Great Jones - Shop now
Buy new:
-10% $17.08
FREE delivery Monday, April 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Ships from: Amazon.com
Sold by: Amazon.com
$17.08 with 10 percent savings
List Price: $18.99
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Monday, April 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or Prime members get FREE delivery Tomorrow, April 10. Order within 16 hrs 55 mins.
In Stock
$$17.08 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.08
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
30-day refund/replacement
30-day refund/replacement
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
$15.86
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
100% satisfaction guaranteed! Ships direct from Amazon. 100% satisfaction guaranteed! Ships direct from Amazon. See less
FREE delivery Monday, April 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 17 hrs 10 mins
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$$17.08 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$17.08
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Tiya Miles
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits Paperback – March 5, 2019

by Tiya Miles (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 145 ratings
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$17.08","priceAmount":17.08,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"08","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"hs4U3G4QFYds7TSDH60uo4zt7q1M2iYJUEtoozQ17Q9oxe3pvLZ%2BO%2Fge1sj9MnLFR05lSi8DG%2FLqu3aX%2BTNr9oI21TTxsPKae1qZQ35yvJ69ICKbtUz1MrN6LfowYBGJSh7JtmOwq%2Fheecpz%2BJHzPw%3D%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$15.86","priceAmount":15.86,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"15","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"86","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"hs4U3G4QFYds7TSDH60uo4zt7q1M2iYJpqqB9zlQzSLnDK7Q%2BlImjck6Yy%2B7iNJ%2FnpW%2Bl8gFbdHXxOaEKRnZqPa54C7SOIBveXmtDtYSCSc%2BNwHo9h89K5yqHFN%2BsWIVO55h0j4O%2BkXvgQP3npN0miEg5R8ZZpvXwUFFo3KiX73zsToH89YrGHx54Xgy077A","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Winner of the Frederick Douglass Book Prize 
Winner of the American Book Award 
Winner of the Merle Curti Social History Award 
Winner of the James A. Rawley Prize 
Winner of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award (Nonfiction) 

Finalist for the John Hope Franklin Prize 
Finalist for the Harriet Tubman Prize 
Finalist for the Cundill History Prize

A New York Times Editor’s Choice selection

“If many Americans imagine slavery essentially as a system in which black men toiled on cotton plantations, Miles upends that stereotype several times over.”
—New York Times Book Review

“[Miles] has compiled documentation that does for Detroit what the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Writers’ Project slave narratives did for other regions, primarily the South.”
—Washington Post

“[Tiya Miles] is among the best when it comes to blending artful storytelling with an unwavering sense of social justice.”
—Martha S. Jones in The Chronicle of Higher Education

“A necessary work of powerful, probing scholarship.”
—Publisher Weekly (starred)

“A book likely to stand at the head of further research into the problem of Native and African-American slavery in the north country.”
—Kirkus Reviews

From the MacArthur genius grant winner, a beautifully written and revelatory look at the slave origins of a major northern American city

Most Americans believe that slavery was a creature of the South, and that Northern states and territories provided stops on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves on their way to Canada. In this paradigm-shifting book, celebrated historian Tiya Miles reveals that slavery was at the heart of the Midwest’s iconic city: Detroit.

In this richly researched and eye-opening book, Miles has pieced together the experience of the unfree—both native and African American—in the frontier outpost of Detroit, a place wildly remote yet at the center of national and international conflict. Skillfully assembling fragments of a distant historical record, Miles introduces new historical figures and unearths struggles that remained hidden from view until now. The result is fascinating history, little explored and eloquently told, of the limits of freedom in early America, one that adds new layers of complexity to the story of a place that exerts a strong fascination in the media and among public intellectuals, artists, and activists.

A book that opens the door on a completely hidden past, The Dawn of Detroit is a powerful and elegantly written history, one that completely changes our understanding of slavery’s American legacy.

Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    The New Press
  4. Publication date
    March 5, 2019
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1620974819
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1620974810
Next slide of product details
The%20Amazon%20Book%20Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now

Frequently bought together

The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits
This item: The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits
$17.08
Get it as soon as Monday, Apr 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Night Flyer: Harriet Tubman and the Faith Dreams of a Free People (Significations)
$19.12
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 15
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake
$12.25
Get it as soon as Monday, Apr 14
In Stock
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price: $00
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Dawn of Detroit:
Winner of the Frederick Douglass Book Prize 
Winner of the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Legacy Award (Nonfiction) 
Winner of the American Book Award
Winner of the Merle Curti Social History Award 
Winner of the James A. Rawley Prize 
Finalist for the John Hope Franklin Prize 
Finalist for the Harriet Tubman Prize 
Longlisted for the Cundill History Prize
A New York Times Editor’s Choice selection
A Michigan Notable Book of 2018
A Booklist Editors’ Choice Title for 2017

“Beautifully written and rigorously researched. . . . Throughout this riveting text, personal and family stories illustrate and advance a narrative that rewrites our understanding of slavery in the making of the United States.”
—2018 Frederick Douglass Book Prize Jury

“If many Americans imagine slavery essentially as a system in which black men toiled on cotton plantations, Miles upends that stereotype several times over.”
—New York Times Book Review

“In her new, groundbreaking history. . . [Miles] has compiled documentation that does for Detroit what the Works Progress Administration and the Federal Writers’ Project slave narratives did for other regions, primarily the South.”
—The Washington Post

“[Tiya Miles] is among the best when it comes to blending artful storytelling with an unwavering sense of social justice.”
—Martha S. Jones in The Chronicle of Higher Education

“Miles’ account of the founding and rise of Detroit is an outstanding contribution that seeks to integrate the entirety of U.S. history, admirable and ugly, to offer a more holistic understanding of the country.”
—Booklist (starred)

“Historian Miles (Tales from the Haunted South) has written a book that will reorient the focus of early slavery in North America Westward to include Detroit as central to any understanding of the tangled relations of French, English, Euro-Americans, Indians, and Africans on the frontier from the 18th to early 19th century. A necessary work of powerful, probing scholarship.”
—Publisher Weekly (starred)

“A book likely to stand at the head of further research into the problem of Native and African-American slavery in the north country.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“In this exemplary history that shows how slavery made early Detroit, Professor Tiya Miles demonstrates that Malcolm X (whose activist father was lynched in Michigan) was right when he insisted that all of the United States is south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Out of careful research, supple prose, deeply humane generosity to her historical subjects, and a knack for uncovering gripping family narratives, Miles has crafted a work from which any reader can learn new things. There is no finer writer among historians than Tiya Miles.”
—Edward Baptist, professor, department of history, Cornell University, and author of The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism

“'There is currently no historical marker acknowledging slavery in Detroit— revealing that people were bought, sold, and held as property . . .' Tiya Miles tell us in her rich account, detailing Native American and African American slavery in that city and the surrounding countryside. The Dawn of Detroit is a brilliant telling of chattel bondage's long and twisted history and the evolution of race relations in the . . . City on the Straits.”
—Ira Berlin, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland, and author of Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America

“Extracting seemingly lost lives from sparse records to recover the humanity of people regarded as property, Tiya Miles exposes the tenacity of slavery and forced labor, both black and Indian, in multiethnic and multicultural Detroit during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It is an often ugly—but also a revealing and surprising—story. She creates a pointillist account of a complicated borderland.”
—Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford University, and author of The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815

“The Dawn of Detroit once again demonstrates that Tiya Miles is the rarest sort of historian: a brilliant and humane observer who can build an account of the terrifying difference of the past out of a series of observations that have the plain familiarity of family history.”
—Walter Johnson, Winthrop Professor of History, Harvard University, and author of Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market

Praise for Tiya Miles:
“[Tiya Miles] has reframed and reinterpreted the history of our diverse nation.”
—The MacArthur Foundation

Praise for Tiya Miles’s previous work:
“A meticulously researched and elegantly written book that is accessible to nonacademic readers as well as scholars.”
—Public Historian

“Display[s] pitch-perfect sensibility that weaves profound human empathy with piercing scholarly critique.”
—James F. Brooks, author of Captives and Cousins

