In a city known for reinventing itself, Shaka Senghor fit right in:

A man not broken by his past but rebuilt by it brick by brick.

He was not brought up in comfort.

He received no grace.

Yet, he would go on to become one of Detroit’s most urgent and unflinching voices.

Senghor was an intelligent child raised on the east side of Detroit, but by his teenage years, the city’s pressure cooker of poverty, trauma, and violence had taken hold of him.

He fled home at the age of 14 and was convicted of second-degree murder by the age of 19, which earned him a 19-year sentence in solitary confinement.

For most, that would have been the end.

For Senghor, it was merely the beginning of a new chapter.

While in lock up, Senghor did something few others inside the concrete walls of a prison rarely ever do: he changed.

He began to read – James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Dostoevsky, and the Bible.

He started writing in notebooks, then on typewriters, and finally, in his own voice – not as a brand, not as a persona, but as a man with a distinct and real voice.

Once released in 2010, Senghor was not the same man he had been when he was first incarcerated. 

He had become something greater: a positive example of what can happen when you treat caged men as human beings.

In 2013, he published “Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death, and Redemption in an American Prison,” a brutally honest memoir about violence, trauma, accountability, and healing in an American prison.

The book became a New York Times bestseller, sparked national conversations, and drew attention from Oprah Winfrey, President Obama, and readers all across the political spectrum.

Senghor was no hero; he simply presented himself as a man who was an eternal work in progress – one that never sugarcoated his dark past – forcing America to consider how many people like him never get the chance to pick up a pen and pour their hearts out.

Since his release, Senghor has lectured at Harvard and MIT, spoken on the TED stage, pushed for criminal justice reform, and advised major tech companies like Square and Twitter on storytelling, inclusion, and humanity in the digital age.

He founded Shaka Senghor, Inc. and became a popular speaker and consultant – not because of his past, but because of the rare, hard-earned insight he gained from existing at the intersection of pain and potential, always inviting others to meet him there.

In short, he’s a man who refuses to stay in the cage many said was destined for him.

He didn’t just “write” his wrongs.

He atoned for them.

Survived them.

He transformed them into a tool of creation.

In that way, he’s as distinctly Detroit as anyone can get.

Victoria Jackson (Editor In Chief)

Victoria Jackson is a lifelong student and sharp-eyed documentarian of all things Detroit, from its rich musical roots and cultural icons to its shifting neighborhoods, storied architecture, and underground legends. With her finger firmly on the pulse of both the city’s vibrant past and its rapidly unfolding future, she brings a deeply personal, historically grounded lens to every piece she writes.

Published on: June 26, 2025