For thousands of years, the Detroit River has carried Indigenous traditions, freedom seekers, and families building lives along its shores. Skyler Leslie is preserving those stories through community engagement and interpretive projects. Photo by Clayton Cortez.

Overview:

  • Skyler Leslie holds a master's in environmental justice from U-M and serves on the board of the Friends of the Detroit River.
  • The 28-mile Detroit River has witnessed thousands of years of Indigenous ceremonies, served as a pathway to freedom for enslaved people, and shaped regional culture as an international border
  • Leslie encourages Metro Detroit residents to connect with the river through visits to Belle Isle, riverside walks, or simply learning its stories as a living archive of the region's past

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Skyler Leslie’s bond with the Detroit River is more than geographical. It’s ancestral. With her parents and grandparents calling Southgate home, her work is rooted in a family history tied to the river’s shores.

The 28-mile international waterway separates the United States and Canada, but connects communities on either side.

“This river means nothing without the community and the people that it interacts with and supports it,” Leslie said.

Leslie holds a master’s degree in environmental justice, sustainability, and development and a museum studies certificate from the University of Michigan, and is a board member of the Friends of the Detroit River.

Leslie’s upbringing shaped both her personal life and her professional path as a storyteller and advocate for the river. She views it as a living archive of the region’s history, culture, and survival.

Her mission is to ensure that the stories of those who built their lives along these banks, including her own family, are never washed away by time.

Why so much passion and love for the Detroit River?

I grew up here. It’s home. It’s allowed me to do work in other river border communities and really connect. It’s one of the most important ecosystems in the world, and we just don’t appreciate it in the way that we should.

How can people appreciate the Detroit River?

It’s interacting with it. Whether that’s going for a walk, visiting Belle Isle, or dipping your toe in so you feel a little more connected.

The river holds a vibrant, complex history that deserves recognition and is part of Detroit’s lifeline. It is what flows through all of us, keeping us alive and here.

Can you shed light on the Detroit River’s role in shaping the area’s history and culture?

I think that there’s something really powerful in thinking about the fact that this river has been seen for thousands of years. It has seen Indigenous villages, burial mounds, ceremonies, and gatherings. It has helped people gain freedom from slavery.

Detroit, the “doorway to freedom,” was an important, and for many, final stop along the Underground Railroad before escaped enslaved people reached freedom in Canada, where slavery was abolished in 1834.

It has also split up communities by creating this international border in the middle of what’s just a flowing waterway.

The opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge in 2026 will bring long-awaited relief to trade and transportation, easing bottlenecks from the privately owned Ambassador Bridge. But construction, which began in 2018, has disrupted neighborhoods and harmed health.

So if we think of the river as a storyteller in its own right, we just have to sit down and listen to and read it.

How would you describe the Detroit River to someone who has never known it?

The river means something different to everybody. But it can have this universal feeling of home and a place, while also acknowledging that, for some communities, water is traumatic, and for others, it is a part of their lifeblood.

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Clayton Cortez Smith is a multimedia journalist and filmmaker from Southwest Detroit, a community often described as one of the region's sacrifice zones. His work thoughtfully explores critical social and environmental challenges, creating narratives that ignite awareness, spark meaningful dialogue, and foster a sense of accountability. Clayton Cortez uses storytelling to inform and empower the public, influence policy, and advocate for significant progressive change.