Detroit Riots of 1943

1090 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Brief history of racism in the united states

The Detroit Riots of 1943 Since the time of slavery, racial tension has existed between whites and blacks. This tension has only increased with the passing of time. This conflict culminated in the 1940s in the form of mob violence. While there have been previous riots because of race relations, none of them were of the magnitude of the 1943 Detroit riot. Much like any other event involving racism in the 1940s, the Detroit riot has little coverage, most of which is skewed, in articles in the nation?s leading news sources such as ?Deep Trouble? in Time, ?Riotous Race Hate? in Newsweek, and ?The Truth About the Detroit Riot? in Harper?s. Thus, one must compare articles from these sources to ascertain accurate information. Even when comparing these accounts, the reader finds discrepancies in the causation and destruction of the Detroit riot. By analyzing these descriptions, one can also notice the similarities between the Detroit riot and other mob violence during that time period. For example, James Baldwin?s retelling of the Harlem riot in ?Notes of a Native Son? bears great similarities in causation and destruction with the Detroit riot. Tensions in Detroit finally broke during a beautiful summer day on the 20 of June 1943. At the Belle Isle Park, at least one fistfight broke out between a black man and a white man. Discrepancies arise when inquiring into why this fistfight broke out. Time attributes the cause to be tensions between races in the park. Newsweek describes the source of the tension as white resentment for the blacks in the park in addition to the increase in the number of jobs held by blacks in Detroit. In this account, blacks had feverishly taken over the park, hardly leaving room for the white pe... ... middle of paper ... ...s. But despite these variations, there is one underlying fact which unites the three: The African-American community?s hatred for white America and vise versa. However, this hatred is not only unique to the Detroit area. Based on the striking similarities between the events of the Detroit and Harlem riots, one can see that this hatred was felt by both sides across the nation. And based on the aftermath of both incidents, one can conclude rioting accomplished nothing but further damage to the African-American communities. Works Cited Baldwin, James. ?Notes of a Native Son.? 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84. Brown, Earl. ?The Truth About the Detroit Riot.? Harper?s Nov. 1943 : 488 ?Deep Trouble.? Time 28 June. 1943 : 19+ ?Riotous Race Hate.? Newsweek 28 June. 1943 : 48

Show More
Related

  • Los Angeles Riots In Twilight

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    Consolidated with authentic research, Twilight provides an important examination of the hidden reasons for the Los Angeles riots. A more drawn out chronicled see additionally uncovers the bigger class strains and the gigantic change of ethnic structure of Los Angeles from 1970 to 1990 that added to the atmosphere that could deliver such a huge scale riot.

    Read More

  • Book Review Of Laura Wexler's Fire In A Canebrake

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    Four black sharecroppers (Roger Malcom, Dorothy Malcom, George Dorsey and Mae Murray Dorsey) are brutally murdered by a group of white people. The murders attracted national attention, but the community was not willing to get involved. The community was not fazed by these brutal murders but, by the fact that this incident got national attention. They were even more astounded that the rest of the nation even cared. In this book Laura Wexler shows just how deep racism goes. After reading the book I discovered that Fire in a Canebrake has three major themes involving racism. The first is that racism obstructs progression. The second is history repeats itself. The last theme is that racism can obscure the truth. This lynching, in particular, marks a turning point in the history of race relations and the governments’ involvement in civil rights. In the end this case still remains unsolved. No concept of the

    Read More

  • Baldwin's Father in Notes of a Native Son

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    Narrative is a form of writing used by writers to convey their experiences to an audience. James Baldwin is a renowned author for bringing his experience to literature. He grew up Harlem in the 1940’s and 1950’s, a crucial point in history for America due to the escalading conflict between people of different races marked by the race riots of Harlem and Detroit. This environment that Baldwin grew up in inspires and influences him to write the narrative “Notes of a Native Son,” which is based on his experience with racism and the Jim-Crow Laws. The narrative is about his father and his influence on Baldwin’s life, which he analyzes and compares to his own experiences. When Baldwin comes into contact with the harshness of America, he realizes the problems and conflicts he runs into are the same his father faced, and that they will have the same affect on him as they did his father.

    Read More

  • 1968 Chicago Riots

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chicago Riots Have you ever felt as if your government is doing the wrong thing? During the Democratic National Convention in 1968, an estimate of 5-7K protesters were not happy with the results on what was happening in the government. So a group called Yippies started an organized protest. They started to have riots in places like Chicago, where soon after the police came in and started to relentlessly beat the protesters with billy clubs.

    Read More

  • Style of The Fire Next Time

    521 Words  | 2 Pages

    James Baldwin is one of the premier essayists of his time. He draws on his experiences in a straightforward, unapologetic manner, which helps achieve his purpose in The Fire Next Time. His style elucidates his arguments for racial harmony and for the understanding of other religions.

    Read More

  • Historical Methodology

    2024 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Strange Career of Jim Crow, by C. Van Woodward, traces the history of race relations in the United States from the mid and late nineteenth century through the twentieth century. In doing so Woodward brings to light significant aspects of Reconstruction that remain unknown to many today. He argues that the races were not as separate many people believe until the Jim Crow laws. To set up such an argument, Woodward first outlines the relationship between Southern and Northern whites, and African Americans during the nineteenth century. He then breaks down the details of the injustice brought about by the Jim Crow laws, and outlines the transformation in American society from discrimination to Civil Rights. Woodward’s argument is very persuasive because he uses specific evidence to support his opinions and to connect his ideas. Considering the time period in which the book and its editions were written, it should be praised for its insight into and analysis of the most important social issue in American history.

