Tag Archives: Grosse Ile

Isabella Swan — ‘The Deep Roots’

By Joel Thurtell How often would I get a chance to write about a female historian who made a case based on evidence that slaves lived and worked in her Michigan community? Score one for women’s history. Score another for … Continue reading

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‘Tomatoes & Eggs’ Part I: Slavery at Grosse Ile, Michigan

Inventory of slaves in Detroit, Michigan. Joel Thurtell photo of record in Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library By Joel Thurtell Just as I predicted in a January 2007 Detroit Free Press story, Grosse Ile’s historians changed history. But not … Continue reading

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Tomatoes & Eggs II: Erasing slavery on Big Isle

By Joel Thurtell During the long-ago historical period when I was a grad student in history, my faculty adviser warned me that contemporary history can be a time of troubles for historians. Too many living parties with stakes in yet-to-be-played … Continue reading

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Tomatoes & Eggs, Part I: Slaves on Grosse Ile

By Joel Thurtell Just as I predicted in a January 2007 Detroit Free Press story, Grosse Ile’s historians changed history. But not the way I expected. Early in 2007 (I retired from my Free Press reporting job the following November), … Continue reading

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