“Imagery portrayed within each story. . . will keep readers on the edge of their seats in anticipation of the next sentence, waiting to hear how each narrative plays out.”
—Choice

About the Author

Tiya Miles is the recipient of a 2011 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," and is an award-winning historian and former chair of the Department of Afroamerican and African studies at the University of Michigan. The author of The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits, she lives in Ann Arbor.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The New Press; Reprint edition (March 5, 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1620974819
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1620974810
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.05 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 145 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Tiya Miles

Tiya Miles

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Tiya Miles is the author of three multiple prize-winning works in the history of early American race relations: Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom; The House on Diamond Hill: A Cherokee Plantation Story; and most recently, The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits.

She has also written historical fiction: The Cherokee Rose: A Novel of Gardens and Ghosts (a Lambda Literary Award Finalist), shared her travels to "haunted" historic sites of slavery in a published lecture series, and written various articles and op-eds (in The New York Times, CNN.com, the Huffington Post) on women’s history, history and memory, black public culture, and black and indigenous interrelated experience.

She is a past MacArthur Foundation Fellow (“genius award”) and Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellow and a current National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholars Award recipient. She taught on the faculty of the University of Michigan for sixteen years and is currently a Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University.

Tiya was born and raised in Cincinnati, and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband, three children, and three pets. She is an avid reader of feminist mysteries, a passionate fan of old houses, and a loyal patron of Graeter’s ice cream in Cincinnati as well as Dairy Queen just about anywhere.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
145 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers praise the book's research quality, with one noting how it brings the entire story to life. Moreover, the writing receives positive feedback for its well-crafted prose. Additionally, customers appreciate the book's coverage of early Detroit history, with one describing it as the first comprehensive work on the subject.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

7 customers mention "Research quality"7 positive0 negative

Customers praise the research quality of the book, describing it as an incredible study that brings the entire story to life, with one customer noting how the author uses key details effectively.

"...women in particular are unveiled as complex individuals in this fascinating and persuasive study. One woman was forced to execute a white laborer...." Read more

"...The author uses key details (such as the price of a dress) to illustrate larger points...." Read more

"...cast and animating them with sparkling insights she brings the entire story to life. I’ve read dozens of books on colonial Detroit...." Read more

"...a book that explains and details life in early Detroit with surprising back stories that will challenge and enhance anything you thought you knew..." Read more

3 customers mention "Era"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the historical content of the book, with one noting it is the first whole book on early Detroit, while others highlight its detailed portrayal of life in the city and its importance to Metro-Detroit and Michigan history.

"...She doesn’t. This book is the first whole book on early Detroit...." Read more

"...and full of illumination, this is a book that explains and details life in early Detroit with surprising back stories that will challenge and..." Read more

"This is an essential history of Metro-Detroit and Michigan...." Read more

3 customers mention "Writing quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the writing quality of the book.

"...Dr. Miles’ clear prose and propulsive narration brings to life colonial Michigan...." Read more

"...Overall, the book was well researched and well written. I learned a lot of things I hadn’t known before. And that’s what a good book should do." Read more

"A brilliantly written and researched book that both awakens and empowers -- be prepared to change your worldview..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Peter Tchoryk
    5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliantly written and researched book that both awakens and empowers -- be prepared to change your worldview
    Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Every so often a book comes along that awakens us. A book that causes us to look up from the pages with a knowing feeling in our hearts. It is the knowledge that we will not be able to look at the world the same way and that our worldview must now change to match reality. That's the feeling I had very shortly after I started reading Tiya Miles' Dawn of Detroit. The fact that her book comes out at a time when every human being should be questioning their preconceived notions of history only makes her book more powerful and timely.

