Detroit 1967: Origins, Impacts, Legacies

In the summer of 1967, Detroit experienced one of the worst racially charged civil disturbances in United States history. Years of frustration generated by entrenched and institutionalized racism boiled over late on a hot July night. In an event that has been called a "riot," "rebellion," "uprising," and "insurrection," thousands of African Americans took to the street for several days of looting, arson, and gunfire. Law enforcement was overwhelmed, and it wasn’t until battle-tested federal troops arrived that the city returned to some semblance of normalcy. Fifty years later, native Detroiters cite this event as pivotal in the city’s history, yet few completely understand what happened, why it happened, or how it continues to affect the city today. Discussions of the events are often rife with misinformation and myths, and seldom take place across racial lines. It is editor Joel Stone’s intention with Detroit 1967: Origins, Impacts, Legacies to draw memories, facts, and analysis together to create a broader context for these conversations.

In order to tell a more complete story, Detroit 1967 starts at the beginning with colonial slavery along the Detroit River and culminates with an examination of the state of race relations today and suggestions for the future. Readers are led down a timeline that features chapters discussing the critical role that unfree people played in establishing Detroit, the path that postwar manufacturers within the city were taking to the suburbs and eventually to other states, as well as the widely held untruth that all white people wanted to abandon Detroit after 1967. Twenty contributors, from journalists like Tim Kiska, Bill McGraw, and Desiree Cooper to historians like DeWitt S. Dykes, Danielle L. McGuire, and Kevin Boyle, have individually created a rich body of work on Detroit and race, that is compiled here in a well-rounded, accessible volume.

Detroit 1967 aims to correct fallacies surrounding the events that took place and led up to the summer of 1967 in Detroit, and to encourage informed discussion around this topic. Readers of Detroit history and urban studies will be drawn to and enlightened by these powerful essays.

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Detroit 1967: Origins, Impacts, Legacies

In the summer of 1967, Detroit experienced one of the worst racially charged civil disturbances in United States history. Years of frustration generated by entrenched and institutionalized racism boiled over late on a hot July night. In an event that has been called a "riot," "rebellion," "uprising," and "insurrection," thousands of African Americans took to the street for several days of looting, arson, and gunfire. Law enforcement was overwhelmed, and it wasn’t until battle-tested federal troops arrived that the city returned to some semblance of normalcy. Fifty years later, native Detroiters cite this event as pivotal in the city’s history, yet few completely understand what happened, why it happened, or how it continues to affect the city today. Discussions of the events are often rife with misinformation and myths, and seldom take place across racial lines. It is editor Joel Stone’s intention with Detroit 1967: Origins, Impacts, Legacies to draw memories, facts, and analysis together to create a broader context for these conversations.

In order to tell a more complete story, Detroit 1967 starts at the beginning with colonial slavery along the Detroit River and culminates with an examination of the state of race relations today and suggestions for the future. Readers are led down a timeline that features chapters discussing the critical role that unfree people played in establishing Detroit, the path that postwar manufacturers within the city were taking to the suburbs and eventually to other states, as well as the widely held untruth that all white people wanted to abandon Detroit after 1967. Twenty contributors, from journalists like Tim Kiska, Bill McGraw, and Desiree Cooper to historians like DeWitt S. Dykes, Danielle L. McGuire, and Kevin Boyle, have individually created a rich body of work on Detroit and race, that is compiled here in a well-rounded, accessible volume.

Detroit 1967 aims to correct fallacies surrounding the events that took place and led up to the summer of 1967 in Detroit, and to encourage informed discussion around this topic. Readers of Detroit history and urban studies will be drawn to and enlightened by these powerful essays.

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Overview

In the summer of 1967, Detroit experienced one of the worst racially charged civil disturbances in United States history. Years of frustration generated by entrenched and institutionalized racism boiled over late on a hot July night. In an event that has been called a "riot," "rebellion," "uprising," and "insurrection," thousands of African Americans took to the street for several days of looting, arson, and gunfire. Law enforcement was overwhelmed, and it wasn’t until battle-tested federal troops arrived that the city returned to some semblance of normalcy. Fifty years later, native Detroiters cite this event as pivotal in the city’s history, yet few completely understand what happened, why it happened, or how it continues to affect the city today. Discussions of the events are often rife with misinformation and myths, and seldom take place across racial lines. It is editor Joel Stone’s intention with Detroit 1967: Origins, Impacts, Legacies to draw memories, facts, and analysis together to create a broader context for these conversations.

