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1967 Detroit Riots Facts

1967 Detroit Riots Facts
The 1967 Detroit Riots were a series of riots and protests that took place in inner-city Detroit from July 23 to July 28, 1967 as part of the "Long, hot summer of 1967" racial violence and protests that broke out across the United States. The riot began when the Detroit Police attempted to shut down a local speakeasy and arrest the customers. The speakeasy was located in the offices of a local black activist organization known as the United Committee League for Community Action, which only aggravated the already tense situation. A full-scale brawl broke out that then spread onto the street and eventually the entire downtown area. The governor of Michigan ordered the National Guard into Detroit to quell the unrest and when that didn't work President Lyndon Baines Johnson sent the elite 82nd and 101st Airborne units into the city. When the riots had finally ended, forty-three people were dead and over 1,000 were injured. More than 2,000 buildings were destroyed, resulting in millions of dollars in damages, and more than 7,200 people were arrested. The rioting also led to even more distrust between the black and white communities in the Detroit area. Much of the white working-class population moved to the suburbs north of Eight Mile Road after the riots, leaving Detroit an overwhelmingly black city.
Interesting 1967 Detroit Riots Facts:
The rioting began around four am at the corner of West Grand Boulevard and 12th Street.
Jerome Cavanaugh was the mayor of Detroit at the time. He was an Irish-American Democrat, who unlike many mayors of his generation championed many civil rights causes. Cavanaugh believed that since he was more liberal on racial issues than many other mayors of the time and his police force had successfully stopped a race riot as it began in 1966, that Detroit would not suffer the same fate as many other American cities in 1967.
Republican George Romney was the Governor of Michigan at the time. He is the father of Utah Senator Mitt Romney.
The "Long, hot summer of 1967" began with race riots in June in the cities of Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, and Buffalo, and Tampa.
Although the Detroit Riots were part of the larger phenomenon of black riots that were taking place across the United States at the time, the city's local culture also played a role. Despite being located in the north where there was no legalized segregation, Detroit was known as one of the most segregated cities in terms of its neighborhoods.
Detroit was also an immigrant city in the early to mid-twentieth century. Many European immigrant groups competed with black Americans for jobs, housing, and in the case of youth gangs, "turf." All of these factors caused resentment between the two communities.
The 1967 Detroit Riots were the worst racial riots in American history until the 1992 L.A. Riots.
By the second day of the rioting, the state police and National Guard were deployed and there was a city-wide curfew.
The Airborne troops entered the city on July 25.


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