    We are tied together in that 'single garment of destiny' (MLK) much more closely than anyone knew. Enslavement of African Americans was not unique to the South. There is no part of our country, and our daily lives, that are not touched by the effects of slavery and dehumanization of both African Americans and Indigenous Americans. It is a legacy that haunts us even now. Ms. Miles not only provides the detailed research that is required for such a shift in thinking, but she does it in a way that brings to life the stories of those who lived under the rule of slavers in Detroit. How a brilliant, resourceful woman like Elizabeth Denison struggled and fought to live authentically and help others in a society that dehumanized people of color. Maybe that's why I love this book so much. It forces us to face the brutal facts of our past and in doing so empowers us to fight on -- until every person can live authentically and as equals.
    20 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • lamae
    5.0 out of 5 stars after late 18th century developments largely abolished slavery in a good portion of the area we now call the Midwest
    Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I often wondered why I felt so strong upon moving to Detroit late last century. Via this incredible study, I think I intuited the strength that many oppressed groups, among them people of African descent, had in the area long before the arrival of Berry Gordy's Motown. Miles shows us many things including how the enslaved, not unlike Native Americans, strategically played European powers off of one another. Indeed, after late 18th century developments largely abolished slavery in a good portion of the area we now call the Midwest, and after the border between the U.S. and Canada were more clearly defined, an opening was created for African Americans to thoughtfully attempt to improve their desperate condition. Black women in particular are unveiled as complex individuals in this fascinating and persuasive study. One woman was forced to execute a white laborer. Another one owned property by the time of the Civil War. Geography is also an important topic in this book. But Miles is never heavy-handed as she points out why space matters. For example, the reader learn about why the many waterways made Detroit more like New York than generally acknowledged especially when it comes to urban slavery. Read this book, which is the latest in Miles' important treasure chest of historical writing.
    4 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Elizabeth Rodriguiz
    5.0 out of 5 stars This is Michigan Before Abolition
    Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I am a lifelong Michigander who is seeing her beloved state with fresh eyes. Dr. Miles’ clear prose and propulsive narration brings to life colonial Michigan. As the story unfolds and familiar place names take on the personas of their namesakes, the reader comes to see the slaveholding embedded in the landscape. The author uses key details (such as the price of a dress) to illustrate larger points. I have been recommending this book to friends in real life and will continue to do so.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • serach5
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    fine book re Detroit
    Helpful
     Report
  • Brian Mulloy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Transcends
    Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I feel as if I were watching a play with actors clustered to one side of the stage mechanically following choreography when suddenly Dr. Miles grabs the handle of a dusty light switch and slams it up, showing us that the vast unlit part of the theater had been populated all along. By giving us the entire cast and animating them with sparkling insights she brings the entire story to life.

    I’ve read dozens of books on colonial Detroit. Dawn of Detroit is special. I am familiar with much of the source material used in this book but I’m still scratching my head in awe. How did she do it?

    It would be easy to think of this book as the slavery in early Detroit book. It’s not.

    It would be easy to imagine the author - like Howard Zinn with People’s History - intentionally creating a counterbalance to centuries of previous work about Detroit. She doesn’t.

    This book is the first whole book on early Detroit.

    There are now three canonical books for understanding colonial Detroit: Brian Dunnigan’s Frontier Metropolis for the images, Helen Tanner’s Atlas of Great Lakes Indian History for the maps and Tiya Miles masterpiece The Dawn of Detroit for the story of North America’s most interesting and soulful city.

    It makes me smile to think how far Dr. Miles has taken us from Francis Parkman.
    21 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Karen Robertson
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Extraordinary History Lesson Full Of Heart
    Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Tiya Miles has written an historical account that is a must read for anyone interested in the early formation of the United States. With painstaking accuracy she has chronicled the lives of all those whose names have been forgotten in the dusty corners of court houses, ship logs and church records and acknowledges their contributions and endurance. Her compassion shines through in weaving the stories of not only the more prominent names but all that were involved in the daily interactions, both humane and inhumane, and gives voice to the untold stories behind those names. She delves fearlessly into some of the most difficult topics that many authors choose to ignore regarding slavery, racial bias, gender roles, trade routes, displacement, law and early corporate endeavors with a clear vision. She brings to light many accurate and hidden truths that are often left out of your typical history book. Unbiased and full of illumination, this is a book that explains and details life in early Detroit with surprising back stories that will challenge and enhance anything you thought you knew about how this Nation was built.
    6 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report