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[Voice Over] Major funding for Michigan, An American Portrait has been provided by Boyne Resorts DTE Energy Foundation Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation Daniel & Pamella DeVos Foundation The Offield Family Foundation David & Pamela Johnson & Victor Foundation Enbridge Americana Foundation ♪ (Narrator) What makes a Place Special?

What part of the landscape of nature adds meaning to our human experience?

How does a place define us?

Wilderness Work Friends and family.

To the indigenous people that preceded European explorers, the land was named not for the cliffs that rise above the shorelines, not for the dense forest, abundant sands or fertile soil.

The elders named the land for the large bodies of water that surround it.

Mishigamaa [Voice Over] "I never knew my people to want for anything to eat or wear.

I thought and yet I may be mistaken, that my people were very happy in those days.

We knew that every child of the forest was observing and living under the precepts, which their forefathers taught them" Andrew J. Blackbird Son of an Odaawaa Chief, 1887.

[Narrator] Today the vast freshwater seas that surround both the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan still inspire the beauty and define the significance of this great natural wonder.

America's 10th most populous state has, for many, become a symbol of conservation and industrial revitalization.

Where despite the challenges of a modern economy, everyday citizens work to create a bountiful mix of nature and commerce, for which there are few parallels among the 50 United States.

It takes dedication to renewable resources... ...preservation of wild places... ...world class recreation... ...and a culture defined by perseverance... ...ingenuity... ...and quality of invention.

♪ The first European explorers arrived nearly 300 years ago and referred to this vast land as Michigan.

French-Canadian explorer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac referred to what is now called the Detroit River as, "le détroit du lac Érié meaning the Strait of Lake Erie.

During July 1701, Cadillac and his fellow soldiers settled at Fort Pontchartrain.

At a time when waterways were used to carry goods across the region, the French military outpost was well positioned to support trade throughout the Great Lakes.

The lure of wealth and power built on westward expansion created both friends and enemies.

And by 1760 the settlement had fallen to British forces.

Today, nearly 250 years after America's independence, the ghosts of Fort Pontchartrain haunt the skyline of one of North America's greatest cities, Detroit.

200 miles to the northwest, the city of Harbor Springs was then called L'Arbre Croche, which means crooked tree.

At the time European settlers arrived in the early 1700s, the two peninsulas that formed the modern state were populated by the Anishinaabe people, including the Ojibwe, Odaawaa, and the Boodewaadamii.

Along with the Menominee, Mascoutin, SAC and Fox.

Oral history suggests that the three nations of Anishinaabe coexisted peacefully as part of a coalition called the Council of Three Fires.

The Confederation became the keepers of faith, trade and fire.

Like much of the United States, Michigan has a long history of racial and ethnic conflict.

Perhaps none greater than what became known as Pontiac's Rebellion.

As British colonists pushed to consolidate power land and natural resources.

A coalition of Native Americans pushed back against the unfair policies of British General Jeffrey Amherst.

There were many Native American leaders battling the British.

But early accounts of the conflict called it Pontiac's war Though disharmony had been brewing for years, the first known attack was led by Pontiac at Fort Detroit.

What's known with some certainty is that hostilities began in 1763 after eight British forts were destroyed and hundreds of colonists were killed or captured.

The fighting was violent on both sides, but one horrific account of British brutality suggests that soldiers attempted to infect their enemy with smallpox.

An act of biological warfare, using a virus that devastated Native American communities for more than a century.

Fighting escalated throughout the upper Midwest and ended, by most estimates, in a stalemate.

Casualties were considerable on both sides.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763, which some call the Native American Bill of Rights, was an early recognition by the British that indigenous people also had a right to the land they occupied.

Pontiac's war wasn't the last conflict between indigenous people and colonists, but it did help demonstrate the power of cooperation among the tribes in their pursuit of dignity and equality.

♪ [Voice Over] "In traveling more than 4000 miles in the western parts of the United States, I met no tract of country which upon the whole, impressed my mind so favorably, as the Michigan territory.

the soil of the territory is generally fertile and a considerable proportion of it is very rich."

Estwick Evans from his pedestrious tour in 1818.

[Narrator] With the hope of finding jobs and prosperity, both Easterners and European settlers came to the Michigan territory as part of America's Western expansion.

