Detroit.
erin_dodge's review
5.0
This amazing history of the early colonial history of Detroit focuses on the lives of enslaved and free Black and Native people in the town in the 1700s and 1800s, and the shifting contexts of wars and power struggles between Indian nations, French and English powers, and the newly-forming United States.
Delves into a startling and lesser-known picture of slavery and race in the northern United states and Canada, and does so while telling some astounding stories, like that of the Denisons: an enslaved Black couple who became free after the death of their owner and subsequently sued his widow for custody of their own children, in perhaps the first case of its kind in the United States.
The best kind of history: one that tells a mind blowing story you didn't even know you didn't know.
Delves into a startling and lesser-known picture of slavery and race in the northern United states and Canada, and does so while telling some astounding stories, like that of the Denisons: an enslaved Black couple who became free after the death of their owner and subsequently sued his widow for custody of their own children, in perhaps the first case of its kind in the United States.
The best kind of history: one that tells a mind blowing story you didn't even know you didn't know.
anishinaabekwereads's review against another edition
5.0
The Dawn of Detroit is representative of the work Miles does so well, crafting deeply engaging history from sparse and scattered archives. Detroit's history of slavery has been overlooked, enslaved Black and Indigenous folx erased through namelessness and dehumanization in historical materials. Miles digs deep to discuss how slavery in the Old Northwest was fueled by the fur trade and settler colonialism, the waterways facilitating enslavement as well as resistance. Reading this, you see just how structural settler white supremacy is in urban foundations of the Midwest. The trace roots of incarceration, red lining, and legal belonging are all evident in Detroit's history. More so, Miles makes clear that white supremacy, slavery, and settler colonialism are deeply linked.
My favorite part about this book were without a doubt the Denisons and their careful and precise negotiations for freedom and their navigation of borderland water space to secure said freedom. Following Peter and Hannah and their children, we get to see Miles flesh out their lives in the second half of the book.
This is so powerful and Miles writes with tremendous historic prose that hooks you into the lives of those in Detroit over the 18th and 19th centuries. I want everyone to read this book, to sit with this history, and to discuss what it tells us about the intricate practices of freedom-seeking in North America.
My favorite part about this book were without a doubt the Denisons and their careful and precise negotiations for freedom and their navigation of borderland water space to secure said freedom. Following Peter and Hannah and their children, we get to see Miles flesh out their lives in the second half of the book.
This is so powerful and Miles writes with tremendous historic prose that hooks you into the lives of those in Detroit over the 18th and 19th centuries. I want everyone to read this book, to sit with this history, and to discuss what it tells us about the intricate practices of freedom-seeking in North America.
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