    Read More

  • The Newark Riots of 1967

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Newark riots of 1967 were very extreme and terrible time in Newark, New Jersey, one of the worst in U.S. history. The riots were between African-Americans and white residents, police officers and the National Guard. The riots were not unexpected. The tension between the city grew tremendously during the 1960's, due to lack of employment for Blacks, inadequate housing, police brutality and political exclusion of blacks from government.

    Read More

  • James Baldwin

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    “In 1963, Attorney General Robert Kennedy invited Baldwin and other prominent blacks to discuss the nation's racial situation” (Magill 103). The meeting only reminded Baldwin on how far the nation still had to come (Magill 103). Baldwin continued to write. “During the last 10 years of his life, he produced a number of important works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry” (PBS 4). For awhile he taught and lectured, but soon it became more and more difficult for him to write (Magill 103). The years of drinking, smoking and traveling finally took their toll (Magill 103). “In 1987, James developed stomach cancer, and it took his life at the age of 63 on December 1, in his home in France” (PBS 4). Being a successful black man in the 1900s shows how smart and gifted James Baldwin

    Read More

  • The Civil Rights Movement in 1955

    1720 Words  | 4 Pages

    Baldwin, James. “Notes of a Native Son.” 1995. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.

    Read More

  • Racial Challenges During The Progressive Era

    1166 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Chicago riot was the most serious of the multiple that happened during the Progressive Era. The riot started on July 27th after a seventeen year old African American, Eugene Williams, did not know what he was doing and obliviously crossed the boundary of a city beach. Consequently, a white man on the beach began stoning him. Williams, exhausted, could not get himself out of the water and eventually drowned. The police officer at the scene refused to listen to eyewitness accounts and restrained from arresting the white man. With this in mind, African Americans attacked the police officer. As word spread of the violence, and the accounts distorted themselves, almost all areas in the city, black and white neighborhoods, became informed. By Monday morning, everyone went to work and went about their business as usual, but on their way home, African Americans were pulled from trolleys and beaten, stabbed, and shot by white “ruffians”. Whites raided the black neighborhoods and shot people from their cars randomly, as well as threw rocks at their windows. In retaliation, African Americans mounted sniper ambushes and physically fought back. Despite the call to the Illinois militia to help the Chicago police on the fourth day, the rioting did not subside until the sixth day. Even then, thirty eight

    Read More

  • Race Relations Between African Americans and Whites Following Reconstruction

    776 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...rowth; politics witnessed significant alterations, as well. However, there were no changes as profound as those seen in the decline in racial relations between whites and newly-freed African Americans in the south. Here, the discriminatory practices of the pre-Civil War period were reborn anew through laws meant to disenfranchise African Americans and the Supreme Court ruling of Plessy v. Ferguson. Though government agencies like the Freedmen’s Bureau were designed to help combat some of these problems, they lacked the expertise and the funding to do so. Coupled with the growing apathy of northerners to the plight of newly-freed slaves, it was clear that racial relations in the south would gradually worsen and worsen, coming to a head only with the actions of Civil Rights supporters in the 1950s and 1960s, thus demonstrating the long-term impact of these changes.

    Read More

  • A Review on the Works of James Baldwin

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    When Baldwin was three years of age his mother married David Baldwin, a Southerner who had made the journey to New York as part of the large stream of black migration north during the times following the First World War. James, t...

    Read More

  • Chicago Race Riot of 1919

    3035 Words  | 7 Pages

    ...on.” 1956. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998: 606-613.

    Read More

  • Rookie Agent Essay

    542 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unfortunately, different police departments have opted to stigmatize this racial group as major generators actors of violence. Therefore, the proceedings against African-Americans is different. Furthermore, if we add the bitterness with which many individuals live in this racial group because of the slavery suffered from the last century, also the cruel racial discrimination to which they were subjected for decades made a trigger to the excessive violence that we live in today when these cases

    Read More

  • Downtown Detroit

    466 Words  | 1 Pages

    The downfall of Detroit occurred in the year of 1967 because of the “demographic and economic losses due to the downturn of the automobile industry” (Trendafilova). It started with the decaying factories, which resulted into the collapsing of the auto industry and created a record-setting unemployment rate.This led to the city’s abandoned homes, dark streets, crime, and complete recession to “the largest municipal bankruptcy in the nations history” (Vitello). The Detroit riots were an addition to this economic downfall. They sparked because of a police raid at an unlicensed bar with a crowd of primarily young African Americans. The violence that occurred that night was said to have created the largest civil disturbance of twentieth century America. The disturbance called for the Detroit police and fire departments, the Michigan State Police, the Michigan National Guard, and US Army to be involved. As a result, this was another aspect of Detroit that was destroyed. With buildings destroyed, and a sense of racism that this event brought about, called for deindustrialization of the city. Many jobs were moving to the communities on the outskirts of the city, and the reasons to stay in Detroit were

    Read More

More about Detroit Riots of 1943

Open Document