The people of Detroit experienced the American revolutionary era in unique ways. More than any locale in North America, it was where French, British, American, and Native American cultures collided and melded during the second half of the eighteenth century. The British takeover of Detroit from the French in 1760 and Pontiac's War in 1763 brought revolutionary changes to the frontier town earlier than most places. Instability also lasted longer. The British did not relinquish control of its largest outpost on the Great Lakes until 1796-thirteen years after the United States won its independence. Ultimately, the American Revolution introduced international boundaries to a region where the Detroit River had always been a highway, not a border. The essays in this volume put a human face on this fascinating and fiery period of Detroit's past. Each provides a portrait into how an individual, family, or other group responded to and shaped the dramatic changes around them. Revolutionary Detroit witnessed murders, betrayals, hangings, shipwrecks, slavery, servitude, captive-taking, and more. The town serves as an ideal historical laboratory for analyzing military actions, shifting alliances, and cultural interactions on the frontier during a particularly volatile time.

Revolutionary Detroit: Portraits in Political and Cultural Change, 1760-1805

History

Detroit Historical Society

Americas

Wayne State University Press

After the American Revolution, the Detroit River marked the boundary between the American frontier outpost of Detroit and the British Canadian communities of Sandwich (present-day Windsor, Ontario) and Fort Amherstburg. For more than a generation, American citizens, British subjects, French settlers, Native Americans, and African slaves and freedmen routinely crossed the border while living and working together in one of the most diverse regions in North America. That tranquility ended suddenly with the War of 1812. Cross-river neighbors transformed into enemies as the previously ignored border became fraught with new political significance. 
The result of a year-long community history partnership between the Detroit Historical Society and Wayne State University, Border Crossings uncovers the personal and group interactions often ignored in standard histories of the War of 1812. In August 1812, U.S. General William Hull surrendered Detroit to the British under General Isaac Brock. For more than a year, until September 1813, Detroit remained in the hands of the British. Americans then occupied settlements on the Canadian side of the Detroit River until July 1815-well past the official end of the war. These multiple "border crossings" had profound implications for the diverse inhabitants of the Detroit River region, including widespread privation, imprisonment, enemy attacks, and dispossession of homes and land.

Border Crossings: The Detroit River Region in the War of 1812

Wayne State University

Since its founding in 1921, the Detroit Historical Society (DHS) has been dedicated to safeguarding the history of our region so that current and future generations of metro Detroiters can better understand the people, places, and events that helped shape our lives. 100 Years of the Detroit Historical Society, written by senior curator Joel Stone, captures in words and photographs the little-known story of the people who have been telling Detroit's stories and preserving its material culture for the last century. 100 Years of the Detroit Historical Society leads in a chronological manner through four distinct phases-each with its own successes and failures-with a nod to the future direction of the DHS. Stone begins by laying a foundation of the city's history and describing the era that prompted the organization's founding-first intended as support for the Burton Historical Collection, then as stewards of a growing artifact collection in a ""cabinet of curiosities."" DHS became the primary support organization for a new municipally owned and managed historical department, resulting in multiple facilities and storytelling capabilities. Later, changing social and fiscal priorities prompted the DHS and its partners to adopt new strategies for interpretation, funding, outreach, and inclusion. Eventually, the DHS would assume stewardship of the Detroit Historical Museum and Dossin Great Lakes Museum, bringing new momentum to regional public history. It is important to note the truism that historical museums and archives can be poor caretakers of their own history. The DHS's history was intertwined with a municipal department for so long that they actually have two histories that are only roughly preserved. Research for this volume has woven many disparate details into a cogent tapestry that is easily digested by museum professionals and visitors alike. It is a fascinating tale that reflects the pride Detroiters have in their city and shows trends in historical preservation and organizational structures across North America.

100 Years of the Detroit Historical Society (Title Not in Series)

Business & Money

Stone, Joel

Management & Leadership

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