Northern Roots: African Descended Pioneers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

What does Sampson Noll, a desperate run-away slave who hit his master over the head with a wagon stave have in common with Charlotte Preston, a young woman, who was in the first graduating class at Northern State Normal School? The first part of the answer is that
both of these individuals lived in a region known as the U.P., the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The second part is that both these individuals were Americans of African descent.
What would bring Mr. Noll, Ms. Preston, and other in...