Editing Cassopolis, Michigan (section)

==History==
Cassopolis was platted by European Americans in 1831. It had already been designated the county seat by that point.  It was incorporated as a village in 1863.<ref>Walter Romig, ''Michigan Place Names'', p. 103</ref> The county developed farming and some industry.

Cassopolis was a transit point on the [[Underground Railroad]], by which sympathizers aided refugee slaves from the South to gain freedom in the North and in Canada. Some refugees continued through Michigan to settle in Canada in order to avoid risk under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law, which increased incentives for capture.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Cassopolis, Mich. Boasts of Its Role in the Underground Railroad|last = Brown|first = Beatrice|date = July 2, 1949|journal = Pittsburgh Courier}}</ref> Others remained in the area, with many African-Americans and people of mixed African-American and Sapponi and Pumenkey ancestry settling in Cass County.

In the 1960s, a group of African Americans connected to the [[Nation of Islam]] acquired some 1,000 acres of farmland in the area. Work on this acquisition was overseen by a man who had graduated from Cassopolis High.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Black Muslims in Michigan|last = Popa|first = Robert|date = December 19, 1968|journal = Washington Post}}</ref>