The boxers who have vied for medals and glory at the 2024 Paris Olympics are hoping to build on a rich legacy that, at times, has had a little Detroit flavor.

For example, Detroit natives Frank Tate and the late Steve McCrory, representing the Motor City's fabled Kronk Gym, battled their way to gold medals in the light-middleweight and flyweight divisions, respectively, at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.    

However, at perhaps the most infamous Olympic Games in history, one Detroit boxer never got his opportunity to make his mark in the ring. 

That boxer was Howell King. 

At the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where legendary runner Jesse Owens registered what many called a “blow to the Nazi myth of Aryan supremacy” by winning four gold medals (100 meters, 200 meters, the long jump and the 4x100-meter relay) in track and field events, King — a protege of fabled Detroit boxing coach Atler Ellis at Detroit’s Brewster Center — was not allowed to throw a blow of any kind. 

“He was a teen on a boat with 400 athletes that traveled from America to ‘Nazi Germany,’" Deborah Riley Draper, who wrote, directed and produced the 2016 film “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice,” explained as she described King’s journey to Berlin as a 17-year-old. He had earned the trip after defeating Chicago’s Chester Ruteski in the final of the 147-pound class at the U.S. Boxing Tryouts tournament on May 20, 1936, at Chicago Stadium.      

King’s fate after he arrived in Berlin was summarized by the boxer himself — to the best of his youthful ability — in an Aug. 15, 1936, article written by W. T. Patrick Jr. for the Detroit Tribune.

“I really don’t know why I was sent home, but I think that they just didn’t want me to fight because they didn’t want too many Negro athletes over there,” King was quoted as saying in the story. He also denied that he had been seasick or had broken any team rules or laws, which were some of the excuses — along with homesickness — that had been floated to explain his dismissal from the team by U.S. Olympic officials.

And such was life for King, who was one of 18 Black athletes that had overcome challenges — in, and especially out of the athletic arena, during the Jim Crow era — to earn highly coveted spots on the 1936 U.S. Olympic Team. As highlighted in Draper's film, several Black athletes in that group of 18 — not just Jesse Owens — won medals at the Berlin Olympics, including: boxing silver medalist, Jackie Wilson, (bantamweight); 800-meter gold medal runner, John Woodruff; 400-meter gold medal runner, Archie Williams; high jump gold medalist, Cornelius Johnson; high jump silver medalist, David Albritton; 400-meter bronze medalist, Jimmy LuValle; 100-meter hurdles bronze medalist, Fritz Pollard Jr.; 200-meter silver medalist, Mack Robinson — big brother of MLB barrier-breaker, Jackie Robinson, and Ralph Metcalfe, who, after placing second to Detroit’s Eddie Tolan (Cass Technical High School, University of Michigan) in a photo finish in the 100-meter final at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, returned to the Olympics in 1936 to capture a silver (100-meter dash) and gold medal (4x100-meter relay). 

The group, affectionately called "The Black Eagles" by the Pittsburgh Courier, also boasted Black men and women that soared in life after the Berlin Olympics. A sampling includes, Albritton, an Ohio state representative; LuValle, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCLA who helped the Eastman Kodak Company advance color film processing techniques; Metcalfe, a World War II Army veteran, college instructor, longtime Chicago alderman and co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus; Woodruff, who retired from the Army in 1957 as a lieutenant colonel; Williams, a pilot, flight instructor and trainer of Tuskegee Airmen, and Tidye Pickett, a hurdler at the Berlin Olympics, who became a principal at a school in East Chicago Heights, Illinois, that later was renamed in her honor.  

Then there was Howell King’s story, which played out much differently. 

Without an Olympic medal or even an actual Olympic fight record on his resume, King, who had been joined on the 1936 U.S. Olympic boxing team by two alternates from Detroit — featherweight Jimmy Urso and light heavyweight Willis Johnson — forged ahead as a professional fighter. From Oct. 12, 1936, through April 2, 1946, King fought professionally and ground out a record of 45 wins, 23 losses and 1 draw. Ironically, King, who, according to one of the boxing officials connected to his 1936 Olympic dismissal, was supposedly "too homesick to be of any further value to the team in any capacity," made a choice to leave Detroit and head east to launch his professional boxing career. And it was on the East Coast where King’s life came to an end, when he was stabbed to death on May 21, 1949, in Buffalo — four months shy of his 31st birthday. 

