TRIVIA
Detroit located in Wayne County, is the hub of a 5-million person metro area and nearly 1 million African Americans.
At one time, Detroit probably had more former Tuskegee Airmen residents than any other city.
The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks, has been a long time resident of Detroit.
Everyone knows Detroit is America’s automotive center, but did you know Detroit metro area also ranks as a leader in the production of paints, non-electrical machinery and automation equipment in pharmaceutical, rubber products, synthetic resins and garden seed.
A driver’s haven, Detroit has one of the highest percentages of freeway lane miles per resident. Fittingly, it compares well to its kin cites of Los Angeles and Houston in its priority for the automobile.
Metro Detroit, thanks to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Wayne State University, is one of the nation’s leaders in electrical and mechanical R&D and Health Care.
Sandwiched between Chicago and Toronto, Detroit-Metropolitan Airport is one of the 10 busiest airports in the North America.
Metro Detroit is headquarters to these Fortune 500 companies: General Motors, Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, Volkswagen of America, Compuware, Kmart, Budd Company, Stroh's Brewery, American National Resources and Federal Mogul.
General Motors invested $500 million in its headquarters at the five-tower Renaissance Center and Compuware built a huge new headquarters. Both increased the profile of downtown.
About 18 million visitors come to Detroit each year.
FAMOUS RESIDENTS
Residents who were born or reached national fame here:
Joe Louis
Heavyweight boxing champ and patriot during WWII
Elijah McCoy
Inventor of more than 75 patents, which spawned the phrase, "The Real McCoy"
Coleman Young
1st Black mayor of Detroit
Kwame Kilpatrick
Detroit’s Hip-Hop mayor
Berry Gordy
Founder of Motown Records
Smokey Robinson
Motown singer and composer
Dr. Ralph Bunche
1st Black Nobel Prize Winner
Diana Ross & The Supremes
Famous Motown female artists
W. Fard Muhammad
Founder of the Nation of Islam
Dr. Ossian Sweet
Physician who won a famous civil rights case permitting Black Detroiters to live anywhere they could afford
Jackie Wilson
R&B singer
Dr. Ben Carson
Famous neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital
George DeBaptist
Famous abolitionist
Anita Baker
Grammy winning R&B singer
Aretha Franklin
Queen of Soul singer
Thomas Hearns
Welterweight boxing champ
Blair Underwood
TV and movie actor
Stevie Wonder
Famous composer, singer & musician
Elvin Jones
Jazz drummer
Donald Byrd
Jazz trumpeter
BLACK CULTURAL TRAVEL MADE EASY