Detroit Race Riot (1943)

The Detroit Race Riot broke out in Detroit, Michigan in June 1943 and lasted for three days before Federal troops restored order. The rioting between blacks and whites began on Belle Isle on 20 June 1943 and continued until 22 June, killing 34, wounding 433, and destroying property valued at $2 million.^[1]

The Beginnings

In the summer of 1943, in the midst of World War II, tensions between blacks and whites in Detroit were escalating. Detroit's population had grown by 350,000 people since the war began. The booming defense industries brought in large numbers of people with high wages and very little available housing. 50,000 blacks had recently arrived along with 300,000 whites, mostly from rural Appalachia.^[2]

The Riots

The altercations between black and white youth started on June 20, 1943, on a warm Saturday evening on Belle Isle. A fist fight broke out when a white sailor's girlfriend was insulted by a black man. The brawl eventually grew into a confrontation between groups of blacks and whites and then spread into the city. Rumors had started that a black woman had been assaulted by a white man. Another rumor was that a white woman was raped and killed by a black man. Stores were looted and buildings were burned in the riot, most of which were in a black neighborhood roughly two miles in and around Paradise Valley, one of the oldest and poorest neighborhoods in Detroit. The clashes soon escalated to the point where black and white mobs were “assaulting one another, beating innocent motorists, pedestrians and streetcar passengers, burning cars, destroying storefronts and looting businesses."^[2] Both sides were said to have encouraged others to join in the riots with false claims that one of “their own” was attacked unjustly.^[2] More than 1,800 were arrested for looting and other incidents, the vast majority being black. Thirteen murders remain unsolved.

The aftermath

The Riots lasted three days and ended once Mayor Edward Jeffries, Jr. and Governor Harry Kelly asked President Roosevelt to intervene. Federal troops finally restored peace to the streets of Detroit. Over the course of three days, 34 people were killed, 25 of whom were African Americans. Out of the approximately 600 injured, black people accounted for more than 75 percent and of the roughly 1,800 people who were arrested over the course of the 3 day riots, black people accounted for 85 percent.^[2]

After the riot, leaders on both sides had an explanation for the riots. White city leaders including the mayor pointed the finger at young black “hoodlums.”^[2] The Wayne County prosecutor believed that the leaders of the NAACP were to blame as the instigators of the riots.^[2] Detroit's black leaders pointed to other causes ranging from job discrimination, to housing discrimination, police brutality and daily animosity received from Detroit's white population.^[2] Following the violence, Japanese propaganda officials incorporated the event into its materials encouraging black soldiers not to fight for the United States, most notably in a flyer titled "Fight Between Two Races."

See also

Metro Detroit portal

• 1967 Detroit riot

References

1. ^ Dominic J. Capeci, Jr., and Martha Wilkerson, "The Detroit Rioters of 1943: A Reinterpretation," Michigan Historical Review, Jan 1990, Vol. 16 Issue 1, pp 49-72
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Sitkoff, "The Detroit Race Riot 1943"

• Capeci, Jr., Dominic J., and Martha Wilkerson, "The Detroit Rioters of 1943: A Reinterpretation," Michigan Historical Review, Jan 1990, Vol. 16 Issue 1, pp 49–72
• Sitkoff, Harvard. "The Detroit Race Riot 1943," Michigan History, May 1969, Vol. 53 Issue 3, pp 183–206, reprinted in John Hollitz, ed. Thinking Through The Past: Volume Two: since 1865 (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005) ch 8.
• Sugrue, Thomas J. (1996). The Origins of the Urban Crisis. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-05888-1. 
• "The 1943 Race Riots". The Detroit News. http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=185&category=events. Retrieved September 22, 2006. 
• Norman Prady. "The Story of How Mother Catered The Riots". The Detroit News.