Panther ROAR Foundation

02/25/2026

🏛️ Detroit Has Produced More Black Mayors Than Any Major U.S. City — And Black Women Changed the Game

In Detroit, Black political leadership has shaped the city for generations. When Coleman A. Young became Detroit’s first Black mayor in 1974, he didn’t just win an election—he reshaped power, challenged entrenched systems, and redefined what urban leadership could look like nationwide.

But Detroit’s legacy didn’t stop there.

In 2024, history was made again when Mary Sheffield became Detroit’s first Black female mayor, marking a powerful new chapter in the city’s leadership story.

Mary Sheffield’s rise was decades in the making. A longtime advocate for housing justice, neighborhood investment, and community-centered policy, she built her career fighting for residents often left out of decision-making. As City Council President, she was known for:
• 🏘️ Championing affordable housing and homelessness prevention
• ✊🏾 Centering equity and neighborhood voices in city policy
• 🗳️ Leading with transparency, accessibility, and accountability

Her election wasn’t symbolic—it was transformational. Sheffield represents a generation of Black women leaders who govern with lived experience, policy expertise, and a deep commitment to community care.

Detroit’s leadership legacy proves this truth:
• Black leadership here isn’t rare—it’s rooted
• Black women’s leadership isn’t new—it’s long overdue
• Political power, when shaped by the people, can be reclaimed and reimagined

From Coleman Young to Mary Sheffield, Detroit didn’t just elect mayors.
It built a blueprint for Black political power in America.

02/24/2026

Today we honor Dr. Dolores Leonard, an unsung hero, lifelong educator, and fearless environmental justice advocate whose roots trace back to River Rouge.

🌍 A Life Rooted in Community
Dr. Leonard grew up in River Rouge and has lived for 53 years in Detroit’s 48217 zip code—Michigan’s most polluted community—just blocks from the Marathon Petroleum refinery. Since 2003, she has stood on the front lines protecting residents from toxic emissions and industrial overreach.

⚠️ Standing Up to Polluters
When Marathon announced a $2.2 billion refinery expansion to increase tar sands processing—one of the dirtiest forms of oil in the world—Dr. Leonard became one of its most formidable opponents. Despite intense opposition from residents, pollution increased. Her response was relentless advocacy rooted in science, public health, and community empowerment.

🧠 Educator, Organizer, Advocate
Dr. Leonard armed her community with knowledge and action by:

Bringing toxicologists from the Michigan Department of Community Health to educate residents

Helping neighbors file EPA Toxic Release Inventory reports

Appearing countless times before Detroit City Council

Organizing public hearings on air quality and tar sands impacts

Advocating for air filtration upgrades at Mark Twain School for Scholars

🏭 Tangible Wins for the Community

Her decades of advocacy helped deliver:
An air monitoring station installed in Southwest Detroit (2015)

Retirement of coal-powered plants

Corporate commitments toward 100% renewable energy

A $2.7 million investment from DTE Energy benefiting River Rouge, Ecorse, and Detroit

Environmental upgrades funded by Marathon Petroleum

🏆 Historic Leadership & Recognition
2025 Environmentalist of the Year

First Black member of the Sierra Club National Environmental Justice Committee

Member, Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) Local Advisory Council

📚 Educator at Heart

Dr. Leonard taught Economics at Wayne State University and Wayne County Community College, and established a free community library at the Kemeny Recreation Center, where she serves on the advisory board.

📍 Why She Matters

Dr. Dolores Leonard’s life is proof that Black women from small cities like River Rouge shape national movements. Her work has saved lives, changed policy, and forced powerful corporations to answer to the people they impact.

This is what community leadership looks like.
This is River Rouge legacy.
This is environmental justice in action.

#48217

02/23/2026

📰 Detroit Had One of the Most Influential Black Newspapers in the Nation

Founded in 1936, the Michigan Chronicle became far more than a newspaper—it became a pillar of Black political power, resistance, and pride in Detroit and beyond.

At a time when mainstream media routinely ignored, distorted, or silenced Black voices, the Michigan Chronicle told the truth from the community’s perspective. It documented everyday life, celebrated Black excellence, and exposed injustice—helping shape local and national conversations around race, equity, and democracy.

