[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 39 (Thursday, March 22, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  CELEBRATING DETROIT'S TRICENTENNIAL

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CAROLYN C. KILPATRICK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 22, 2001

  Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, it is time to celebrate the City of 
Detroit. This year Detroit turns 300 years young, and we are presently 
in the midst of a year long celebration commemorating the City's 
founding. As a Detroiter, I am proud of the contributions our City has 
made to the State of Mchigan and the Nation.
  Detroit is the oldest major city in the Mdwest. It began as a small 
French community along the Detroit River when Antione de la Mothe 
Cadillac founded a garrison and fur trading post on the site in 1701.
  Over the last three centuries, Detroit has played a pivotal part in 
our Nation's development. It was a key staging area during the French 
and Indian War, and one of the key areas which inspired early Americans 
to move westward.
  In the 19th Century, the City was a vocal center of antislavery 
sentiment. It played an important role on the road to freedom for tens 
of thousands of African-American slaves who sought refuge in Canada by 
means of the Underground Railroad.
  Detroit is best known perhaps for the industrial center that put the 
Nation on wheels. Because of entrepreneurs of the likes of Henry Ford, 
automobiles were made affordable to people of average incomes. 
Automotive transportation was no longer a privilege of the wealthy. 
With the invention of the Model T, many working Americans found it 
within their means to purchase an automobile.
  With its growth as an industrial center, Detroit also played a 
central role in the development of the modern-day labor movement. I am 
proud that Detroit is home of the United Automobile Workers Union, the 
UAW, and many other building, service and industrial trades unions, 
including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
  Although Detroit's association with the automobile industry earned it 
the nickname of ``Motown,'' it was Barry Gordy who made the ``Motown 
Sound'' come alive and made Detroit a major entertainment capital in 
the United States. People are still ``Dancin'in the Streets'' in 
Detroit and throughout the country to sounds of The Supremes, The 
Temptations, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the 
Jackson Five and many more Motown Artists. Detroit is also home to the 
Queen of Soul, Ms. Aretha Franklin. Now, how's that for a little ``R-E-
S-P-E-C-T.''
  Mr. Speaker, there are many more wonderful things about my City, and 
they are listed in legislation that I, Mr. Conyers and the entire 
Michigan Congressional Delegation are introducing today commemorating 
and congratulating the City of Detroit on the occasion of its 
tricentennial. I am also gratified to note that similar legislation 
will be introduced in the Other Body.
  In offering this legislation, I am pleased that it has the support of 
the entire Michigan Congressional Delegation. I thank my Michigan 
colleagues for their support, and I urge my colleagues in the House to 
support the passage of this resolution.

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