Before reading Detroit's Forgotten History by Bill McGraw, I hadno idea that slavery occurred anywhere in Michigan, especially inDetroit. From middle school to high school, I learned a good amountof knowledge on slavery, but I was led to believe that slavery onlyoccurred in Southern states. And for the southern states stillhaving slavery this resulted in the Civil War. Thinking about itnow, my best knowledge of slavery are the events that occurredbecause of it, instead of slavery itself. For example, theUnderground Railroad was taught heavily in school, while the directsubject of slavery wasn't. This is very surprising since themagnitude slavery has on United States's history. Education systemneglected teaching the harsh, violent riots of slavery but focusedmore on uprising events like the Underground railroad. Now eventslike the Underground railroad deserve recognition, but at the sametime we shouldn't shy away from the harsh, violent acts theseinnocent people endured. Living near Detroit my whole life, and notknowing that slavery played a huge role in the foundation ofDetroit is very disappointing. I entirely agree with McGraw'sstatement that: \"Local students learn about the UndergroundRailroad in school, but Detroit’s slave history is rarely taught.”?In the , Underground Railroad and Violence by Roy E. Finkenbine,Finkenbine addresses the violence that occurred against free blackpeople after the Civil War. Violence was used against AfricanAmericans to make them leave or even die. Free blacks from thesouth and north made their way to the east side of Detroit to livein the neighborhoods. This obviously provoking the fellow neighborsin these neighborhoods, violence then would break out. These actsof violence were meant to push the free slaves away but instead itdid the opposite. These free slaves were so desperate anddetermined to stay free that they were willing to return theviolence back. Members of the African American community and somewhite allies fought back to protect the free slaves wanting to stayfree (Finkenbine pg. 23). The law that played a significant role inthe uprisings and violence described by Finkenbine was the FugitiveSlave Act of 1793. Violence erupted during this act because slaveowners were able to track any of their runaway slaves in the UnitedStates. This act did nothing but create more violence because thesefree slaves were tired of the hardship, so they were going to fightback to live a free life. “Slavery is the ground zero of racerelations.” This is an extremely heavy and true statement. Afterthe black community were free by slavery, they were still notaccepted in America. With Jim Crow laws and other acts against theblack community, the fight was still not over. African Americanshad to face the fact that slavery was just the first battle. Moreracial situations and acts were coming toward them and even thisday we see it. Still today racial altercations occur frequently inAmerica and it is just saddening. Noticing the lack of progressthis country has made toward this dilemma is truly depressing. As anation we still can't look or treat people the same, and having togo back to racial objections is horrifying. Taking more action andto keep fighting this oppression is the best way to move forward.Slavery will never be forgotten as a historical period, but notimproving from it could be even worse and unforgettable as historygoes on.

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