Some were even encouraged by newspaper reports from the East, including an 1825 article in the Buffalo Journal that states: When it is considered that all the fruits of that vast region are to reach the sea coast by Lake Erie and the New York Canal... and that the corresponding returns of goods are to reach their destinations by the same route, we may naturally be supposed to look with some degree of rapture on the present growth and increasing population of Michigan... For a new nation growing by the day, the virgin forests and waterways of Michigan became a vital resource, as the habitat for beavers, raccoon, otter and muskrat.

Timber called to many, but the earliest settlers were fur traders.

Many fur traders and trappers had their own traditions from Europe, but nearly all learned valuable lessons from the Native Americans who had been trapping and trading for centuries.

Beaver pelts used for European clothing were big business for more than a century, and trappers inhabited much of the upper Midwest long before statehood.

Thousands of families emigrated from France and northern Europe, and by the latter half of the 19th century, the influx of Scandinavian immigrants increased dramatically.

They settled across the region and brought along skills in forestry, farming and mining.

They built communities like Houghton-Hancock, Escanaba, Naubinway and Paradise.

Among the best known settlements was Bay View.

A community that continues to thrive today.

Now listed as a national historic landmark, Bay View features Victorian style architecture from the late 1800s.

Bay View was created as a methodist summer camp and Chautauqua, a place for vacationers to explore religion, culture, science and the life of the mind.

Bay View's history was grounded in Methodism, but the U.S. District Court for Western Michigan ruled in 2019 that there is no longer any religious requirement to purchase a cottage or to belong to the Bay View Association.

The challenges of a harsh winter and a short growing season weren't always discouraging to immigrants.

They were, however, a simple reminder of homelands like Bergin and Berlin, Arhus and Amsterdam.

By the late 1800s, much of the Upper Peninsula had been logged with little care for future generations or even future product.

By the turn of the century, The U.P.

was littered with stumps and branches and was followed by erosion.

Some timber companies tried to sell the barren land to farmers, but the soil and seasonal challenges did little more than forebode failure.

Boom and bust left few survivors ♪ Among the many immigrant traditions that combine both past and present, The city of Holland benefited from strong ethnic ties to the Netherlands.

Ties that included the tradition of planting thousands of spring tulips as a way to beautify the city.

High school biology teacher Lida Rogers inspired the Tulip Time Festival during the late 1920s.

Today, Tulip Time Festival ranks among the nation's most beautiful ethnic festivals and draws thousands of tourists annually for parades, ethnic dancing and outdoor entertainment.

As demand for its products grew, nothing served Michigan better in its early trading years than the Great Lakes themselves.

The state accounts for 62% of the coastline of the Great Lakes... stretching more than 3288 total miles.

Lake, Michigan, Superior and Huron are wide and deep and with good weather in the summer months the Great Lakes have long rivaled rails and interstate highways for commercial transport.

Timber, iron ore, fruit and produce moved across the waters cost effectively... and natural harbors in places like Marquette, Sault Ste.

Marie, Muskegon, and Detroit nurtured a shipping industry that remains robust today.

But passage to the Atlantic wasn't easy, and Michigan's early innovators searched for ways to improve the system.

Natural channels and canals made up the original Great Lakes waterway.

But it was the construction of Michigan's SOO Locks, and New York's Erie Canal in the mid 1800s.

That opened up international shipping to the Great Lakes.

Today, as many as 10,000 ships a year pass beneath the Sault Ste.

Marie International Bridge on their way through the SOO locks to the Atlantic Ocean.

Trade, Commerce and the Great Lakes waterway enhanced the Union and made Michigan a vital part of the young United States.

♪ Statehood was granted in 1837.

But in less than a generation, the union itself was divided by civil war.

Nearly 90,000 soldiers and engineers, roughly a quarter of Michigan's able bodied men, served in the northern armies.

Including more than 1600 African-American soldiers.

One unknown Union soldier from Michigan left behind a letter to his wife, saying it was the curse of slavery that motivated him to fight... and to die.

[Voice Over] "The more I learn of the cursed institution of slavery, the more I feel willing to endure for its final destruction.

After this war is over.

The whole country will undergo a change for the better."

[Narrator] More than 14,000 servicemen from Michigan died during civil war battles.

It was the sixth highest loss of men from the northern states.

The energy of youth, the powerful force of entrepreneurial spirit.

The bold desire to innovate... and to succeed.

