June 28, 2008
So I've started to write fiction (I sometimes do fiction) based in Detroit.
To get the details correct, I asked my dad to send me a current street map of the area. My eye kept stunbling over the city of Eastpointe.
Eastpointe used to be East Detroit (a name it adopted in 1929),to attach their community to the bustling auto industry: They were called "Halfway" before that.
In 1992, East Detroit changed their name to Eastpointe.
Both name changes show a desire to have their community latch on to more prosperous communities. The last name change shows a desire to latch on to a more prosperous, much less Black community (Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Farms . . .).
Mapwise: Eastpointe is actually north and west of all the Pointes, and Eastpointe doesn't actually touch any of the Grosses. Laying the opportunistic renaming bare.
To get the details correct, I asked my dad to send me a current street map of the area. My eye kept stunbling over the city of Eastpointe.
Eastpointe used to be East Detroit (a name it adopted in 1929),to attach their community to the bustling auto industry: They were called "Halfway" before that.
In 1992, East Detroit changed their name to Eastpointe.
Both name changes show a desire to have their community latch on to more prosperous communities. The last name change shows a desire to latch on to a more prosperous, much less Black community (Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Farms . . .).
Mapwise: Eastpointe is actually north and west of all the Pointes, and Eastpointe doesn't actually touch any of the Grosses. Laying the opportunistic renaming bare.
posted by Mr. Horton at 7:40 AM
1 Comments:
Still, the schools are called East Detroit! I passed through a few weeks back and the name hasn't changed the generally sad appearance. You almost hear harps playing when you pass ino the Pointes.
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