The 1967 Detroit riot, also called the 12th Street Riot and the Detroit Uprising, was the most violent of the urban riots in the United States during the "long, hot summer of 1967." It involved mostly conflicts between African American residents and the Detroit Police Department. The riot began in the early morning hours of Sunday, July 23, 1967, in Detroit, Michigan.
The starting event was a police raid on an unlicensed, after-hours bar, known as a blind pig, located on the city's Near West Side. This led to one of the deadliest and most damaging uprisings in American history. The riot lasted five days and was more severe than Detroit's 1943 race riot, which occurred 24 years earlier.
Governor George W. Romney sent the Michigan Army National Guard to Detroit to help stop the violence. President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed the United States Army's 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions. The riot caused 43 deaths, 1,189 injuries, over 7,200 arrests, and more than 400 buildings destroyed.
The scale of the riot was the worst in the United States since the 1863 New York City draft riots during the American Civil War. It was not matched until the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which happened 25 years later.
The riot was widely covered by the news media, including live television broadcasts, detailed newspaper reports, and stories in Time and Life magazines. The staff of the Detroit Free Press received the 1968 Pulitzer Prize for general local reporting for its coverage of the event.
Background
In the early 1900s, many African Americans moved to Detroit during the Great Migration, causing the city's population to grow quickly and housing to become scarce. African Americans faced strong discrimination in housing. Rules called racial covenants and unspoken agreements among white people kept Black families from living in certain neighborhoods and made it hard for most African Americans to buy homes. The presence of Ku Klux Klan members in Michigan increased racial tensions and violence. Malcolm X’s father, Earl Little, was killed in a streetcar accident in 1931. However, Malcolm X later said in his autobiography that he believed the Black Legion, a more extreme group connected to the Klan in East Lansing, was involved. A system called redlining was also used, which made it nearly impossible for Black Detroiters to buy homes in most areas of the city. This practice forced Black residents into lower-quality neighborhoods. These unfair practices and the segregation they caused contributed to racial tensions in the city before the riot. Segregation also led to harsher policing in African American neighborhoods, which made Black Detroiters feel more frustrated before the riot.
Patterns of racial and ethnic segregation continued through the middle of the 20th century. In 1956, Orville Hubbard, the mayor of Dearborn (a city in Metro Detroit), told the Montgomery Advertiser that "Negroes can't get in here…These people are so anti-colored, much more than you in Alabama."
In 1961, the election of Mayor Jerome Cavanagh brought some changes to the police department, led by new Detroit Police Commissioner George Edwards. Detroit received millions of dollars in federal funds through President Johnson’s Great Society programs and used most of the money in the inner city, where poverty and social problems were concentrated. By the 1960s, many Black people had moved into better union and professional jobs. The city had a growing Black middle class, with higher-than-normal wages for unskilled Black workers due to the success of the auto industry. There were two Black Congressmen (half of all Black Congressmen at the time), three Black judges, two Black members on the Detroit Board of Education, a housing commission that was 40% Black, and twelve Black representatives in the Michigan legislature. The city had mature Black neighborhoods like Conant Gardens. In May 1967, the federal government ranked housing for Black people in Detroit better than in Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, and Cleveland. Nicholas Hood, the only Black member of the nine-member Detroit Common Council, praised the Cavanagh administration for listening to concerns from the inner city. Weeks before the riot, Mayor Cavanagh said residents did not "need to throw a brick to communicate with City Hall."
Despite these improvements, signs of Black dissatisfaction remained. In 1964, Rosa Parks, who had moved to Detroit in the late 1950s, told an interviewer: "I don't feel a great deal of difference here [from Alabama]…Housing segregation is just as bad, and it seems more noticeable in the larger cities." The improvements mostly helped wealthier Black Detroiters, while poor Black residents remained frustrated by the city’s social conditions. Even with the progress described, segregation, police brutality, and racial tension were widespread in 1960s Detroit and played a major role in causing the riot.
The Detroit Police Department was directly controlled by the mayor. Before the riot, Mayor Cavanagh’s appointees, George Edwards and Ray Girardin, worked to reform the department. Edwards tried to recruit and promote Black police officers, but he refused to create a civilian police review board, which African Americans had asked for. During trials to discipline officers accused of brutality, Edwards faced opposition from the police department. Many white people believed his policies were "too soft on crime." In 1965, the Community Relations Division of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission studied the police and published its findings in 1968. It said the "police system" was responsible for racism. The police department was accused of hiring "bigots" and reinforcing prejudice through its "value system." A survey by President Johnson’s Kerner Commission found that 45% of police officers working in Black neighborhoods were "extremely anti-Negro" and an additional 34% were "prejudiced."