At just 39 years of age Michigan native Henry Ford turned the world upside down forever.

Henry Ford wanted more than to produce gasoline powered automobiles- he wanted to produce them for the masses.

The Ford Motor Company was founded in Detroit in 1903.

Just five years later, the Model T became the first mass produced automobile in the world.

[Voice Over] "When we are through, we shall have reproduced American life as lived.

And that, I think, is the best way of preserving at least a part of our history and tradition."

Henry Ford, 1928.

During his long career at the helm, Ford became known for being quotable.

Some quotes were early attempts at marketing, such as "we will build for the great multitude."

But in the early years, he also invoked irony when referring to the Model-T he said, "You can have it in any color you want, as long as it's black."

The city of Detroit was built on innovation, a dedicated and highly skilled workforce, and the ongoing quest for balance between the goals and needs of labor, and those of management.

The journey hasn't been easy or simple, but since the turn of the 20th century, Detroit has roared with productivity.

And a city built on the talents of hard working men and women has been a bellwether for the global economy.

[Voice Over] "There are cities that get by on their good looks, offer climate and scenery.

Views of mountains or oceans, rock bound or with palm trees.

And their cities like Detroit, who have to work for a living, whose reason for being might be geographical, but whose growth is based on industry, jobs."

Elmore Leonard, Chicago Tribune 1986.

[President Biden] Masterpieces of Modern Manufacturing.

Built by Union workers.

And proof that America has what it takes to win the competition in the 21st Century.

[Narrator] The Ford Motor Company and the aligned industries, including parts and engineering, helped inspire worthy competitors, including William G. Durant.

By 1916, Durant's Detroit based General Motors Corporation had founded or purchased Cadillac, Dodge, Buick, Pontiac and Chevrolet into a singular hub of automotive manufacturing.

Today, Ford, GM and Chrysler are among the world's largest auto and truck manufacturers.

General Motors operates on six continents and employs nearly 200,000 people, while producing more than 9 million vehicles each year.

Ford Motor Company also manufactures and sells globally, and employs nearly 200,000 people, while building about 7 million vehicles annually.

Founded by Walter Chrysler in 1925, the Chrysler Company is recognized as a pioneer of the family minivan.

And since the late 1980s, it's the home of the Jeep.

Following a series of mergers concluded as recently as 2021, the Chrysler brand is currently part of a multinational automotive corporation called Stellantis.

The family car changed America forever.

Facilitating access to small towns, suburbs and state parks, country roads, campgrounds and picnic spots.

The inaccessible became accessible and economic opportunity for many grew along with new innovation in transportation.

Long before the automobile, the Anishinaabe people moved goods and people across the Straits of Mackinaw by boat.

But by the middle of the 20th century, as many as 9000 cars per day were using a state run ferry service to move between the upper and lower peninsulas.

Designer David Steinman had another idea, and by 1953, construction began on one of the world's longest suspension bridges.

Like San Francisco's fabled Golden Gate Bridge, Northern Michigan's Mackinaw Bridge spans approximately five miles across open water.

Rises more than 200 feet above the cold and turbulent passage.

And marries water and sky with giant landmasses on each side.

In his novel Sundog, Jim Harrison writes "The real thrill was crossing the bridge where my dogged spirit felt true fear again.

I could barely hold the lane and was whipped back and forth with my stomach and heart jumping and thumping and sweat inching around my ears.

The tumultuous water below looked at least a mile away."

With seasonal challenges, near constant winds, the rumbling sound of stiff rubber tires pounding metal grates, and a harrowing gap that confounds a vivid imagination, driving Mackinaw Bridge isn't for the faint of heart.

Nor is filming from 500 feet above the water's edge.

Still, on most days, more than 11,000 vehicles journey north or south across the Straits of Mackinaw, on the four lanes of I-75.

♪ Economists often preach the benefits of a diverse economy, a challenge that faced Detroit from the time the first tires rolled off the assembly line.

For nearly a century, the city was about designing cars, assembling cars, providing parts for cars, and selling cars.

The economy of Detroit was booming.

Job seekers were heading north.

And automobile barons enjoyed the fiscal benefits of a new, robust industry.

Then, much like the turmoil that hit Michigan's timber industry decades earlier, times changed.

The automobile wasn't responsible for the Great Depression.

But the industry was widely impacted as demand for new cars evaporated almost overnight.

