Forty-five years ago, during the long, hot
summer of 1967, the city of Detroit erupted in one of the deadliest and
costliest riots in the history of the United States. Reportedly sparked
by a police raid on an unlicensed bar on July 23, the conflagration
lasted four terrifying days and nights, left scores dead and hundreds
injured, thousands arrested, untold numbers of businesses looted,
hundreds of buildings utterly destroyed and Detroit’s reputation in
tatters.
The reasons behind the riot, of course, are far thornier — socially,
economically, racially — than a mere raid on a gin joint. While Detroit
in the mid-Sixties had a larger black middle class than most American
cities its size — thanks in large part to strong unions, high employment
and the thriving, all-powerful auto industry — it was hardly a model of
racial harmony. (During World War II, for example, Detroit was the
scene of an infamous race riot caused in large part by tensions between
whites and blacks over jobs in auto plants that were churning out tanks,
planes and other war-related goods.)
But the 1967 eruption, also known as the 12th Street riot, was
remarkable not only for how long it lasted, but for the force that the
city, state and federal authorities brought to bear in an effort to
impose order on a city in flames. Then-governor George Romney sent in
thousands of National Guard troops, while President Lyndon Johnson
eventually ordered paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne on to the
streets.
Long before even a semblance of calm was restored, however, chaos
reined, and horrific tales of assaults, beatings, robberies and killings
poured out of the city — including allegations, later reported on by
the great journalist John Hersey, that Detroit police officers murdered
three young black men at a Detroit motel in the midst of the riots.
Throughout it all, photographer Lee Balterman (who died in March 2012
at the age of 91) was there, recording the terrible scene. Here, on the
45th anniversary of the 12th Street riot, LIFE.com presents a selection
of his most powerful pictures, most of which were never published in
LIFE, chronicling one of the bleakest chapters in American history —
four days that stunned a nation and left scars on a great city that are
still seen and felt today.
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