Dear Debbie,

Try contacting the Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society (African American) to see if they can help.

http://www.fhwgs.org/

If your library participates in the Inter Library Loan (ILL) program and has a microfilm reader, you can order the Detroit Newspapers.

The Burton Historical Collection of the main Detroit Public Library has a selection of African American items. Possibly one of the churches might have the burial information.

http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/featuredcollection/burton-histo...

I haven't had much luck finding obits for the late 1800s.

I don't know if there was a paper dedicated to black readers for that time period. The State Library of Michigan (LOM) used to have an online list of what newspapers are available at the LOM but they have been changing there website and I cannot find it anymore. You could try calling them.