Trailer Run-time: 1 minute 46 seconds
My Role: Writer | Director | Producer
Documenting the 100 year history of the City of Highland Park, Michigan.
Highland Park, Michigan (HP) is a 2.9 square mile city that sits smack dab in the middle of Detroit. This tiny city was home to the WORLD HEADQUARTERS of Ford Motor Company & Chrysler for decades. It was also one of the RICHEST cities in the world for DECADES. FAR above Detroit AND the surrounding suburbs. The tax base was so enormous, that the city provided services that were UNHEARD OF anywhere else. The TYPICAL Highland Park schools were equivalent to Detroit’s BEST.
HP is where Henry Ford started the first moving assembly line and paid every employee, REGARDLESS of RACE, $5 a day. That doesn’t sound like much today, but houses only cost $1,500 and a car was only $300 back then. Do the math. You could pay for a CAR in 60 days and a HOUSE in 10 months if you lived in HP.
In the 1920-30s, BLACK PEOPLE in Highland Park were driving CARS and OWNED their own HOMES while the rest of the WORLD was riding HORSES and living in cramped row houses and SHACKS.
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