Let the Future Begin

LET THE FUTURE BEGIN is the autobiography of Dennis W. Archer, born in Detroit, who rose from humble beginnings in the small town of Cassopolis, Michigan, to become a celebrated attorney, a Michigan Supreme Court Justice, a two-term Mayor of Detroit, and the first person of color to serve as President of the 400,000-member American Bar Association.     

Thanks to education, hard work, impeccable integrity, and family values, Dennis Archer has blazed a trail of diversity and inclusion in the legal profession while laying a rock-solid foundation to transform Detroit into the comeback city of the millennium. He achieved this with the support of his wife Trudy, their sons, Dennis Jr. and Vincent, relatives, friends, and colleagues.

This inspiring book shares how he did it, and provides a blueprint for how to emulate his success and commitment to helping others.

1970 J.D. Detroit College of Law 1965 B.S. Western Michigan University OCCUPATION: Chairman & CEO, Dennis W. Archer PLLC Chairman Emeritus, Dickinson Wright PLLC Chairman, Dickinson Wright PLLC Jefferies Global Senior Advisory Board Mayor, City of Detroit, Michigan Partner, Dickinson, Wright, Moon, Van Dusen & Freeman, Attorneys at Law Associate Justice, Michigan Supreme Court Shareholder, Charfoos, Christensen & Archer, P.C., Attorneys at Law Adjunct Professor, Wayne State University Law School Associate Professor, Detroit College of Law Shareholder, Hall, Stone, Allen, Archer & Glenn, P.C., Attorneys at Law Gragg & Gardner, P.C., Attorneys at Law Admitted to Practice: All courts in Michigan; Federal District Court, Eastern District; United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit; District of Columbia; and United States Supreme Court Detroit Board of Education, Teacher, Learning Disabled Duffield Elementary School 1967-1970 Bunche Elementary School 1965-1967 CORPORATE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: TopBuild Progressus Therapy The Infilaw System - Chair, National Advisory Board MASCO Corporation Johnson Controls Inc. Compuware Corporation North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company NATIONAL COMMITTEES: National Association of Corporate Directors, Fellow International African American Museum, National Advisory Board National Democratic Party - At Large Member Bipartisan Policy Center, Co-Chair National Transportation Policy Project Skadden, Arps and City College of New York Honors Program Advisory Board The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation Advisory Board National League of Cities, President U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, National Task Force on Predatory Lending National League of Cities, First Vice President National Democratic Party, General Co-Chair AFL-CIO Working for America Institute, Board of Trustees U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Builders National Advisory Board Fannie Mae National Advisory Council U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Joint Center for Sustainable Communities Advisory Council The United States Conference of Mayors, Trustee The Brookings Institution, Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, Advisory Board National League of Cities, Community and Economic Development Policy Committee, Vice Chair 1996 Democratic Convention Platform Committee, Co-Chair National Conference of Democratic Mayors, President National League of Cities, Election '96 Task Force National Committee on Crime Control and Prevention The United States Conference of Mayors, Entitlements Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Urban Economic Policy, Chair The United States Conference of Mayors, Advisory Board National Conference of Black Mayors, Board of Directors Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee of the United States Trade Representative The United States Conference of Mayors, Crime Bill Task Force Honorary Doctor of Laws, Michigan State University, State University of New York - University at Albany, New York Law School, The University of Akron, University of Connecticut School of Law, Temple University, Stetson University College of Law, Nova Southeastern University, John Marshall School of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law, Wayne State University Law School, Hamline University, Marygrove College, Aquinas College, University of Michigan, Gonzaga University, The John Marshall Law School, University of Detroit School of Law, Detroit College of Law, Western Michigan University; Honorary Juris Doctor, Phoenix School of Law; Honorary Associate in Arts & Sciences, Schoolcraft College; Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Siena Heights University; Honorary Doctor of Education, Madonna University; Honorary Doctor of Public Service, Eastern Michigan University

Elizabeth Ann Atkins is a best-selling author, actress, TV host and award-winning journalist who uses a multimedia platform to inspire people to unlock their infinite potential and live with passion, prosperity, health and happiness. Elizabeth's desire to empower others springs from a trailblazing matrix of colorblind love and courage from her mother, an African American and Italian judge, and her father, a former Roman Catholic priest who was English, French Canadian and Cherokee. They taught her to challenge the status quo by writing innovative ideas to edu-tain people. With a master's degree in Journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in English Literature from the University of Michigan, Elizabeth has written nearly 20 books, including novels White Chocolate, Dark Secret and Twilight (with Billy Dee Williams). She also composed My American Success Story: Always the First, Never the Last, a memoir for Roy S. Roberts, once the world's highest-ranking black automotive executive. Current clients include executives, prominent government and civic leaders, physicians, a surgeon, an intuitive medium, a family that triumphed on NBC's The Biggest Loser, an insurance agent and a quadriplegic man who lived his dream to become a record company CEO. Her novellas about empowering women to overcome abuse and identity crises were published in My Blue Suede Shoes: An Anthology and Other People's Skin: An Anthology. A health and fitness enthusiast whose 100-pound weight loss was featured on Oprah, Elizabeth co-hosts a weekly television show, MI Healthy Mind, which promotes wellness by shattering stigmas around taboo topics such as mental illness, addiction and abuse. She is a popular writing coach whose PowerJournalTM program teaches people to enrich their lives with journal-writing. A speaker who promotes human harmony, Elizabeth is represented by The American Program Bureau. She rouses ovations by reciting her autobiographical poem, White Chocolate, and has spoken at Columbia University, the University of Michigan, GM's World Diversity Day, Gannett, 100 Black Men, the NAACP, and many other venues. As an actress, Elizabeth plays a major role in the feature-length film Anything Is Possible, nominated for "Best Foreign Film" by the Nollywood and African Film Critics Association. She composed an original screenplay, Redemption, a gritty drama about a Detroit gangster and a writer. And Elizabeth plays a 1950s journalist in the international shipwreck drama, Are The Passengers Saved? Elizabeth has been a guest on Oprah, Montel, NPR, Good Morning America Sunday, The CBS Evening News, and many national TV shows. After writing her master's thesis about mixed-race Americans, her work appeared in The New York Times, The San Diego Tribune, Essence, Ebony and many publications. Her Detroit News articles on race were nominated for The Pulitzer Prize, and she wrote a biography for the Presidential Medal of Freedom tribute for Rosa Parks. Elizabeth runs, cycles, lifts weights, does yoga, journals and meditates to cultivate a joyous and peaceful mind, body and spirit. JOURNALIST Fox 2 News Metro Detroit. 1997 to 2002, Writer for morning, 5, 6 and 10 p.m. TV news. The Detroit News 1991 to 1995, Race Relations articles nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Covered crime, courts, education and features. Freelancing The New York Times, Ebony, HOUR Detroit, HOUR Home, HOUR Bride, Essence, BET.com, Ms., BLAC Detroit, a Presidential Tribute for Rosa Parks, and a celebration of Congressman John Conyers, Jr. Internships San Diego Tribune (1990), and Lansing State Journal (1989). Elizabeth taught English and Journalism at Wayne State University, Wayne County Community College District and Oakland University. Classes included Honors English/Women in Literature, Poetry, Creative Writing and American Literature.