In 1967, 93% of the police force was still white, even though 30% of Detroit’s residents were Black. Police brutality made Black residents feel unsafe. Many Black people resented officers who used disrespectful language, such as calling men "boys" and women "honey" and "baby." Police often searched groups of young men and made single women feel targeted by calling them prostitutes for walking on the street. Officers frequently arrested people without proper identification. The local press reported several questionable shootings and beatings of Black citizens by officers in the years before 1967. After the riot, a Detroit Free Press survey showed that residents said police brutality was the biggest problem they faced before the riot.
Black residents complained that the police did not respond to their calls as quickly as they responded to calls from white residents. They believed the police force benefited from crimes like vice (illegal activities) in Black neighborhoods. Press reports that the police were corrupt and linked to organized crime made it harder for Black residents to trust the police. According to Sidney Fine, the biggest complaint about vice in the Black community was prostitution. Black leaders felt the police did not do enough to stop white men from exploiting Black women. In the weeks before the riot, police began cracking down on prostitution along Twelfth Street. On July 1, a prostitute was killed, and rumors spread that the police had shot her. The police said she was murdered by local pimps. Detroit police used "Big 4" or "Tac" squads (groups of four officers) to patrol neighborhoods and combat soliciting (asking for sex in exchange for money).
Black residents felt that police raids on after-hours drinking clubs were unfair. Since the 1920s, these clubs had been important parts of Detroit’s social life for Black residents. Although they started during Prohibition, they continued because Black people were not served in many Detroit bars, restaurants, and entertainment venues.
After World War II, Detroit lost nearly 150,000 jobs to the suburbs. This happened because of changes in technology, increased automation, consolidation of the auto industry, tax policies, the need for different types of manufacturing space, and the construction of highways that made transportation easier. Major companies like Packard, Hudson, and Studebaker, along with hundreds of smaller businesses, went out of business. In the 1950s, the unemployment rate stayed near 10%. Between 1946 and 1956, General Motors spent $3
Events
The crimes reported to police included looting, arson, and sniping. These crimes happened in many areas of Detroit after a police raid on an unlicensed drinking club. The Detroit Police Department, Michigan State Police, National Guard, and federal troops were sent to areas affected by the riots. The riots lasted for 6 days, from July 23 to July 28.
At 3:45 a.m. on Sunday, July 23, 1967, Detroit Police Department officers raided an unlicensed drinking club (known locally as a blind pig) in the office of the United Community League for Civic Action, above the Economy Printing Company, at 9125 12th Street. They expected to find a small group of people, but instead discovered 85 people celebrating the return of two local soldiers from the Vietnam War. The police decided to arrest everyone present. While they arranged for transportation, a large crowd gathered outside and watched the raid. Later, in a memoir, William Walter Scott III, a doorman whose father ran the raided club, said he started the riot by encouraging the crowd and throwing a bottle at a police officer.
After the police left, the crowd began looting a nearby shoe and clothing store, Parker Brothers Shoes and Menswear. Soon after, looting spread throughout the neighborhood. The Michigan State Police, Wayne County Sheriff's Department, and Michigan Army National Guard were alerted, but it took hours for Police Commissioner Ray Girardin to gather enough officers because it was Sunday. Witnesses described a "carnival atmosphere" on 12th Street. On Chene Street, reports said the crowd included people of different backgrounds. A pastor from Grace Episcopal Church reported seeing people happily throwing items from buildings. Police tried to control the crowd on 12th Street, but their efforts failed because the number of people outside was much larger than expected. The first major fire started mid-afternoon in a grocery store at the corner of 12th Street and Atkinson.
Local news media avoided reporting on the disturbance at first to prevent inspiring copycat violence. By Sunday afternoon, news spread, and people attending events like a Fox Theater Motown revue and a Detroit Tigers baseball game were warned to avoid certain areas. Motown singer Martha Reeves asked people to leave the Fox Theater quietly because of the trouble outside. Detroit Tigers general manager Jim Campbell told sportscaster Ray Lane not to mention smoke over the left-field fence during the game. Later, fans were told to avoid certain streets but were not given full details. After the game, Tigers player Willie Horton, a Detroit resident who grew up near 12th Street, drove to the riot area and stood on a car in the middle of the crowd while still wearing his baseball uniform. Despite his attempts to calm the crowd, he could not stop the violence.
