The events of 1967 Detroit uprising unfolded rapidly. It was sparked by a glass bottle being thrown at a police officer early Sunday morning on July 23, 1967. By the end of that day, the Detroit Police, Michigan State Police, and National Guard had all been called in to try to control the situation.
Fifty years later, starting late Saturday evening, Michigan Radio and Stateside will be tweeting the events of the 1967 Detroit uprising as they happened.
Follow along as @StatesideRadio retells the story of a city that had reached a breaking point.
We'll be tweeting as though Michigan Radio were on the scene, documenting in real time the confusion and chaos that spread through the city.
This project is drawing from a variety of academic and historic sources, including the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University and the Detroit Public Library. Reference books, including Sidney Fine's Violence in the Model City: The Cavanagh Administration, Race Relations, and the Detroit Riot of 1967 , and Joel Stone's Detroit 1967: Origin, Impact, Legacies, provided many details about the uprising.
We will also be referencing and sharing news articles, radio reports, and television broadcasts from various media organizations created during and after the uprising of 1967.