Our amazing international team of historians, educators, scholars and just people lovers who are dedicated to educating about our international region and its immense history of freedom, resistance and justice. We are passionate about our shared history in the Detroit River region.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines cult
Our amazing international team of historians, educators, scholars and just people lovers who are dedicated to educating about our international region and its immense history of freedom, resistance and justice. We are passionate about our shared history in the Detroit River region.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation defines cultural heritage tourism as "traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present." Heritage tourism is a powerful economic development tool, and it is embraced at The Detroit River Project as it creates new jobs and business opportunities and also helps to protect our national heritage and immense cultural treasures.
The popular narrative of the Underground Railroad is both romanticized and highly Eurocentric, much of it drawn from accounts written by late 19th century white historians lauding the exploits of their own forbears. This, at the expense both of the African Americans who ris ked far more to assist fugitives on their passage northwards and
The popular narrative of the Underground Railroad is both romanticized and highly Eurocentric, much of it drawn from accounts written by late 19th century white historians lauding the exploits of their own forbears. This, at the expense both of the African Americans who ris ked far more to assist fugitives on their passage northwards and of the brave freedom-seekers themselves. Popular Underground Railroad narratives neglect the role played by African Americans and African Canadians who facilitated the passage of freedom-seekers on their way to Canada and ignore the evolution of increasingly sophisticated Black-led institutions and organizations on both sides of the border during the antebellum period. Furthermore, the importance of political activism by antislavery advocates, Black and white, along this critical borderland remains almost unknown to all but the most specialized academic historians. Today, scholarship on the Under- ground Railroad era is enjoying a resurgence of attention. Both popular and scholarly studies focus on Black agency and resistance on both sides of the border between Canada and the United States. These highlight the importance of the Detroit frontier in this, the most important social justice movement of the 19th century. Recent research also explores the transnational character of the riverfront as it relates to African-American political identity. Contemporary scholarship complicates our understanding of the Underground Railroad, and it is time to set the record straight. There are many sites that are significant to the history of both Canada and the United States. These range from those that evoke the history of North America's indigenous peoples thousands of years before the Canada-US border was established, through our nations' joint monitoring projects along the DEW Line in the far north.
THE DETROIT RIVER SHALL BE DESIGNATED COOPERATIVELY WITH THE COUNTRIES OF CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES AND JOINTLY NOMINATED BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND PARKS CANADA FOR INCLUSION ON THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE LIST.
While the Detroit River was the lifeblood for the creation of a world-renowned city of great industries, business an
THE DETROIT RIVER SHALL BE DESIGNATED COOPERATIVELY WITH THE COUNTRIES OF CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES AND JOINTLY NOMINATED BY THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND PARKS CANADA FOR INCLUSION ON THE UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE LIST.
While the Detroit River was the lifeblood for the creation of a world-renowned city of great industries, business and music, its waters were also the gateway to generations of African Ameri-
cans escaping to freedom on the Underground Railroad. The city and shores of Detroit beckoned
untold numbers to hide and dare to cross the Detroit River waters to freedom in Canada. With the Underground Railroad code name "Midnight," Detroit and its people represented a refuge of
safety and advocacy during a time of great need for escapees and abolitionists fighting for the basic right of freedom. The Underground Railroad was the first multiracial and multi-cultural civil rights movement in America. We want to enshrine, celebrate and inform the public regarding the crucial role of the people of
Detroit and the Detroit River crossing. This project would provide information and education via public art and international designations which would last long after the official ceremonies marking this important time in U.S. history. Furthermore, it would replicate the collaboration of
various groups and people which led to the success of the Underground Railroad movement.
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