During or shortly after the depression, roughly a dozen independent manufacturers failed to weather the economic downturn.

Pierce Arrow, Peerless, Stutz, Marmon, and Double Steam Motors were among the competitors whose demise left behind the so-called Big Three, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors.

Economic challenges were tough across America, but for the auto workers in Detroit, so were the working conditions.

Long hours and low pay inspired an unprecedented union movement to protect workers rights.

By 1937, both GM and Chrysler had recognized the United Automobile Workers Union, the UAW, and Ford Motors wasn't far behind.

Today, the UAW represents close to 400,000 active members from across the United States.

By the end of the Great Depression, Michigan and especially Detroit were well-suited for the war effort.

As allied troops waged battle on at least two continents, the auto industry was quickly mobilized to assist.

More than 350,000 people migrated to Detroit to assist in factories as part of what President Roosevelt called the "Arsenal of Democracy."

[President Roosevelt] I want to make it clear that it is the purpose of the nation to build now with all possible speed.

Every machine, every arsenal, every factory that we need to manufacture our defense materiel.

We have the men, the skill, the wealth, and above all, the will.

And in response to the power of Michigan's role in Allied victory, Walter Ruther of the United Auto Workers Union said.

"Like England's battles were won on the playing fields of Eden, America's were won on the assembly lines of Detroit."

Michigan soldiers also played a key role as they battled to free Europe.

Infantry Captain Ralph Hubbard wrote home with pride.

"The French have received a lot of publicity, and the British take a lot of credit, but oh man, when the Americans turned it on in the big push here, the Germans in Italy regretted, I am sure, ever tangling with the Yanks."

And during the summer of 1944, Roger Langdoc wrote to his future wife Barbara in Battle Creek, from an air base in Britain.

[Voice Over] "Sweetheart, I believe I'm the luckiest guy in the whole world to have someone as lovely as you in love with me.

Our time together may have been very short, but we had a lot of happiness.

That I'll never forget."

[Narrator] Among the best known World War Two veterans from Michigan is a man who went on to become the 38th president of the United States, Gerald Ford.

Born Leslie Lynch King in Omaha Nebraska in 1913, Gerry Ford later chose the name of the man who helped his mother, Dorothy, in raising him.

Grand Rapids businessman Gerald Rudolph Ford.

Gerry Ford was raised alongside three half brothers.

And it wasn't long before he became a well-known fixture in western Michigan.

First on the football field as a center and linebacker at the University of Michigan and later as a Republican congressman and minority leader in the United States House of Representatives.

I have never been a quitter.

To leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body.

But as president, I must put the interests of America first.

Therefore, I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow.

Vice President Ford will be sworn in as president at that hour in this office.

[President Ford] My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.

Our Constitution works.

Our great republic is a government of laws and not of man.

Here, the people rule.

Let us restore the golden rule to our political process.

And let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate.

[Narrator] From the time George Washington was sworn into office in 1789, the nation had never before had a president serve without being elected by the people and the Electoral College.

Of the many things that distinguished Ford's three years in office, none was more controversial than his pardon of the former president, Richard Nixon.

Yet despite some early disapproval, Ford was awarded the John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2001 for his pardon of the former president.

History, said Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy, had proved Ford's decision correct.

The legacy and historical record of Michigan's only president, Gerald Rudolf Ford, Jr., is celebrated at the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Michigan's second largest city, Grand Rapids.

President Gerald Ford died in Rancho Mirage, California, on December 26, 2006.

He was 93 years old.

[Bo Schembechler] No matter what we say here that we would like to beat Michigan State and we'd like to beat Notre Dame, which we do.

But no game, no game carries the the significance of Michigan, Ohio State.

[Narrator] Gerry Ford was the first and only Wolverine to become president of the United States.

But the fabled university in Ann Arbor gained its enduring national profile from what many called the "Ten Year War."

[Bo Schembechler] I'm probably the only guy that played for him.

And then coached with him and then, of course, had the "Ten Year War" when I coached against him.

[Narrator] Once a player and assistant to Ohio State's famed coach, Woody Hayes, University of Michigan Coach Bo Schembechler battled his former boss on the field during one of the most competitive decades in college football history.

[Rex Kern] The number one thing was how do you fare against that team up north?

At that point in time was how you were judged as a football coach at Ohio State University.

