Early in the morning, at 3:25 a.m. on July 23, the Detroit Police Department raided a “blind pig,” an unofficial club operated by William Scott at the corner of 12th Street and Clairmount Avenue. The after-hours club operated in the office of the civil rights group the United Community League for Civil Action.
On that particular night, a party was being held in honor of two servicemen who had just returned home from the Vietnam War. Over the course of an hour, approximately 85 patrons were taken away from the club as nearly 200 onlookers watched the raid unfold.
Before the last person was escorted away in a police vehicle, onlookers began throwing bottles, including one toward the window of a patrol car, and started a small riot. Thousands soon joined the riot, spreading it down 12th Street. By 6:30 a.m., businesses were ransacked, and the first fire broke out, sending Detroit into flames.
By the end of the weekend, over 1,000 people had been arrested, and five people had died. By Monday, 16 people had been killed in the Detroit riots. Over the next two days, the National Guard was called in to quell the riot, but it was unsuccessful. Approximately 10 people died the day the Guard arrived, and another 12 people died Wednesday.
By Thursday, after four days, the riots had ceased. There were approximately 43 casualties, over 7,000 people were arrested, 1,400 buildings were burned, and 5,000 people were left without homes.
Considered one of the deadliest riots in the U.S., the Detroit riots were a direct result of years of segregation and racial discrimination, spearheaded particularly by the Detroit Police Department.
Just two months before the Detroit riots, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission warned state leaders that, without reform, there could be a summer of unrest. Although the government took no action, the commission provided recommendations to help address the ongoing issues. Its recommendations included establishing communication with Black leaders, creating recreational programs for young people and providing evidence that the government was working to address discriminatory policies.
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission also called for the government to ensure that police officers were enforcing the “equal application of its rules.”
For decades, Black Detroit residents were subjected to racism, racial segregation, police brutality and high unemployment levels because of a lack of economic and educational opportunities.
Along with several inequities in job opportunities, housing discrimination forced Black residents into a limited number of neighborhoods. Redistricting quickly led to significant crowding in neighborhoods where homes were in poor condition. Areas where they once thrived, such as Paradise Valley and Black Bottom, were instead turned into highways.
A major contributor to the Detroit riots was also discrimination by the police. Residents were continuously subjected to excessive force, unwarranted searches and overall harassment by police officers. In a survey conducted before the 1967 Detroit riots, according to Smithsonian Magazine, 45% of Detroit police officers who patrolled Black neighborhoods said they were very much “against” Black people. Approximately 34% said they were “prejudiced.”
For years, Black Detroiters were subjected to physical beatings and verbal abuse at the hands of these officers.
Following the 1967 Detroit riots, however, changes were made at a systemic level. Proposals addressing tenants’ rights, code enforcement and other fair housing legislation, including the Michigan Fair Housing Act of 1968, were introduced to provide residents with equal housing opportunities.
The riots also ultimately led to Black Detroiters gaining political power in the city. Shortly after the riots, figures such as Coleman Young, the first Black mayor of Detroit, and Erma Henderson, the first Black woman elected to the Detroit Common Council, came to power.
Under Henderson’s guidance, she fought discrimination in the city and its government, as well as redlining in Detroit.
“The Black community was definitely empowered,” civil rights activist and law professor Junius Williams said, according to The New York Times. “Nobody wanted that violence. But at the same time … we had the opportunity to turn that destructive power into something that was positive for the community.”