“My heart was broken for this young man when I learned about his story,” said Draper, who spoke on July 30 about King's treatment in Berlin, which ended when he was ordered by officials with the U.S. Olympic boxing team to return to America on a ship before fighting an Olympic bout, along with Joe Church, of Batavia, New York, a featherweight alternate on the U.S. team, despite the fact that there was no evidence that King had committed any wrongdoing with Church or anyone else. “Mr. King was a very, very young man at the time he made the Olympic team, and it was such an injustice. It showed the uglier side of global politics. At 17 years old, he was a pawn in a scheme carried out by Avery Brundage (the Detroit-born, former head of the American Olympic Association, who opposed the proposed boycott of the 1936 Berlin Olympics pushed by human rights activists, and later served as International Olympic Committee president from 1952 through 1972), where the athletes were marginalized.” 

Draper, an award-winning filmmaker who's also known for “James Brown: Say It Loud (2024),” “The Legacy of Black Wall Street (2021), “Versailles ‘73 American Runway Revolution (2012), and more, brought to light the contributions to sports, diplomacy and civil rights made by the 18 Black Olympians through “Olympic Pride, American Prejudice,” which also inspired a book published in 2020. One of Draper's most dramatic findings involves the respect and kindness that Black members of the U.S. Olympic Team received in the Olympic Village and the surrounding community during the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Still, as boxing victories and medals continue to be awarded through Aug. 10 during the Paris Olympics, the question that forever remains is: How would Detroit’s own Howell King have fared if he had been given a chance to represent the United States in the Olympic boxing ring at 147 pounds? Instead, Chester Ruteski was given King’s place on the team, even after King defeated Ruteski at the tryout and again during a match that King was made to fight on the spot aboard the SS Manhattan, as U.S. Olympic team members and alternates were being transported by sea to Germany. And while there is no way to determine how far King would have advanced at the 1936 Berlin Olympics if he had been allowed to fight, a description of King in the July 30, 1996, Detroit Free Press as a “fast, clever boxer with a telling punch,” seems to indicate that the world missed out on a great show.

“I was crushed by his story,” Draper said of King, who lived on Cardoni Street near Holbrook in Detroit around the same time he was winning the 1936 Detroit Free Press Golden Gloves welterweight championship. “But I hope that all of the 18 Black athletes that made the 1936 U.S. Olympic Team can receive as much ink as possible. It was more than a story about one magical ‘Negro;' there were other gold medal winners, and they also were scholars, politicians and other amazing people. It’s something that the world should know about."

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber. 

Arthur Harrington is a proud 2021 graduate of Detroit’s Cass Technical High School. But for a day, he was very excited to be seated inside one of Cass Tech’s friendly academic rivals — Renaissance High School. 

It was Friday, July 12, and Harrington was part of a spirited crowd that gathered at 6565 W. Outer Drive between Greenfield and Hubbell for a rally that supported the 2024 reelection campaign of President Joe Biden. 

When many among the thousands in attendance chanted: “Don’t you quit,” in support of Biden, Harrington’s voice joined in repeatedly, with more gusto each time. 

Fast-forward to 1:46 p.m. on Sunday, July 21. As the world was learning about President Biden’s historic withdrawal from the 2024 presidential campaign, along with his endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to head the Democratic ticket, the 22-year-old Harrington took a moment to examine his own inner feelings.

And the young man who grew up in the West Outer Drive neighborhood, near the Avenue of Fashion, liked his findings. 

“I love President Biden, but when I read the news on my phone, it felt in my heart like a breath of fresh air,” recalls Harrington, who came across the news shortly after coming out of a church service with his grandmother, Dr. Ernestine Harrington, 80 miles west of Detroit, in Jackson. “I said: ‘Oh my God, Grandma, he left the race.' Then I began thinking that the Democratic Party and the Democratic coalition is in prime position to win. When I got on Instagram Live that day, I had 200 people join me and I was saying that we must do everything we can to support Kamala Harris.” 

