When Detroit played the numbers : Gambling's history and cultural impact on the Motor City / Felicia B. George.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

George, Felicia B., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gambling--Michigan--Detroit--History.

Gambling.

Detroit (Mich.)--Social life and customs--History.

Detroit (Mich.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Detroit, Michigan : Wayne State University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"A testament to the tenacious spirit embodied in Detroit culture and history, this account reveals how numbers gambling, initially an illegal enterprise, became a community resource and institution of solidarity for Black communities through times of racial disenfranchisement and labor instability. Author Felicia B. George sheds light on the lives of Detroit's numbers operators--many self-made entrepreneurs who overcame poverty and navigated the pitfalls of racism and capitalism by both legal and illegal means. Illegal lottery operators and their families and employees were often exposed to precarity and other adverse conditions, and they profited from their neighbors' hope to make it through another day. Despite scandal and exploitation, these operators and their families also became important members of the community, providing steady employment and financial support for local businesses. This book provides a glimpse into the rich culture and history of Detroit's Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods, linking the growing gambling scene there with key characters and moments in local history, including Joe Louis's rise to fame and the recall of a mayor backed by the Ku Klux Klan. In succinct and engrossing chapters, George explores issues of community, race, politics, and the scandals that sprang up along the way, discovering how "playing the numbers" grew from a state-proclaimed crime to an encouraged legal activity."-- Amazon.com.

Contents:

First there was the lottery

Policy playing comes to Detroit

John Roxborough: hope deaier and numbers king

312 plays for playing the numbers in Detroit

The White invasion

Detroit numbers to the rescue!

You have to pay to play

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

Detroit's hope dealers go on trial

Fuller Hit's story

The aftermath

A new era in the numbers racket

The destruction of Black numbers and neighborhoods

Big Ed and Detroit's Italian mafia

What about the women? Fannie Davis, a Detroit numbers queen

The state of Michigan: the legal numbers man

Playing the numbers in the plant.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780814350782

081435078X

OCLC:

1419870213