University of Michigan Press Blog

Remembering the 1967 Detroit Riot, part 5: “All that was hidden burning on the oil-stained earth”

by Brian Matzke July 23, 2017

“All that was hidden burning on the oil-stained earth”: Detroit since the riot Don’t Ask Philip Levine So Ask Essays, Conversations, and Interviews Philip Levine The Bread of Time Toward an Autobiography Philip Levine Detroit Is No Dry Bones The Eternal City of the Industrial Age Camilo José Vergara The Unreal Estate Guide to Detroit Andrew Herscher The legacy of the riots can be felt in the poetry of the U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Levine, whose “They Feed They Lion” was inspired by his visit to his hometown of Detroit after the riots, and his feelings […]

Remembering the 1967 Detroit Riot, part 4: “A striking ambiguity”

by Brian Matzke July 21, 2017

“A striking ambiguity”: Race, labor, and radical politics before and after the riot Black Detroit and the Rise of the UAW New Edition August Meier and Elliott Rudwick Foreword by Joe W. Trotter Right in Michigan’s Grassroots From the KKK to the Michigan Militia JoEllen McNergney Vinyard Secret Witness The Untold Story of the 1967 Bombing in Marshall, Michigan Blaine L. Pardoe Black America in the Shadow of the Sixties Notes on the Civil Rights Movement, Neoliberalism, and Politics Clarence Lang 1967 was not the first time Detroit experienced a large scale riot. The summer of 1943 saw a riot […]

Remembering the 1967 Detroit Riot, part 3: “Serving their interests and needs”

by Brian Matzke July 17, 2017

“Serving their interests and needs”: The failures of Detroit’s public institutions The Rise and Fall of an Urban School System Detroit, 1907-81, Second Edition Jeffrey Mirel Faith in the City Preaching Radical Social Change in Detroit Angela D. Dillard 9226 Kercheval The Storefront that Did Not Burn, With a New Preface Nancy Milio Grit, Noise, and Revolution The Birth of Detroit Rock ‘n’ Roll David A. Carson Right up until the riot, Mayor Jerome Cavanagh and other city officials promoted Detroit as a “model city” for urban renewal and positive race relations. But beneath the surface, demographic changes were undermining […]

Remembering the 1967 Detroit Riot, part 2: “Be calm and as quiet as possible”

by Brian Matzke July 12, 2017

“Be calm and as quiet as possible”: Rebellion on the Television Grand River and Joy Susan Messer TV Land–Detroit Gordon Castelnero The Detroit Tigers Reader Tom Stanton, Editor Violence in the Model City Sidney Fine Susan Messer’s novel Grand River and Joy begins on Halloween 1966. Harry Levine arrives at his wholesale shoe warehouse in downtown Detroit to find an ethnic slur soaped on his window. Searching the basement for supplies to clean the window, he discovers a makeshift living room with a stash of marijuana and black power literature, left there by Alvin, the teenaged tenant who lives in the apartment […]

Remembering the 1967 Detroit Riot, part 1: “Before the whole damn studio went up in flames”

by Brian Matzke July 10, 2017

“Before the whole damn studio went up in flames”: Motown at the start of the 1967 riot The Automobile and American Culture David L. Lewis and Laurence Goldstein, Editors Before Motown A History of Jazz in Detroit, 1920-60 Lars Bjorn with Jim Gallert One Nation Under A Groove Motown and American Culture Gerald Early I Hear a Symphony Motown and Crossover R&B Andrew Flory Guitars, Bars, and Motown Superstars Dennis Coffey This month marks the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Detroit riot, also knowns as the 12th Street riot, one of the deadliest and most destructive riots in American history. […]

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