During his Instagram Live broadcast, Harrington explained that he happily answered questions about Harris’ qualifications to be president, in the same manner surrogates defend their political candidates on the Sunday morning political news shows. It was a task that Harrington certainly could not have been expecting when he accepted an invitation from his grandmother to join her for church, which led to Harrington riding an Amtrak train from Detroit to Jackson. However, the ability to complete important tasks in relatively short periods of time — even when challenges are thrown in — is a talent that the former Coleman A. Young Scholar has already demonstrated.  

For example, after graduating from Cass Tech, where Harrington also completed college courses through a dual enrollment program with the Wayne County Community College District, he had earned a year’s worth of college credits. And with college credits in hand, along with scholarship assistance, including a $20,000 scholarship from the Coleman A. Young Foundation (CAYF), Harrington began making plans to attend historic Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. But before his bags were packed, Harrington felt a real need to make a phone call. 

“My scholarships were going to cover my tuition, but I didn’t have any money after that,” explained Harrington, who was preparing to enter a private Historically Black University, which cost new students $42,798 to attend on campus for the 2023-24 school year according to the “Schedule of Fees” published by the university. “So I called the university’s admissions office and the woman I spoke to said she had never received a call from a student who had already been accepted. Afterward, she asked if I had received any scholarship money from Hampton. Then she said, because I stepped out on faith and called, that the university would give me $40,000 in scholarship money.

"It was a blessing and I give God all the glory and all the praise.” 

Harrington says he attempted to reward Hampton’s faith in him by locking in on his studies, which resulted in Harrington graduating within three years, as he walked across the stage during a commencement ceremony held this past Mother’s Day (May 12, 2024). As a student at Hampton, Harrington also completed legislative summer internships on Capitol Hill, serving in the offices of Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters and Democratic congressman Shri Thanedar, both of Michigan. And just like Harrington needed some extra assistance to attend Hampton, he said another organization that had faith in him came through to make the legislative internship opportunities a reality. 

“I would not have been able to live in D.C. for those summers when I had the internships on Capitol Hill if not for the Coleman A. Young Foundation,” Harrington said about the foundation started by Detroit’s longest-serving mayor, which has provided scholarships to students from Detroit that have been accepted to colleges in Michigan or Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) since 1986. “The Coleman A. Young Foundation paid for me to live in D.C., and that was additional money beyond the $20,000 scholarship I received from them. They did that out of the trust they have in me.” 

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CAYF’s mission is to develop leadership among Detroit youths through college scholarships, mentoring and developmental services. Recipients of CAYF scholarships are encouraged to give back to their community after completing their education. And that comes naturally for Harrington.

“I told Mr. (Khary) Turner (CAYF executive director) as soon as I got back home in Detroit after graduation that I am ready to get involved,” said Harrington, who also earned a full-tuition Judge Damon J. Keith Scholarship, which he will use to attend the Wayne State University Law School this fall. “There’s a change taking place and I want to be a part of it, and there’s a need in our community for a youth uprising. Young Black men like me need to pour into younger Black men and young Black women.”

A day after Harrington was on Instagram Live talking up the Harris presidential campaign, he displayed his passion through another platform when he participated in the “Win with Black Men” video call on July 22, organized by journalist Roland Martin and his Black Star Network, in support of the Harris campaign. Martin reported that more than $1.3 million was raised from approximately 17,000 donors.

Martin’s records should show a donation from Harrington, who on the afternoon of July 23 was proud to describe how Black men “showed up and showed out,” just as Black women had done the evening before during a now well-publicized Zoom call in support of Harris. But moments later, Harrington spoke with equal enthusiasm about volunteer community work he is doing with the Cass Tech School Advisory Council, as well as a scholarship he plans to create in the near future for Cass Tech students. Harrington also was proud to talk about community service that he will be performing with his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi. The joyful, detailed way Harrington described his upcoming agenda seemed to reveal that his brand of “giving back” will likely take place in many forms during the coming years, now that he is once again a full-time Detroiter. 

