Toast of the Town: The Life and Times of Sunnie Wilson

Book excerpt: As part of the great migration of southern blacks to the north, Sunnie Wilson came to Detroit from South Carolina after graduating from college, and soon became a pillar in the local music industry. He started out as a song and dance performer, but found his niche as a local promoter of boxing and musical acts. Part oral history, memoir, and biography, Toast of the Town draws from hundreds of hours of taped conversations between Sunnie Wilson and John Cohassey, as Wilson reflected on the changes in Detroit over the last sixty years. Supported by extensive research, Wilson's reminiscence is complemented by photographs from his own collection, which capture the spirit of the times. An influential insider's perspective, Toast of the Town fills a void in the documented history of Detroit's black business and entertainment community from the 1920s to the present.