During my tenure here and Woody, when we played the Ten Year War.

Most of the time it came down to whoever wins that game is going to win a championship.

[Narrator] Bo Schembechler was right.

The University of Michigan won 13 Big ten titles and made ten Rose Bowl appearances during his time as head coach of the Wolverines.

But nothing rivaled his battle with Woody Hayes.

The Ten Year War ended with Michigan leading the Big Ten battle 5 to 4.

The 1973 game ended in a tie.

♪ "I wait to sleep and take my waking slow.

I feel my fate and what I cannot fear.

I learn by going where I have to go."

[Narrator] The words of Michigan poet Theodore Roethke are just one example of the rich tradition of art, music and culture that shine in parallel to the landscapes and businesses that define Michigan.

Whether it's performance at the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, or an enriching visit to world class exhibitions at the historic Detroit Institute of Arts, the citizens of Michigan have many to celebrate in art, music, literature and sports.

Edna Ferber Paul Schrader Bob Seger Anita Baker Jeff Daniels Alice Coltrane Alice Cooper Tim Allen Tom Izzo Aretha Franklin Al Kaline Casey Kasem Julie Harris Lily Tomlin Vondie Curtis-Hall Eminem Michael Moore Madonna Jack White Magic Johnson George Shirley Chad Smith.

Sonny Stitt Stevie Wonder Yusef Latiff Chris Van Allsburg Jim Harrison Gilda Radner These are just a few of the outstanding artists, writers, filmmakers, comics, athletes, and composers who share a strong connection with Michigan.

And of course, Robert Frost from the Road Not Taken, 1916 "I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by.

And that has made all the difference."

The Supremes singing "Stop!

In the Name of Love" [Narrator] And then there's Motown, 1959.

A modest bungalow and the extraordinary musical and business talent of Detroit native Berry Gordy Jr. A former assembly line worker at Detroit's Lincoln Mercury, Gordy knew about hard work... but he also had a big vision, Gordy said: [Voice Over] "Every day I watched how a bare metal frame rolling down the line would come off the other end a spanking brand new car.

What a great idea!

Maybe I could do the same with my music."

And he did just that.

The headquarters for Motown became known as "Hitsville USA,"... and the Motown sound became synonymous with Detroit itself.

Throughout the 1960s, Gordy and his team produced scores of Billboard Top Ten hits for the likes of Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, The Supremes, and Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

With the influence of Motown, R&B and soul music reached new heights of popularity that helped break down social and racial barriers.

In a 2009 interview, singer Smokey Robinson told the New Orleans Times-Picayune: [Voice Over] "I would come to the South in the early days of Motown, and the audiences would be segregated.

Then they would start to get the Motown music, and we would go back and the audiences were integrated and the kids were dancing together and holding hands."

[Narrator] The music helped build bridges, but the fight for racial equality in Michigan has been a long one.

History was made with The Walk To Freedom in 1963, a pinnacle moment in the civil rights movement.

But for Detroit, segregation, housing discrimination and judicial disparity was an open wound.

It wasn't long before the Detroit riot or what some called the Rebellion of 1967, turned the city into a battle zone.

In his legendary song about the riot, Detroit blues singer John Lee Hooker sang: "I could hear the people screaming, sirens filled the air..." Near the epicenter, local resident Katie Thomas said: "It was like the whole world was on fire.

12th Street was burning, guns were going off and electricity was popping, I couldn't sleep.

I just laid there and cried."

During a flight over the city, Michigan Governor George Romney remarked: "It looked like the city had been bombed on the West Side, entire blocks in flames."

On Sunday July 23rd, what began as a police raid on an unlicensed after-hours drinking establishment in the central city resulted in several days of civil unrest that took a significant toll on the city's black residents.

Within five days, 43 people had died.

Most were black residents of the city.

As many as 700 were injured and more than 7000 were arrested.

University of Michigan history professor Sydney Fine later wrote: "What had begun to some degree as a riot against police, became in some degree, a riot of police against blacks."

It was at the time the deadliest civil unrest in America since the Civil War.

♪ When acclaimed writer John Steinbeck commented on Michigan in his classic book, Travels With Charley, he said: "It seemed to me that the Earth was generous and outgoing here in the heartland, and perhaps the people took a cue from it."

Yes, the earth is generous here, and so are the people who call Michigan home.