“I plan to be a campus organizer for any Kamala Harris event that takes place at Wayne State,” said Harrington, the proud son of Sherry Mattice and nephew of Kimberly and James Smith, who, in addition to his family, identified Khary Turner, Rotary Club of Detroit President Renee Yancy and Cass Tech Principal Lisa Phillips as his greatest supporters. “But with anything I do, I just want to help. Mentorship has been so important in everything that I have done. All of these people have believed in me, so honestly, I just want to be able to help my community in any way I can.” 

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber. 

At Tauntus Beauty Bar, the only store in Detroit that is licensed to sell “Divine Nine” clothing and other items associated with the historically Black Greek-letter organizations that are members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council, there are more 6,000 pieces of merchandise ranging in price from $5 to $500 for shoppers to choose from online or at the store’s physical location at 18979 Livernois.  

However, for a period of time during a phone conversation on Monday afternoon, Tauntus co-owner Dennae Hawkins was locked in on one number — 1908.

“Our sorority was founded in 1908,” explained Hawkins, who pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha as an undergraduate student at Florida A&M University during the spring of 1989. “And during the 2020 presidential race, many members of our sorority began making contributions of $19.08 to support our (sorority) sister, Kamala Harris, on the Biden-Harris ticket, while honoring the founding of our sorority; you can read about it.”  

Hawkins had campaign contributions on her mind because the native Detroiter said she was envisioning the number of contributions that rolled in from members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and women affiliated with other Black organizations during a Zoom call Sunday evening. The call was organized by Win With Black Women in support of the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, who pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha as an undergraduate student at Howard University in 1986. According to the organizing group of the Zoom call, more than $1.5 million was raised from the more than 44,000 participating women.  

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“As much as we talk smack about each other across our different Black organizations, we always respect each other. And right now, Kamala Harris belongs to all of us,” said an exurborant Hawkins, who operates Tauntus with co-owner Nadonya Muslim, a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, another of the Divine Nine Black Greek organizations. “I’m sure that many of the women that made contributions did so in ways that honored the founding of their organizations, like the Deltas, who were founded in 1913.

"And with every contribution of any amount that came in from Black women as a result of that call, Black organizations and HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) were letting their presence be known.” 

And the swiftness of how the presence of Black women was felt — through the impact of a Zoom call that commenced less than seven hours after President Joe Biden’s historic withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race and his simultaneous endorsement of Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate on Sunday — seemed to have left Hawkins still awestruck on Monday afternoon.  

“The organizers of that call were able to mobilize more than 44,000 Black women in less than six hours!” Hawkins emphatically said. “And that call was by invitation only. I received invitations from three of my (sorority) line sisters, but think of the women that didn’t check their email on Sunday. ... And they still had that kind of participation! 

“It makes me proud to be a Black woman; proud to be a member of my sorority; and proud of all of the Black organizations that are coming together. There were women representing Divine Nine sororities, The Links, Jack & Jill, Top Ladies of Distinction and so many other service organizations. We have proven that an often overlooked group has tremendous influence in this country. And that we can mobilize in minutes.” 

When the Zoom call began at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Hawkins was not on the call. But, she had an excellent excuse: She still was working through the night to ensure that her business will be able to fulfill the expected demands of enthusiastic customers that will be seeking merchandise connected to the election and the Harris campaign. 

“We want our sister to be selected to lead the ticket, and we want her to win. But as a business, we also have to stay on top of what is going on with the election and make sure we have everything that our customers are going to want,” explained Hawkins, who connects with her customers not only as a member of a Divine Nine sorority and graduate of an HBCU, but also as someone who grew up and currently lives in the neighborhood surrounding her business. “I was up designing shirts and Nadonya has been in contact with our T-shirt maker. We will have shirts relating to the election in the colors of all of the sororities and fraternities we serve. We’re also going to have items with ‘My Black Job Is...’ (a sarcastic retort to former President Donald Trump's assertion during the June debate with President Joe Biden that undocumented immigrants are taking "Black jobs.")

"There are still many decisions to make once we determine what people want, so we’re literally going along moment by moment as things occur during this campaign.” 

Hawkins says her business also is prepared to be engaged during the campaign season in ways that go beyond store merchandise.