The Chronicle played a critical role in:
• ✊🏾 Civil rights advocacy — covering protests, court battles, and policy fights others refused to print
• 🗳️ Political organizing — informing and mobilizing Black voters, leaders, and grassroots movements
• 🖊️ Black community storytelling — uplifting achievements, businesses, churches, schools, and cultural life

Its pages amplified the voices of activists, educators, clergy, artists, and everyday citizens—building unity and strategy through information. For generations, the paper helped Detroit’s Black community see itself reflected with dignity, power, and purpose.

And its legacy isn’t just history.
The Michigan Chronicle continues publishing today, remaining one of the nation’s longest-running Black newspapers—still informing, still advocating, still telling our stories.

📍 Detroit, Michigan

Because controlling the narrative has always been a form of power—and the Chronicle made sure Black Detroit had one.

02/21/2026

02/20/2026

🏘️ Highways Displaced Black Communities — By Design, Not Accident

In mid-20th-century Detroit, major highway projects were intentionally routed through thriving Black neighborhoods, permanently altering the city’s social and economic fabric.

Communities like Black Bottom and Paradise Valley were cultural and economic hubs—home to Black-owned businesses, jazz clubs, churches, doctors, entrepreneurs, and multigenerational homeowners. These weren’t “blighted” areas; they were self-sustaining communities.

Then came the highways.
Projects like Interstate 375 and Interstate 75 cut directly through these neighborhoods, displacing thousands of families. Homes were demolished, businesses erased, and land values transferred—destroying generational wealth through policy decisions, not coincidence.

Residents were promised progress. What they received was displacement, segregation, and long-term economic harm that still echoes today.

This history matters because it explains:
🏠 Why homeownership gaps persist
💼 Why Black business corridors disappeared
📉 Why wealth inequality didn’t “just happen”

Understanding this truth reframes the conversation:
Urban renewal wasn’t neutral. Highways were tools of segregation.

History remembered is power reclaimed.

02/18/2026

📚 Education Was Fought For—Before the Civil War

Before emancipation, African-American families didn’t wait for permission to learn—they organized, petitioned, and legally challenged exclusion from public education.

Abiel Smith School, opened in 1835, became one of the first publicly funded schools for Black children in the United States. Built with funds left by philanthropist Abiel Smith, the school was a direct response to Black parents demanding equal access to education in Boston.

For decades, the Abiel Smith School served as a center of learning, leadership, and resistance—educating generations of Black students at a time when education itself was an act of defiance.
Its existence helped fuel the movement that eventually led to the desegregation of Boston public schools in 1855, making Massachusetts the first state to outlaw school segregation.

Today, the building stands as a powerful reminder that:
✊🏾 Education was resistance
📖 Education was power
🕊️ Education was a pathway to freedom

📍 Boston, Massachusetts
A legacy built by courage, community, and the unwavering belief that Black children deserved to learn—freely and fully.

02/17/2026

🏥 Detroit Was Home to One of the First Black-Run Hospitals in the Midwest

The Dunbar Hospital, opened in 1916, emerged out of necessity—and courage. At a time when Black patients were routinely denied admission, segregated, or mistreated in white hospitals, Dunbar Hospital stood as a place of dignity, safety, and quality care.

Founded by Black physicians and community leaders, Dunbar Hospital was:
• 🩺 Staffed by Black doctors and nurses when professional opportunities were blocked elsewhere
• 🎓 A critical training ground for Black medical professionals, helping build careers that segregation tried to erase
• 🧭 A lifeline for Detroit’s rapidly growing Black population during the Great Migration, as families arrived from the South seeking opportunity—and healthcare they could trust

Beyond patient care, Dunbar Hospital represented something bigger:
✊🏾 Medical self-determination
📚 Professional advancement
🏙️ Community resilience

Though the hospital later closed, its impact didn’t. Dunbar Hospital laid the foundation for Black medical autonomy in Michigan, proving that when systems exclude, communities build their own—and raise the standard in the process.

Detroit’s history reminds us:
Healthcare access has always been a civil rights issue—and Dunbar Hospital was on the front lines.