There's a genuine spirit that supports hard work and hard play.

And like most of America, Michigan is a land of contrasts.

It's complex, diverse, sometimes unpredictable, often extraordinary.

And no two pockets of the state are quite the same.

For every business or industry that fails, new ones spout up and look for success in their own way.

Eager students find their niche.

Athletes build their bodies.

Teams win and lose... and artists gather to celebrate new work.

Beauty is abundant, and with the change in seasons, life comes full circle.

Hard times come and go, but sometimes their toll can exhaust the imagination and leave families and workers desperate for a better life.

(President Obama) It'll come as no surprise, that some Americans who've suffered the most during this recession have been those in the auto industry and those working for companies that support it.

(President Obama) Over the past year, our auto industry has shed over 400,000 jobs not only at plants that produce cars, but at the businesses that produce the parts that go into them and the dealers that sell and repair them.

More than one in ten Michigan residents is out of work, the most of any state.

The pain being felt in places that rely on our auto industry is not the fault of our workers.

They labor tirelessly and desperately want to see their companies succeed.

It's a failure of leadership from Washington to Detroit that led our auto companies to this point.

This industry is like no other.

It's an emblem of the American spirit, the once and future symbol of America's success.

[Narrator] Since America's economic meltdow during 2008, Detroit has made strides in an effort to rebrand and repurpose what was once a vital center for business and innovation.

But building remains a work in progress.

Nearly 70,000 buildings have been abandoned.

City blocks that were once home to thousands of middle class families sit empty and as many as 90,000 city lots remain vacant.

For the first time since 1850, Detroit is no longer in the top 20 of America's most populous cities.

♪ Resurgence, rebirth, revival, recovery, creativity and imagination are key to rebuilding a new Detroit, not the mythical Phenix rising from its own ashes, but innovation based on real, sustainable enterprise that provides quality education, employment, and serves a diverse community with socially responsible enterprise.

Entrepreneurs seek opportunity, and opportunity creates optimism.

With hubs for technology and small scale manufacturing, Detroit now sees growth in a variety of new businesses.

Setting trends, meeting consumer needs, and finding efficiencies and profitability in both new and old technologies and products.

♪ From state line to state line and season to season, Michigan continues to be a leader in innovation and design.

Strong academic communities are using innovative ways to create cars of the future, and many existing companies serve high performance clients from around the world.

A state that has long thrived on exporting apples and cherries is also finding new agricultural products to serve a growing demand.

There's an old joke about Michigan that applies in many northern states.

It goes like this.

Michigan has two seasons winter and road construction.

But as the nation's leader in auto manufacturing, new technology is making driving easier in all four seasons.

Through a variety of partnerships that unite manufacturing and new technology.

In a state blessed with the nation's longest freshwater coastline, and abundant escapes into the natural world, mobility is more important than ever.

A recent article in the Detroit Free Press listed what their writers consider the six best things about the state of Michigan.

They include breweries, beaches, sports, world class state parks, vast reaches of wilderness in the Upper Peninsula.

And despite the old joke four seasons that crescendo each year with some of the best fall color in North America.

What makes a place special?

What part of nature gives us meaning?

How does a place define us?

Like most of America, Michigan is defined by the resource it has in abundance.

And in Michigan, that means water.

The success of industries like timber, mining, agriculture, manufacturing and tourism all rely on the source that sustains life.

The source that unites us.

From Lansing based author Sarah Arthur: [Voice Over] "In very few places on earth Can you watch the sun rise straight from the horizon of a freshwater sea, Then later that same day, drive a few hours west to watch it sink like a living flame into yet another vast inland lake.

This is Michigan."

The future of Michigan unfolds around us, in labs and factories, schools and houses of worship, on city streets and orchards, rivers, and big water.

It's a story of resilience and ideas.

Imagination and commitment.

It's a story told as each day ends and another begins.

[♪Female artist singing "My Michigan" ] ♪Surrounded by pure blue water♪ ♪a state shaped like a glove♪ ♪The mighty glaciers that came before♪ ♪left their memory along her shore...♪ ♪ [Voice Over] Major funding for Michigan, An American Portrait has been provided by Boyne Resorts DTE Energy Foundation Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation Daniel & Pamella DeVos Foundation The Offield Family Foundation David & Pamela Johnson & Victor Foundation Enbridge Americana Foundation