Burgin 1

Emma Burgin
Beth Fowler
HON 1000 The City
September 26, 2014
Who We Are
It was 1959 when Berry Gordy, a young Detroit songwriter asked his family for a loan.
He wanted to start his own business, a music production company and record label. His father, a
lifelong entrepreneur, agreed to the loan, which came out of the Gordy family trust. Being the
businessman he was, Berry Gordy, Sr. required that his son pay back every cent of the loan, plus
interest. The family was skeptical, as Berry Gordy, Jr. had gone through quite a few different
career changes before a boxer, a soldier, and an assembly line worker, to name a few but he
proved his family wrong. In just seven short years, Berry Gordy, Jr.s Motown had grossed $20
million.1 What Berry Gordy did not realize was that his brand of music would spark a revolution
of social change and create a new way of seeing in the city of Detroit.
My group decided that Hitsville USA, Detroits
tribute to its legendary brand of music, is a perfect example
of what Detroit stands for. Detroit, like Berry Gordys
Motown, began from very little and became legendary. Just
as Detroit is welcome to people of all backgrounds, so is
Motown music. Motown music achieved something that
nothing else had achieved before; it brought people of all
ages, races, and social classes together as one unit. My group
chose the Motown museum, shown in this image, as a depiction of who we are because of how

"Motown Timeline 1966." Motown Museum. Motown Museum, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Burgin 2
influential Motown museum was in Detroits history. The music was there during major turning
points of Detroits history. As my group felt that keeping in touch with history, specifically that
of the city in which you live, is important, we felt that the Motown museum was the obvious
choice. We believe that people identify strongly with music, so what better way of keeping in
touch with our citys history than through the music that shaped it?
A significant part of Detroits history occurred during the civil rights era. Through the
1950s and early 1960s, segregation was still an integral piece of American culture. In the
1960s, Berry Gordys Motown music was developing in Detroit alongside a new way of seeing.
This new way of seeing was beginning to bring people together in a way that was entirely
different from anything society had known throughout history. At the time, society was
beginning to see the end of segregation; the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement finally began to
take hold of a large percentage of the American population.2 Of course, there was the percentage
of the population that was weary of or still blatantly against this new way of seeing. But then
came Berry Gordy with his Motown music, who helped open the eyes of thousands and furthered
the destruction of racial barriers during this crucial point in American history.
Motown music brought people together like nothing else. The Motown Museum
biography stated that the distinctive, upbeat and uplifting music brought together pop and soul,
white and black, old and young, like never before and continues to this day. Regardless of race or
social background, teenage girls admired Diana Ross and teenage boys pretended to be Smokey
Robinson.3 Motown music helped people realize that people of different backgrounds and
different skin colors were not so different from each other after all. The city of Detroit was alive
with the sound of Motown music and feet dancing in homes and clubs across the city. Times had
changed in Detroit. It was normal for white Americans and black Americans to socialize and
2

Jenken, Kenneth R. "The Civil Rights Movement: 1919-1960s" Freedom's Story. TeacherServe, n.d. Web. 23 Sept.
2014.
3
"Motown: The Sound that Changed America." Motown Museum. Motown Museum, n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Burgin 3
participate together as a city, as one. The time of change became the new normal. The new
normal became Detroits new way of seeing. The new way of seeing became urban form.
The city of Detroit was physically
segregated during this time period. White citizens
lived in different neighborhoods than black
citizens by design. In the 1940s, Detroits housing
segregation went so far as to even include a brick
wall, pictured in the image to the left4, that
separated white neighborhoods from black neighborhoods in northern part of the city. 5
However, the new way of seeing that came about in the 1960s, the same time Motown music
was becoming popular, led to a new urban form. As the civil rights movement came to an end,
the walls, metaphorical and physical, began to come down. The city itself became intermixed.
Detroit began to see the end of white neighborhoods and black neighborhoods. This was
new urban form. This was Detroits new way of seeing.
Detroits Motown museum is a perfect example of who we are as the city of Detroit.
Motown, like Detroit, saw many ups and downs throughout its history, but what matters most is
that it brought together a diverse group of people, just as Detroit did. What is important now is
that the city as a whole is able to persevere through the difficult times it has faced in recent
history. The city of Detroit may just be starting to see the end of turmoil again, but in a recent
interview, Berry Gordy himself confidently stated about the city, People should never make the
mistake of counting us out, because we will always rise.6

"The 8 Mile Wall." Detroiturbex. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

Welsh, Theresa. "Detroit's Segregation Past ." The Seeker Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014
6
McCollum, Brian. "Berry Gordy Accepts Inaugural Detroit Legend Award."The Detroit Free Press. Gannet
Company, 18 Sept. 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.
5