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Book Spotlights Rise And Fall Of Detroit's Paradise Valley, Black Bottom Communities

DETROIT (WWJ) - "A cash budget of $135 and million dollars worth of nerve," the quote by Louis Martin served as the title inspiration for a local author.

Author and journalist Ken Coleman is putting the spotlight on a little-known segment of the city's rich history reports Newsradio 950's Stephanie Davis.

Coleman Book cpy(Davis)"A Million Dollars Worth of Nerve" is the name of the book and features 21 noted African Americans who lived during the 1930s, '40s and '50s who helped to power Detroit's Paradise Valley and Black Bottom's thriving communities, business and culture.

"People have either forgotten a lot of the names or there are new generations of Detroit residents who do not know of Sunnie Wilson or Fanny B. Peck or of Charles Dick Singer," said Coleman.

Coleman, a Detroit native, starts his book off with two people who had a lot of nerve, one of them, a popular bar owner Roy Lightfoot,  who was elected Mayor of Paradise Valley in 1936.

He says he worked on the research and writing of the self-published book for about 16 months -- not long after finishing his first book "On This Day: African-American Life in Detroit."

Find more information about "Million Dollars Worth of Nerve" [HERE].

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