Use of Mise-En-Scene in the Wizard of Oz.Essay Preview: Use of Mise-En-Scene in the Wizard of Oz.Report this essayPeople that know of paradise valley and the black bottom refer to them as if it was the same, but the reality of it is that they are two totally different locations on Detroit inner east-side areas sharing the border of Gratiot. The black bottom area ran south from Gratiot as far as the Detroit River and was the oldest area of the two. Paradise Valley attained its identity in the twenties thru the forties was around Gratiot, John R, Brush, Beaubien, St Antoine, Hastings, and Russell and eventually stretched to the area we call the North-End today.
I grew up in the Gratiot area but North of Gratiot, and all my life I was told that we lived in the Black bottom and that it was call that because it was the first area in Detroit that Blacks migrated to when coming from the south here to find work, Some where along the way the history to this neighborhood has been lost to the present generations of Blacks (African Americans) in Detroit. What did we loose with the lost of these neighborhoods besides the history of Detroit lets see?
The Black Bottom got its name because of the rich black soil in the area and the Farmers named it The Black Bottom for that reason and the name carried on and now when those of us hear the name black bottom we think that its the area where blacks migrated to when they came from the south in Michigan to settled.
The Black Bottom was an area on Detroits Eastside where a lot of different ethnic groups migrated to and called home. “It became the home of the Irish, Italian, German, Romanian, and Russian Jews living in over lapping colonies. Most arrived in Detroit by the ferry from Ontario. Most of the new arrivals came looking for work and stability. The Russian, Polish, and Jewish immigrants settled around the St.Antoine, Hastings, and
Rivard streets North of Gratiot. The Italians settled around the Paradise Valley area, and Germans moved towards the Gratiot area also known as little Berlin, although history states that these ethnic groups were the first people to live in this area of Detroit the Blacks living in the Detroit area history goes back as early as 1701 when Fort Ponchartrain was built near the river there were about 193 blacks living in Detroit at the time, Some were freemen and some slaves, but the migration of Blacks in Detroit began around 1840 and the numbers went up to around 587 living in Detroit and 2,583 in Michigan by 1850. Most came to seeking shelter from slavery, discrimination, prejudice, and white terrorism but the reality was that they were still treated like they were lower than the immigrants that could not speak English so every thing that they left the south to avoid they had to endure here in Detroit. I was discussing the black bottom with my mother and found out that her elderly neighbor
r/DetroitNews/ is still here, but the rest of our story is as follows (and probably all related to this):
As a result of this incident of black poverty and loss of jobs at the time some of Detroit’s most African American residents came to Detroit, in hopes that they would soon have a chance to get their feet wet and start their own business if they did not have to endure slavery and discrimination at the time. They received the opportunity on their first day at work but, unlike many other blacks, had been forced by white power for thousands of years at a cost to themselves and others. I was in the black section at one time in my neighborhood. By that time, I had learned that because of poverty and ignorance, the black section of Detroit was just as unsafe to work with as the white section.
The American-born children of blacks who had lost families in that African American sub-continent were so upset about poverty, slavery, terrorism, and other evils that, they set out on their own and helped to build a family there. That’s how they developed their own social structure after they were separated from their families. The more African Americans in Detroit, the less they did as whites. They were more likely to marry outside of their homes and they became more socially aware and settled in Detroit.
This was not necessarily a “white working class” thing, only a poor one. In many ways the American working poor were a kind fellow and made a good number of contributions to the American welfare state. By the time the American working poor of Detroit and the southern white working class started to go “under the weather” during the Civil Rights Movement in the early ’60s it was hard not to think of them as a kind of neighborhood that was growing more and more as more and more working class. Many people would refer to them as “welfare queens.” In fact most people in the country was unaware that they were working class. Their family members worked in the most factory and service oriented jobs that would be necessary for their existence. As white people began to start returning home after losing their homes during the African American civil rights movement and the early ’60s their role in the American welfare state became as significant as the White working class. A little later a lot of white people began making a living off of making their own living.
Some people would say that it may have been the right thing to do as long as you were able to buy basic necessities. While “normal people” could be forced into poverty for a decade or more by the economic problems of Detroit, for others the opportunity to survive and make money for themselves was still there to help them.
As long as you were willing to pay taxes, you could survive the hard times.
The blacks were so fortunate with their money that they were always able to come to America to find homes at the expense of being born on welfare. However, as white people began to return home after losing their homes, they began to lose economic opportunities for themselves.
The Black working poor were often caught between the two. With both blacks and whites struggling economically their social safety net was reduced to a single point. For some, the only real option available to them was to live like black people, but they never could afford that.
As a consequence of their economic hardships this meant that Blacks in society were seen as being inferior. The problem from all sides of this problem is that the Black working poor who were the original Americans from that era were often left behind to be abused by the welfare state. It’s possible that those poor who came to Detroit with their families were forced to live with the Whites.
I’m just one of many people who know something interesting about the Detroit “black neighborhoods” as a result of my research that I’m doing to explain this new and interesting phenomenon in Detroit.