Michigan draws its name from the words "Michi-gama," a Chippewa Indian phrase that means "large lake." The state is unique in the fact that it is made up of two separate landmasses, the Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula, which are joined together by the 5-mile Mackinac Bridge. Michigan gained statehood in 1837 and since then, a number of historical events of national significance have occurred in the Great Lakes State.
The first large-scale organizational meeting for the Republican Party took place just outside Jackson, Michigan, on June 6, 1854. In May of that year, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which overturned the provision of the Missouri Compromise that forbid slavery below the 36º 30' parallel north. This angered anti-slavery factions in the North and spurred them into action. Impromptu demonstrations erupted and an earlier organizational meeting was held in Wisconsin. But the gathering in Jackson drew approximately 10,000 people and led to a formal nominating convention approximately two years later on June 17, 1856, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Automotive pioneer Henry Ford introduced the first Model T car in Detroit, Michigan, on October 1, 1908. With a 20-horsepower engine, the Model T could reach speeds up to 45 miles per hour and drive 25 miles on a gallon of gas. Ford Motors churned out 15 million Model T cars over the course of 19 years, keeping it in production longer than any other make and model except the Volkswagen Beetle. Originally, buyers could choose a Model T in red, blue, green or gray, but customizable colors were discontinued after Ford introduced the moving assembly line. After that, Ford promised buyers they could choose "any color so long as it's black."
In his quest to build a car for the masses, Henry Ford perfected the moving assembly line in his Highland Park, Michigan, plant in 1913. When Ford integrated interchangeable parts, a conveyor belt system and division of labor into his production line, he was able to reduce production time of a Model T from 12 hours and eight minutes to one hour and 33 minutes. Ford Motors was the first major manufacturer to make use of the moving assembly line.
The "strike heard around the world" began in Flint, Michigan, in 1936. After a brutal summer in which hundreds of auto workers died in Michigan factories from poor conditions and possible heat stress, workers occupied the General Motors Body Plant Number One in Flint with a sit-down strike. Taking control of the factory both protected the strikers from bad weather and prevented GM from bringing in replacement workers. The strike spread to other GM factories in the area, and after 44 days, General Motors agreed to recognize the auto workers' union and gave the workers a $25 million wage increase. This was the first major union win in the U.S. and other automakers responded with wage increases for their workers, as well.
On January 12, 1959, African-American songwriter Barry Gordy established Motown Records Corporation in Detroit, Michigan. From his Hitsville USA office on West Grand Boulevard, Gordy fine tuned the Motown sound -- an upbeat blend of pop and soul that was enthusiastically embraced by both black and white listeners in a country frequently fraught with racial tension. Gordy groomed young artists like Michael Jackson, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross and the Supremes, turning them into musical superstars.
One of the deadliest riots in U.S. history occurred in Detroit, Michigan, on July 23, 1967. Tensions were already running high between the Detroit's black citizens and the city's 95-percent white police force, which had a history of abusing and antagonizing black residents. After a raid on an after-hours gambling club in a black neighborhood at 12th and Clairmount, that frustration erupted into a riot that lasted five days. Then governor George Romney called in the Michigan National Guard and President Johnson called in paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne to quell the chaos. By the end, 43 people were killed, hundreds injured and the city suffered $50 million in damages. The President's Kerner Commission, which studied the causes and aftermath of the riot, attributed most of the deaths to overzealous actions by police and National Guardsmen.
