Richard H. Austin’s Grave

Richard H. Austin spent his life being the first. The first Black certified public accountant in Michigan, he went on to become the first African American elected Michigan Secretary of State — a post he held for nearly a quarter century, modernizing how the whole state did business. He nearly became Detroit’s first Black mayor, too, losing a razor-thin 1969 race that Coleman Young would win four years later.

He rests at Detroit Memorial Park. On our list.