“First and foremost, supporting the presidential campaign of Kamala Harris is a noble cause and we want to participate as much as we can,” said Hawkins, who said she spent part of Monday getting caught up on “assignment” items identified during the Zoom call and other information related to the Harris campaign, which included reading an email from her sorority about an upcoming massive, national voter mobilization campaign that will involve all of the Divine Nine sororities and fraternities. “Our store is too small to hold a rally. But in terms of being a pickup spot for banners and campaign materials, or being a location where voter registration can take place in front of our business — outside — we’re open to all of that.”

Alison Vaughn is the founder of the Detroit nonprofit Jackets For Jobs and a member of The Links Incorporated, an international nonprofit service organization whose membership of more than 17,000 professional women also includes Vice President Harris. Vaughn says she, too, looks forward to participating in an action-packed campaign season. Vaughn was able to get into Sunday’s Zoom call a little after 8:20 p.m. with help from her Links sister, Kim Trent, who is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

“The message during Sunday night’s call is that this train is moving and it’s not going to stop until we succeed in what we set out to accomplish,” said Vaughn, who, earlier in the day on Sunday, attended an Oakland County Democratic Party Membership Picnic at Drake Park. “When I finally got into the call, my reaction was: ‘Oh my God, this is wonderful!’ To hear all the speakers and to see all of the organizations that have been mobilized, it just shows how the participation of Black women makes a huge difference in our elections.”    

Vaughn spoke on Monday afternoon, five days before the exhibit ”Our History, Our Story: The Detroit Chapter of The Links” was scheduled to open to the public on July 27 at the Detroit Historical Museum. Vaughn says the exhibit will highlight local, regional and national accomplishments of The Links Incorporated, founded in 1946. The exhibit, which will be displayed on the museum's second floor, within the Robert and Mary Ann Bury Community Gallery, also will include a photo of Vice President Harris with information about her Links membership. And while the information about Harris will take up a relatively small part of the display, Vaughn made it clear that the likelihood of Harris heading the Democratic presidential ticket certainly adds to the significance of the exhibit in her eyes.

“Michele Peterson, our chapter’s operations manager and past archives chair, has been excited for a long time to have the community learn more about our organization. And now we have one of our own Links sisters going for the highest position in the land,” Vaughn said. “And many of our Links members are a part of the Divine Nine, including our Detroit chapter president, Kimberly Keaton, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha as well. So, we feel a sense of double duty to support Vice President Harris. I couldn’t think of a better time to show our community who we are than at this moment, when we have a Links member running for president.”  

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.

Retired Wayne County Judge Craig Strong had heard the news about President Joe Biden bowing out of the 2024 campaign on Sunday. And by 4:05 p.m., the 1969 Howard University graduate already knew where his support was going.

“She’s going to win,” Strong said about his fellow Howard alum, Class of 1986 grad and current Vice President Kamala Harris, who received Biden's endorsement Sunday following his historic withdrawal from the race.  

The 76-year-old Strong, who at the time of his retirement from the bench was Wayne County’s longest-tenured judge (1978-2020), says his confidence in Harris stems from knowing her for close to three decades through mutual friends connected to Howard University — the historically Black university in Washington, D.C. — along with people they both know in California.  

“I’m excited, I’ve known Kamala for about 20 to 30 years and she has all of the ingredients to be president of the United States,” said Strong a native Detroiter, who recently returned to his Indian Village home from Las Vegas, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Bar Association. “She’s intelligent and has held several political positions on the local and national levels, and now as the vice president of the United States, so she comes qualified. 

“And Kamala is a prosecutor (former attorney general of California) and (former President Donald) Trump has been convicted of all of those (felony) crimes, so there are so many considerations working in her favor. They can't talk about age anymore either, because Kamala is young (59 years old) in comparison to Trump (78 years old).”

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A familiar face at many community events, Strong took time to speak Sunday afternoon shortly before he was expected to attend a picnic at Erma Henderson Park hosted by the Detroit Chapter of Michigan State University’s Black Alumni Association. Strong said he has no doubt that a Democratic presidential ticket with Harris at the top would energize the Detroit community. 

