Detroit Race Riot Exposes Housing Segregation and War Production Tensions

The Detroit race riot erupts on June 20, 1943, killing 34 people, injuring over 400, and causing $2 million in property damage. The violence exposes how federal housing policy enforces residential segregation while demanding integrated war production, creating explosive tensions that government policy itself generates.

Detroit’s Black population doubles during the war as migrants from the South seek war production jobs. Federal housing policy explicitly maintains residential segregation, with the Federal Housing Administration refusing to insure mortgages in integrated neighborhoods. The Sojourner Truth housing project, initially designated for Black defense workers, becomes a flashpoint when white residents protest, leading to riots in February 1942 and forcing Black families to move in under National Guard protection.

Overcrowding in Black neighborhoods reaches crisis levels while white neighborhoods remain artificially restricted. Black workers share beds in shifts; families live in converted storefronts and garages. White workers receive priority for new defense housing. The war production workforce is integrated, but housing, recreation, and public accommodations remain segregated, creating daily friction.

The riot begins at Belle Isle park after altercations between white and Black youth. Rumors spread on both sides, and violence engulfs the city for three days. The Detroit Police Department response is notably unequal: 17 of the 25 Black people killed die at the hands of police, while no white people are killed by police. Federal troops finally restore order.

The NAACP’s Thurgood Marshall investigates and documents police brutality during the riot. The report is suppressed by officials who fear its release would harm war production. No policy changes address the underlying housing segregation. The Detroit riot, along with similar violence in Harlem, Los Angeles, and other cities in 1943, demonstrates how federal housing policy creates the conditions for racial violence while the government refuses to address root causes.