Black and White Like You and Me: Parallel Lines Sometimes Intersect

by Thomas F. Daniels, Thomas C. Marsh

Even in 1960s Detroit, race isn't everything. Tom Daniels and "Cookie" Marsh will be the first to tell you that race isn't everything. But it did shape the way they experienced the world growing up in Detroit in the 1950s and 60s. Tom “Cookie” Marsh grew up in a black neighborhood on Detroit’s west side. Tom Daniels grew up in a mixed, working-class neighborhood on Detroit's east side. Both men grew up in strict households where they "always got what we needed, and sometimes what we wanted" and both saw their city, their country, and their world transform around them through the Civil Rights movement, riots, and the Viet Nam War. But sometimes parallel lines intersect. As each man tells his story, it is apparent that race isn't just "black and white" but it is part of what makes their friendship extraordinary. Their experiences will show you that race made for huge differences in their experiences, while, in spite of race, there are also touching similarities that made it possible for two men, in their older years, to overcome decades of racial turbulence of their upbringing to become lifelong friends. Follow Tom and Cookie. Hear about their lives, their upbringing, their successes and regrets growing up in black and white Detroit - and how when it boils down to it, the things that are truly important are actually black and white, like you and me.

142 pages, Paperback

Published February 2, 2017

Reviews

[Pam Tremble · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome book! I love reading about local history and having local landmarks mentioned in the telling of a story. Tom and Cookie do a great job of painting a picture of Detroit in the 1960s and what life is like from the white perspective and the black perspective. I've met the authors in person and I love their enthusiasm for starting conversations about race relations in Detroit and how much we all have in common, no matter what our skin color.

[Marlene Ott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many names

Great nostalgia for the time in which I lived as a young person. Kimball high, Wayne state and perishing high were my Detroit experiences growing up. Too many names of team mates dragged the story down, and that influenced my rating.

[J. Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you aren't from Detroit this book provides an interesting perspective. Two men now in their 60's, one white, one black west growing up in the 1950s and 60s in Detroit. The purpose is to get a conversation going about race and a way forward. It's timely in the history of southeastern Michigan; this year is the anniversary of the 67 riot.