Mayor Jerome Cavanagh said the situation was "critical" but not yet "out of control." At 7:45 p.m. on Sunday night, Cavanagh imposed a citywide curfew from 9:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m., banned the sale of alcohol and firearms, and limited business activity due to the unrest. Nearby communities also enacted curfews. Many white people participated in the looting and violence, raising questions about whether the event was a traditional race riot.
Michigan State Police and the Wayne County Sheriff's Department helped the overwhelmed Detroit police force. As the violence spread, police arrested people to clear the streets and held them in temporary jails. Starting Monday, some arrested individuals were not taken to court for arraignment. Many gave false names, making it hard to identify them because fingerprints had to be checked. Windsor Police were asked to help with fingerprint checks.
Police began taking photos of arrested looters, the arresting officers, and stolen goods to speed up the process and delay paperwork. More than 80% of those arrested were Black. About 12% were women. Michigan National Guardsmen were not allowed to arrest people, so state troopers and police made all arrests without distinguishing between civilians and criminals.
Michigan Governor George Romney and President Lyndon B. Johnson disagreed at first about sending federal troops to Detroit. Johnson said he could not send federal troops without Romney declaring a "state of insurrection" to comply with the Insurrection Act.
As historian Sidney Fine explains in Violence in the Model City, political disagreements complicated decisions, which is common during crises. Governor Romney, who planned to run for president in 1968, did not want Johnson to send troops based only on his request. Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, a young Irish Catholic Democrat who worked well with Black leaders, was reluctant to ask Romney, a Republican, for help.
Violence increased on Monday, with 483 fires, 231 incidents reported per hour, and 1,800 arrests. Looting and arson were widespread. Black-owned businesses were also targeted. One of the first stores looted was Hardy's drug store, owned by Black people and known for filling prescriptions on credit. A leading Black-owned women's clothing store and a popular Black restaurant were burned. A Black merchant later said, "you were going to get looted no matter what color you were." Firefighters trying to fight fires were shot at by rioters. During the riots, 2,498 rifles and 38 handguns were stolen from local stores. It was clear that local, county, and state forces could not restore order.
On Monday, U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan), who opposed federal troops, tried to calm the crowd by driving along 12th Street with a loudspeaker and asking people to return home. He stood on the hood of his car
Reactions
The Detroit riot started problems in other places as the unrest spread from the city to nearby suburbs and other parts of Michigan. Very little rioting happened in Highland Park and River Rouge, but more police were needed after a bomb threat was reported at an E.J. Korvette store in Southgate. The state sent National Guard soldiers or state police to other Michigan cities because riots also happened at the same time in Pontiac, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, Toledo, and New York City. Problems were reported in more than 150 cities, including Newark, New Jersey.
Black and white residents in Detroit had very different opinions about the events in July 1967. To understand the situation, people’s attitudes and beliefs were studied. Sidney Fine’s chapter, "The Polarized Community," includes surveys done after the riot by academic researchers and the Detroit Free Press. Although some believed the conflict helped increase interest in Black Nationalism, such as when membership in Albert Cleage’s church grew and groups like the New Detroit committee tried to include Black leaders, most whites supported separation more than Black people did.
In 1968, 1 percent of Black Detroiters supported complete separation between races, while 17 percent of white Detroiters did. About 88 percent of Black residents supported integration, but only 24 percent of white residents did. People living in the 12th Street area had different views compared to other Black residents in the city. For example, 22 percent of 12th Street Black residents believed they should avoid whites completely. However, a survey by the Detroit Free Press in 1968 showed that most Black residents approved of traditional politicians like Charles Diggs (27 percent) and John Conyers (22 percent) more than Albert Cleage (4 percent).
Damages
A total of 43 people died: 33 were Black and 10 were White. Among the Black deaths, 14 were shot by police officers; 9 were shot by National Guardsmen; 6 were shot by store owners or security guards; 2 died from breathing in smoke from a fire; 1 was killed after stepping on a broken power line; and 1 was shot by a soldier. Some officials claimed that snipers were present, but others believe this was exaggerated. Some deaths among military and law enforcement personnel may have been caused by friendly fire.
One Black civilian, Albert Robinson, was killed by a National Guardsman responding to a situation at an apartment building on the city’s west side. Ernest Roquemore, a Black teenager who was the last person to die during the unrest, was killed by Army paratroopers on July 29 when he was caught in their crossfire aimed at someone else. During the same firefight, police shot three other people, one of whom needed his leg amputated. Jack Sydnor, a Black man who shot at police and injured one officer, was shot by police in his apartment on Hazelwood Street. Sydnor was the only sniper killed during the riot.
