Ziggy is also the founder and dean of the Ziggy Johnson School of Theater. Legendary black artists of the era, including Ethel Waters, Billy Eckstein, and Count Basie.
A celebrated gossip columnist for the city’s African-American newspaper, the Michigan Chronicle, he is also the emcee of one of the hottest night clubs, where he’s rubbed elbows with the Doctorow’s classic novel Ragtime and Marlon James’ Man Booker Award-winning masterpiece, A Brief History of Seven Killings.įrom the Great Depression through the post-World War II years, Joseph “Ziggy” Johnson, has been the pulse of Detroit’s famous Black Bottom. It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, and it’s not like anything I’ve read in a long time.Īn enthralling literary tour-de-force that pays tribute to Detroit’s legendary neighborhood, a mecca for jazz, sports, and politics, Black Bottom Saints is a powerful blend of fact and imagination reminiscent of E.L. Our narrator Ziggy is dying and decides to write a book of saints (fashioned after the Catholic Book of Saints) from that memorable time so others will know about that special time. A fun historical romp through Detroit’s Black Bottom district, swinging with figures from Dinah Washington to Sammy Davis, Jr and points in between.
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