Black Bottom, Detroit

[1] Together, Black Bottom and Paradise Valley were bounded by Brush Street to the west, the Grand Trunk railroad tracks to the east, south to the Detroit River, and bisected by Gratiot Avenue.

[4] From the 1930s to the 1950s, residents in Black Bottom made significant contributions to American music, including blues, Big Band, and jazz.

[4] Historical lack of access for the general population of African Americans to New Deal and Veterans Administration housing benefits combined with redlining segregated the neighborhoods from surrounding areas.

In the early 1960s, the Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods were demolished for the purpose of slum clearance and to make way for the construction of I-375.

[11] The river's flooding produced rich bottomland soils, for which early French colonial settlers named the area "Black Bottom".

[4] During the Great Migration, the area was primarily settled by blacks who established a community of businesses, social institutions, and night clubs.

[4] Following World War II, two-thirds of the physical structures of Black Bottom had been classified as aging and substandard, lacking modern amenities, or sitting in significant disrepair.

[4] The city government considered these areas slums and designated those remaining after the highway construction for clearance through a series of revitalization projects.

[4] Areas of both Black Bottom and Paradise Valley faced destruction for the construction of medical and city-run institutions, as well as public housing projects.

[4] The highways, such as the Chrysler Freeway (formerly Oakland-Hastings), bisected the rest of the Lower East Side, including Paradise Valley and Black Bottom.

[20] Architect Emily Kutil plans to recreate the neighborhood virtually, using photos from the Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Collection, through a website called Black Bottom Street View.

The University of Michigan and Bedrock Detroit previously announced a new project at 1400 S. Antoine St. (at the intersection of Gratiot Ave. and I-375) for a 190,000 square feet structure including[22] "residential units, a hotel, a conference center and a business collaboration and incubation space.