In order to tell a more complete story, Detroit 1967 starts at the beginning with colonial slavery along the Detroit River and culminates with an examination of the state of race relations today and suggestions for the future. Readers are led down a timeline that features chapters discussing the critical role that unfree people played in establishing Detroit, the path that postwar manufacturers within the city were taking to the suburbs and eventually to other states, as well as the widely held untruth that all white people wanted to abandon Detroit after 1967. Twenty contributors, from journalists like Tim Kiska, Bill McGraw, and Desiree Cooper to historians like DeWitt S. Dykes, Danielle L. McGuire, and Kevin Boyle, have individually created a rich body of work on Detroit and race, that is compiled here in a well-rounded, accessible volume.

Detroit 1967 aims to correct fallacies surrounding the events that took place and led up to the summer of 1967 in Detroit, and to encourage informed discussion around this topic. Readers of Detroit history and urban studies will be drawn to and enlightened by these powerful essays.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780814343036
Publisher: Painted Turtle
Publication date: 05/18/2017
Series: Painted Turtle
Pages: 348
Product dimensions: 7.00(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Joel Stone is the senior curator at the Detroit Historical Society, which oversees the Detroit Historical Museum and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum. A native Detroiter, he has written and edited works spanning the city’s history. Stone’s most recent book is Floating Palaces of the Great Lakes.

Table of Contents

Foreword Thomas J. Sugrue ix

Acknowledgments Robert A. Bury xi

Introduction Joel Stone 1

Part I A Checkered History 11

Detroit's Forgotten History of Slavery Bill McGraw 13

The Underground Railroad and Early Racial Violence Roy E. Finkenbine 23

Freedom's Railway: Reminiscences of the Brave Old Days of the Famous Underground Line William Lambert 31

Race Relations in Detroit, 1860-1915 De Witt S. Dykes Jr. 33

The Rages of Whiteness: Racism, Segregation, and the Making of Modern Detroit Kevin Boyle 40

The Arsenal of Democracy-for-Some Charles K. Hyde 48

Detroit 1943: "A Real Race Riot" Gregory Sumner 54

A Streetcar Named Disaster Tommie M. Johnson 60

Part II A Deteriorating Situation 63

The Deindustrialization of Detroit Thomas A. Klug 65

Joe's Record Shop Marsha Music 76

Benefit of the Redoubt Jeffrey Horner 82

Defending the Divide: Homeowners' Associations and the Struggle for Integration in Detroit, 1940-1965 William Winkel 94

Liberals and "Get-Tough" Policing in Postwar Detroit Alex Elkins 106

Part III A Riot by Any Other Name 117

Chronology of Events 119

Steel Meets Flint: How to Start a Riot Joel Stone 137

In the Center of the Storm Hubert G. Locke 149

Rebellion, Revolution, or Riot: The Debate Continues Ken Coleman 158

The Problem Was the Police Melba Joyce Boyd 165

Murder at the Algiers Motel Danielle L. McGuire 173

The Storytellers: Getting to the Heart of the Matter Timothy Kiska 184

The Mayor's Shadow Berl Falbaum 196

The Taxi Driver Kathleen Kurta 199

Oral History Excerpts 202

Part IV Out of the Ashes 211

What the Children Said Steven Balkin 213

And the Beat Goes On: Continued Confrontation Joel Stone 218

First Time I've Ever Seen Justice Rev. Daniel W. Aldridge Jr. 230

A Call to Action: The Changing Face of Inner-City Activism Joel Stone 235

Black Power, Black Rebellion Betty DeRamus 250

It Was a Good Time for Organizing Mike Hamlin 255

In the Uprising's Wake: Reaction in the White Community William Winkel 260

Part V The More Things Change … 271

Detroit 1967 and Today: Spatial Racism and Ongoing Cycles of Oppression Peter J. Hammer 273

Hindsight: The Shift in Media Framing Casandra E. Ulbrich 283

It Can Happen Here: Model City Once Again? Desiree Cooper 290

Bibliography 297

Contributors 309

Index 315

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