Of the 10 White people who died, 6 were civilians, 2 were firefighters, 1 was a police officer, and 1 was a Guardsman. Among the White law enforcement personnel, 2 firefighters died: one stepped on a broken power line while fighting a fire started by looters, and the other was shot while organizing fire units. One police officer was shot by another officer during a struggle with looters, and one Guardsman was shot by fellow Guardsmen while caught in crossfire. Among the White civilians, 2 were shot by National Guardsmen—one was in a hotel room and mistaken for a sniper, and another was shot while trying to leave with her husband. One was shot by police while working as a security guard, one was beaten to death after confronting looters in his store, and one White looter was killed by police while trying to steal a car part at a junkyard.
Joe’s Record Shop, located at 8434 12th Street and owned by Joe Von Battle, was destroyed during the 1967 Detroit Riot. The shop was founded in 1945 at 3530 Hastings Street, where Battle sold records and recorded music with artists like John Lee Hooker, The Reverend C.L. Franklin, and Aretha Franklin. Battle moved his business to 12th Street in 1960 after Hastings Street was demolished to build the Chrysler Freeway. During the riot, Battle stood guard outside his shop with a gun and a sign that read “Soul Brother.” After the first day of the riot, police stopped business owners from guarding their shops. Days later, Battle returned with his daughter, Marsha Battle Philpot, and found his shop destroyed, with wet and smelly debris covering the area. Joe’s Record Shop and its collection of music tapes and recordings were ruined. The shop could not reopen due to the damage.
During the riot, 1,189 people were injured, and 7,231 people were arrested. Over 2,500 businesses reported looting or damage, and 388 families were displaced or lost their homes. Property damage costs ranged from $40 million to $45 million. Mayor Jerome Cavanagh said, “Today we stand amidst the ashes of our hopes. We hoped against hope that what we had been doing was enough to prevent a riot. It was not enough.” The scale of the 1967 Detroit Riot was the worst in the United States since the 1863 New York City draft riots during the Civil War and was not matched until the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Effects
The New Detroit committee, created by Henry Ford II, J.L. Hudson, and Max Fisher after the 1967 riots, faced criticism for supporting radical black groups. This was seen as an attempt to address the concerns of black residents and those involved in the riots. Some moderate black leaders, like Arthur L. Johnson, felt weakened because the riots gave more power to extreme groups that supported ideas like creating a black republic in parts of the South and taking weapons from stores.
A report from the Kerner Commission said that some of the most aggressive organizers in the 12th Street area did not believe killing white people was wrong.
Both black and white communities criticized the New Detroit committee for giving money and support to radical groups, which some believed was a way for wealthy white leaders to prepare for future riots. Many feared that the next riot would not only affect black neighborhoods but also white suburbs. A group called "Breakthrough," started by a city worker named Donald Lobsinger, wanted to help whites prepare for violence by arming them and staying in the city, fearing that Detroit might become mostly black and lead to fighting in the suburbs.
Detroit Councilman Mel Ravitz said the riots not only divided races but also caused splits within black and white communities. Moderate leaders of both races faced new groups that promoted extreme ideas and spread fear about future violence. In 1968, the London Free Press described Detroit as a city full of fear, prejudice, and gun violence, with tensions between races nearly breaking. Sidney Fine noted that while the riots showed some progress in addressing black concerns, they also caused lasting problems.
The riots caused many white residents to leave Detroit. Between 1967 and 1969, 173,000 white people moved out, and by 1978, Detroit schools lost 74% of their white students. After the riots, the federal and state governments gave more attention to the black community. Although the New Detroit committee later changed its name and lost its black members, more money flowed into black-owned businesses. Coleman Young, Detroit’s first black mayor, later wrote about the lasting effects of the riots.
In 2010, Thomas Sowell, a conservative writer, discussed the riots in an article. Nationally, the riots led the military and President Johnson’s administration to consider using the army to control domestic unrest.
After the riots, governments increased efforts to hire more minorities. In 1967, the first black state trooper was sworn in after 50 years. In 1968, Detroit’s mayor created a task force to recruit more black police officers. By 1972, 14% of Detroit police were black, more than double the number in 1967. The state of Michigan also pushed companies to hire more nonwhite workers, increasing minority employment by 21.1%.
The Greater Detroit Board of Commerce started a campaign to hire 10,000 people who had previously been hard to employ, many of whom were black. By October 1967, about 5,000 African-Americans had been hired, though some believed the number was higher. A survey in 1968 showed that 39% of people in affected areas thought employers had become fairer since the riots, compared to 14% who thought they had become less fair.
