Media Path Podcast Cinematic Fiction & The Rich History of Detroit's Black Bottom with Blair Underwood & Joe McClean
We’re joined by award-winning Actor/Producer Blair Underwood and Director/Producer/Author Joe McClean to talk about their new novel, Sins of Survivors, written by Joe and presented by Blair.
The book brings Black Bottom back to beautiful and sweeping life through the story of The Carter family. Fictional brothers Jasper and Ben whose heart wrenching journey brings them north to Detroit during the Great Migration. The Carters take root, raise families and bloom into neighborhood kingpins in a once vibrant, but redlined area that was bulldozed in the 1950s to put in a freeway.
Joe unpacks how his deep research and a love of overlooked history shaped the Carter dynasty story in which two very different but fiercely loyal brothers face a shifting landscape and the rippling impact of their shared trauma on the next generation.
Black Bottom, once a hub of Black resilience and ingenuity under strict and brutal segregation becomes the perfect backdrop for a sweeping saga of survival and criminal enterprise.
Blair shares how he chooses which projects to champion, he reflects on his own remarkable career (L.A. Law, Gattaca, Deep Impact, Sex and the City), and shares his Obama related history!
Joe ponders his personal approach when writing screenplays vs. novels and shares a powerful story connecting the haunting legacy of “Strange Fruit” to our current political moment.
We also explore the hidden history of Detroit’s underworld, from its prohibition-era bootlegging routes to the layered decades of Black Bottom’s rise and fall under so-called “urban renewal.”
Crime, family bonds and cultural touchstones coalesce in this tightly written work of fiction that reflects the real struggles of black experiences, painting a vivid portrait of a unique time and place in our shared American history.
In recommendations--
Weezy: Stick, Apple TV+ Series
Fritz: Movie, Sunday Best on Netflix
Path Points of Interest:
Sins of Survivors by Joe McClean and Blair Underwood
Sins of Survivors Audiobook Preview