| Description |
1 online resource |
| Contents |
Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. First There Was the Lottery -- 2. Policy Playing Comes to Detroit -- 3. John Roxborough: Hope Dealer and Numbers King -- 4. 312 Plays for Playing the Numbers in Detroit -- 5. The White Invasion -- 6. Detroit Numbers to the Rescue! -- 7. Numbers Provides the American Dream -- 8. You Have to Pay to Play -- 9. Hell Hath No Fury like a Woman Scorned -- 10. Detroit's Hope Dealers Go on Trial -- 11. Fuller Hit's Story -- 12. The Aftermath -- 13. A New Era in the Numbers Racket |
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14. The Destruction of Black Numbers and Neighborhoods -- 15. Big Ed and Detroit's Italian Mafia -- 16. What about the Women?: Fannie Davis, a Detroit Numbers Queen -- 17. The State of Michigan: The Legal Numbers Man -- 18. Playing the Numbers in the Plant -- 19. Finis -- Notes -- Index |
| Summary |
The true story of how Detroit entrepreneurs created a thriving--if illegal--lottery system to support themselves and uplift their communities. 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 |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on April 04, 2024) |
| Subject |
Gambling -- Michigan -- Detroit -- History
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Lotteries.
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Gambling)
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GAMES.
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Midwest (IA.
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State & Local.
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United States.
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HISTORY.
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African American.
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Anthropology.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE.
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Detroit (Mich.) -- Social life and customs -- History
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| Genre/Form |
Electronic books
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
081435078X |
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9780814350782 |
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