After the riots, automakers and retailers lowered job requirements for entry-level positions. A Michigan Bell supervisor said businesses now focused on hiring people instead of excluding them.
Before the riots, Detroit had no laws to stop housing segregation, and few existed in Michigan. Some leaders supported fair housing, but white conservatives opposed it strongly. After the riots, Governor Romney pushed for fair housing laws, including tenant rights and code enforcement. Though the laws faced resistance, they passed both houses of the legislature.
In 1970, Wayne County Sheriff Roman Gribbs created the STRESS unit, a secret police group that targeted black communities. STRESS used undercover operations to trap criminals and ignored white offenders. It was accused of killing 20 people in 30 months and conducting 500 raids without warrants, worsening tensions between police and the black community.
In 1971, the State of Emergency Committee formed to protest STRESS’s actions, and thousands marched to demand its end.
Senator Richard Austin, the first black person in several political roles, was followed by Senator Coleman Young. Unlike Austin, who worked quietly, Young took a more active and liberal approach to politics.
Legacy
A poll conducted by EPIC-MRA, a survey research firm, in July 2016 studied how black and white residents in Detroit have viewed race relations since the riots of 1967. The poll included 600 people from Macomb, Oakland, and Wayne counties. The survey took place between July 14 and July 19, a time when the Detroit Free Press noted that the nation was discussing police shootings of African-American civilians and attacks on officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge.
Respondents in the Detroit poll were more optimistic about race relations than the national average. A national poll by the Washington Post and ABC News found that only 32% of people believed race relations were good. In contrast, 56% of white Detroiters and 47% of black Detroiters believed race relations were good. Reynold Farley, a retired University of Michigan sociology professor and expert on Detroit racial demographics, said people in Detroit may be more familiar with race relations than people in states like Maine, where there are very few Black residents. Farley’s statement was supported by the poll results, which showed a clear difference between national and Detroit views about the future. Only 10% of people in the Washington Post/ABC News poll believed race relations were improving, while 33% of white Detroiters and 22% of black Detroiters thought they had improved over the past 10 years. Additionally, 50% of white Detroiters and 41% of black Detroiters believed race relations would improve in the next five years.
Although these responses suggest progress in reducing racial gaps in Detroit and greater awareness of race relations compared to the rest of the country, other poll results show work remains. When asked to describe the 1967 riots using the words “riot,” “rebellion,” or “uprising,” 61% of white respondents chose “riot,” while 12% chose “rebellion” and 12% chose “uprising.” Among Black respondents, 34% chose “riot,” 27% chose “rebellion,” and 24% chose “uprising.” Most respondents agreed that significant progress had been made since the riots, compared to little or no progress. However, many Black Detroiters still feel they face discrimination similar to what caused the riots. For example, 28% of Black Detroiters reported feeling unfairly treated in hiring, pay, or promotion in the past year, twice the rate of white Detroiters. Also, 73% of Black Detroiters believed they were treated less fairly than white people when trying to find a good job.
In popular culture
Several songs talk about the riot, such as "Black Day in July" by Gordon Lightfoot and "The Motor City Is Burning" by John Lee Hooker. The 2017 movie Detroit, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, was inspired by the Algiers Motel killings. People who were involved in the event helped create the film.
Art influenced by the riots
In 2017, an exhibition titled "Art of Rebellion: Black Art of the Civil Rights Movement" was organized by Valerie J. Mercer at the Detroit Institute of Arts. This exhibition included many artworks created in response to events from 1967. One of these works was "Black Attack" (1967), painted by Detroit artist Allie McGhee right after the 1967 events. The painting uses wide, colorful strokes that look spontaneous to show the artist's memories of Black people's strength and determination during times of struggle.
In 2017, Detroit artist Rita Dickerson created a work titled "1967: Death in the Algiers Motel and Beyond." In this artwork, Dickerson shows the Algiers Motel and portraits of three young Black men who were killed there by police. Below the portraits are the names of people who have died in recent years during encounters with police, showing that police violence still takes lives of Black people.
Bill Harris, a Detroit-based poet, playwright, and educator, wrote a book about the Black community in Detroit after July 1967. The book, titled Detroit: A Young Guide to the City, was edited by Sheldon Annis and published by Speedball Publications in 1970.
In 2017, two plays based on firsthand accounts of the 1967 events were performed. Detroit '67, created by the Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers, shared recollections from five people in the Detroit area at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Another play, AFTER/LIFE, performed at the Joseph Walker Williams Recreation Center, presented the events from the perspectives of women and girls.