Her trip even included a carjacking.

Maris said Part 1 deals with the history of Detroit and the auto industry, and what making cars meant to African Americans who came from the south for the city’s good pay and relative freedom.

Part 2 will discuss people who are taking the initiative to improve life in the city, including the Motor City Blight Busters in northwest Detroit, the venerable Capuchin Soup Kitchen on the east side and parents in southwest Detroit who have organized to get rid of stray dogs.

“People in Detroit seem very strong and resilient,” Maris said.

Part 3 will tell a more personal story, partly through Xanthopoulos’ photos. Xanthopoulos spent time in Detroit during the winter, exploring the city on foot and met, among other people, a homeless single mother. They will tell of her search for shelter, and they will also discuss their experience of coming face to face with a 9mm pistol.

The carjacking took place in the former Brewster Projects, near Ford Field. Xanthopoulos handed over the keys to two men, one who wore a ski mask. Xanthopoulos and Maris fled; the thieves did not attempt to steal the journalists’ recording equipment or expensive cameras. Maris said Detroit police responded promptly.

Maris, 50, the mother of two sons, said she will use the incident not to illustrate her bad luck, but to tell a bigger story, much as she did when she witnessed atrocities while reporting on the Liberian civil war in 1993.

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