02/16/2026

✨ DID YOU KNOW? ⛪ Second Baptist Church Changed History

The Second Baptist Church of Detroit was one of the most important stops on the Underground Railroad—and a bold act of resistance in plain sight.

Founded in 1836, the church helped more than 5,000 enslaved Africans escape to freedom, often serving as the final stop before crossing the Detroit River into Canada. Enslaved people were hidden in secret spaces within the church while members risked arrest, fines, and violence for defying federal law.

Under the leadership of figures like Rev. William Lambert, Second Baptist became a hub for abolitionist organizing, education, and community protection. Lambert also founded the African American Mysteries: Order of the Men of Oppression, a secret society dedicated to aiding escapes to freedom.

What makes this story even more powerful?
➡️ The church still stands today
➡️ It remains an active place of worship
➡️ It serves as a living historical landmark, preserving Black resistance, faith, and courage

Second Baptist Church reminds us that:
✊🏾 Faith fueled freedom
📜 Churches were command centers for justice
🕊️ Liberation was organized—not accidental

A sacred space. A revolutionary legacy.

02/13/2026

Detroit Was a Major Stop on the Underground Railroad

Before the Civil War, Detroit was one of the last U.S. stops for freedom seekers crossing into Canada via the Detroit River.
💡 Freedom seekers could literally see freedom across the water—Windsor, Ontario,

02/11/2026

🏀🖤 Black History Month Spotlight: Franthea Price (River Rouge High School, Class of 1986)

From River Rouge High School to the national stage, Franthea Price embodies Detroit-area excellence, discipline, and trailblazing leadership in women’s basketball.

A standout at River Rouge High School (Class of 1986), Franthea dominated the prep ranks—earning Michigan Miss Basketball (1985–86) and leading her team to an incredible 94–6 record over her high school career. That foundation carried her to the University of Iowa, where she played under legendary coach C. Vivian Stringer and helped redefine guard play in the Big Ten.

Collegiate Highlights
• 🏆 Big Ten Freshman of the Year
• 🏆 Big Ten Player of the Year
• ⭐ Two-time First Team All–Big Ten
• 📊 Iowa school record: 321 career steals
• 🏀 Elite Eight NCAA Tournament runs
• Known for defensive intensity, basketball IQ, and leadership

Professional Career
After college, Franthea took her game global—playing professionally in Spain—and later made history in the early days of the WNBA, appearing for the Sacramento Monarchs in 1998.

Honors & Legacy
• 🏅 Inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame (2013)
• 🌟 Named a 2023 “B1G Impact Pioneer” by the Big Ten Conference

Franthea Price represents a generation of Black women athletes who:
• Excelled with limited media coverage and resources
• Challenged stereotypes and expanded opportunities nationwide
• Opened doors for future generations in collegiate and professional sports

From River Rouge to the Big Ten to the WNBA, her journey is a powerful reminder:
River Rouge has always produced greatness—long before the spotlight followed.

02/10/2026

Wayne State Trained Black Physicians When Others Wouldn’t

During the mid-20th century, the Wayne State University School of Medicine became one of the top producers of Black physicians in the Midwest—at a time when many medical schools across the country enforced racial quotas, informal caps, or outright exclusion.

While elite institutions shut their doors, Detroit became a gateway.

Wayne State’s medical school offered Black students something rare in that era:
• 🎓 Access to medical education when others were denied solely because of race
• 🏥 Clinical training in Detroit hospitals serving diverse, urban populations
• 🧑🏾‍⚕️ Pathways into specialties and residencies that were often closed elsewhere

For many aspiring physicians—especially those from the South during the Great Migration—Wayne State represented opportunity over exclusion. Graduates went on to:
• Serve Black and underserved communities across Michigan and the Midwest
• Staff and lead institutions like Dunbar Hospital and later integrated medical centers
• Become educators, mentors, and advocates for health equity

This legacy matters because representation in medicine saves lives.
By training Black physicians when others wouldn’t, Wayne State helped:
✊🏾 Reduce racial barriers in healthcare
📚 Build generational medical expertise
🏙️ Strengthen Detroit’s role as a hub for Black professional advancement

Detroit didn’t just welcome Black doctors—it helped create them.