Black Bottom Street View: Opening Reception

Black Bottom, the epicenter of Detroit’s black community before the neighborhood was demolished in the early 1960s, will be remembered on Saturday with an exhibition at the Detroit Public Library’s Main Branch. “Black Bottom Street View” will showcase some of the thousands of photos from the Burton Historical Collection that together portray a vivid picture of life in the prime of the neighborhood. The photos were taken between 1949 and 1950 by Detroit’s “Corporation Council” to assess the value of the structures as part of the legal process of eminent domain. Digitally stitched together, the photos capture roughly one-fifth of the original neighborhood.