Freedom Enterprise, xvi (Smith Funeral Home)

Identifier: DBB-ITM-02630
Source: Kendra D. Boyd, Freedom Enterprise: Black Entrepreneurship and Racial Capitalism in Detroit (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2025). Pages: xvi.
Source Type: Boyd Research Findings
Activity: funeral services
Principal: Smith Funeral Home
Mentions: Smith, Willis Eugene
Location: 611 E Canfield Ave
Transcript: Smith Funeral Home. Located at 611 East Canfield near St.
Antoine and Hastings Streets, this business was founded by
Willis Eugene Smith, one of the most well-known
and successful
entrepreneurs in Detroit’s Black funeral industry during the first
half of the twentieth century. Smith was originally from Eufaula,
Alabama, and migrated to Detroit in 1919. He opened the
funeral home in 1929 but lost the property in the early 1960s due
to the construction of the Chrysler Freeway.
Title: Freedom Enterprise, xvi (Smith Funeral Home)

Detroit Black Business