“Kamala will receive overwhelming support from Detroit,” proclaimed Strong, the recipient of the George N. Bashara Jr. Distinguished Alumni Award at Michigan State University’s College of Law Commencement in May. “It was a dull election before, but not anymore. The community and all of the women’s rights groups will be energized. I also believe Detroit has become a lot more sensitive to the importance of voting. Today, we have a new group of voters in our community and they will be heard in this election. 

“And what our community will find out about Kamala through this campaign is that she loves people and she is concerned about safety in our community and neighborhoods. Kamala is hard on crime, but fair, and that’s very important.”  

Strong, a longtime fundraiser and founding board member for the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, says the potential historic impact of a Democratic presidential ticket with Harris at the top, vying to be the first female president of the United States also would have special meaning to Detroiters. 

“Kamala is a woman and women vote for women,” Strong said. “But think of all of the girls in our community who will be inspired to do great things in their own lives. This is history.” 

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.

Pyramid Elementary School, once located at 17151 Wyoming off McNichols Road, was a relatively small private institution. But it had a sizable impact on lifelong Detroiter Vernon Corey Greenleaf. 

While attending Pyramid during the mid-1980s, Greenleaf met two lifelong friends: Emmy Award-winning journalist and former Detroit Free Press sports reporter Jemele Hill; and Richard LaGrant-Roper, who is known in music circles as Dj Wise1. 

A fourth-grade social studies lesson at Pyramid also introduced Greenleaf to the Norse explorer Leif Erikson, which triggered a question from the young man who grew up near the former Cooley High School (Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street) in northwest Detroit. 

“There were five to six sentences about Leif Erikson in our textbook, and what I read said he reached America about 500 years before Columbus,” the now-47-year-old Greenleaf explained as he recalled his early classroom experiences at a school that was Black-owned and staffed by Black educators. “When we had a lesson about Christopher Columbus about five or six weeks later, I’m saying to myself: ‘Why are we being taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America?’ I raised my hand to ask that question, and I was waving my hand back and forth, and then the teacher told me to put my hand down.” 

As Greenleaf tells it, by the fourth grade he already had a reputation for being that kid who regularly posed perplexing questions in class that often took more than the designated lesson period to answer. But while Greenleaf’s question was not answered that day, he says the experience only made him more curious about the world. And Greenleaf’s connection to Leif Erikson never ended, either, as witnessed by the stage name he adopted, “Leaf Erikson,” which appears next to three Detroit Music Awards that have been presented to Greenleaf since 2020 by the Detroit Music Awards Foundation (DMAF). 

“The name Leif Erikson always intrigued me, but I chose Leaf Erikson as a stage name because I wanted to explore the world through music,” said Greenleaf, who was honored in 2020 by DMAF as “Outstanding Rap MC” and again in 2022 as “Outstanding Rap Artist” and for the “Outstanding Rap Recording” garnered by the album “Moonlight Over Mt. Sinai.” 

On four consecutive evenings, beginning July 15, from his northwest Detroit home, Greenleaf — who can be heard as Leaf Erikson with Boog Brown on the single “Boog’s Groove” released July 12 — described the evolution of his musical exploration. Beginning in earnest during his early 20s, Greenleaf’s journey has most often taken place late nights and weekends, after he has had a chance to quickly recharge following demanding day work, including a finance job at a downtown Detroit office where he currently works. A host of Detroit bars and clubs with colorful names — some with and some without stages — and festivals, such as the Detroit Metro Times Blowout in Hamtramck, where Greenleaf has performed for nine consecutive years, allowed a young man from a musical family the opportunity to be a bona fide working performance artist — with a heavy emphasis on the “work” part that Greenleaf defines as "the Detroit way."  

“I would say the number of creatives in Detroit that work for themselves and work one or more additional jobs would be in the very high 90% range,” said Greenleaf, who refers to his mother, Beverli, a longtime New Bethel Baptist Church choir member, as his favorite singer and the member of his family that should have been a recording star. “For us that create music, we’re underdogs as it is. And most of us come into this business not knowing where to record or do shows, so we have to make our own way.

