Detroit reporter explores U.P. ties in new book

Detroit reporter Charlie LeDuff explores his Michigan roots in a new book, "Detroit: An American Autopsy" and discovers ties to the U.P., among other things. The Detroit News has a three-part column series excerpting the book.

Excerpt: My grandmother, Elizabeth was born Sept. 4, 1916 on Mackinac Island and delivered by midwife Sophia Chapman, Louis Beloungea's sister and Elizabeth's great aunt.

In 1936 at the height of the Great Depression, she married a young white man Victor Steele, from the woodlands of Manistique who himself was orphaned when his father was cut in half while coupling railroad cars at a lumber mill.

To read the columns, go here.

Source: The Detroit News
Enjoy this story? Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.