“We also work hard at our other jobs that allow us to do our music, because at the end of that work shift, the prize is being able to go to the studio or to go somewhere to perform live. If you work for Ford Motor Co., you’re expected to be able to do your job. And if you’re an MC, you should be able to put on a good show. And Detroit creatives take special pride in being able to excel in all of those spaces.”  

Greenleaf, who also is the proud son of Augustus Greenleaf, and younger brother to Brian Greenleaf, a music director and educator, says another proud moment occurs any time he uses his recordings to tackle community issues that concern him the most. 

For example, as Leaf Erikson, in the 2019-released album “A Canvas of Hope,” Greenleaf used tracks titled “Foreclosure,” “Gospel from the North End” and “H2o” to call attention to Detroit’s foreclosure crisis, mental health and the Flint water crisis, respectively. Then there is the track titled “Rescue Mission” on the same album that highlights the importance of making resources available to people in need. Greenleaf says he got the inspiration for the piece while he was working a previous job at DTE Energy when a woman who broke down in tears after DTE and COTS provided some basic needs for her in the same day.

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“As a creative community in the city, we have to be a reflection of the times; it has to be more than a photo op and branding,” Greenleaf, who calls himself "the common-man MC" said. “Things that go on in our community should be reflected in our work, especially if you’re screaming every chance you get that you’re from Detroit. Go back to Motown in the '60s: First, there was a lot of pop coming out; and then, later in the '60s and into the 1970s, you had Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and even The Supremes singing about what was going on in the community and in the world. I can listen to Marvin Gaye’s 'Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)' today and the hair on the back of my neck will still stand up.” 

The passion that could be heard in Greenleaf’s voice when he spoke about Marvin Gaye is similar to the tone that his friends have become familiar with any time Greenleaf is engaged in a spicy sports conversation. In fact, Greenleaf says his time spent as a member of the prep crew, covering high school sports for the Detroit Free Press’ sports department many years before his Leaf Erikson transformation, is still a part of him with every piece of music he writes or performs.  

“By far, it was the best job I have ever had,” Greenleaf, a 1994 Cass Tech graduate, said about the part-time position he started on October 30, 1992, at the age of 15, which entailed answering calls from local high school coaches who phoned the Free Press with information from their recently completed games that were then compiled into game summaries and sometimes short stories by members of the prep crew. “On the prep crew, we were a bunch of guys mostly — and a couple of girls — and we wanted to be writers. We all hoped to get that call from the winning coach of the lead game for our roundup so that our name could get in the paper.

"That was some serious stuff, but I still literally approach what I do today as a reporter. I want to be able to speak truth with journalistic integrity.” 

The “old-school” journalist that Greenleaf is at his core had no problem identifying his longtime friend, Jemele Hill, as the source behind his relationship with the Free Press. Hill put Greenleaf in contact with former Free Press sports editor Gene Myers. It is the same Jemele Hill that Greenleaf once participated in epic dodgeball games with on the Pyramid Elementary School playground and later regularly bowled with during high school at Schaefer Lanes — decades before Hill was a national sports reporting figure for ESPN. And even as Greenleaf navigates his musical journey, where he has been supported by talented creative people near and far that he profusely praised on July 17 such as Dakim, Hugh Whitaker, the late Titus “Baatin” Glover, Troy Davis, Ilajide, Casey van Reyk, DJ Benny Ben, Dj Wise1, Andrew Potvin, “The Butter Made Records Family” and more — including Greenleaf’s fiancée, Laura Shafer; son Korey Greenleaf; and Chris Campbell, host of WDET’s “The Progressive Underground" — Greenleaf says he still is inspired in a unique way by Hill.

“At Pyramid Elementary, Jemele and I read all of the books written by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, and then when Jemele started writing I always liked her style because she was never afraid,” said Greenleaf, who, as Leaf Erikson, has received 15 nominations for Detroit Music Awards, including in 2023 for “Outstanding Gospel/Christian Recording for “The New Testament,” which also featured his son, Korey Greenleaf, who performs as D Apollo. “Jemele is never going to let anyone box her in and she has been a huge inspiration for me. Jemele has also always been all about Detroit, and I’m the same way.

"I love my city. And through music that reflects my city, I want to be a better version of myself. Creating music is like a therapy session for me. And I’m the therapist and the client.”

Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.