"Whites can stay north of Eight Mile Road and we'll stay here!" Mayor Coleman Young discussing the white flight

Before Detroit Was a City

It all began in the 1600’s when France started to establish forts in North America.  They placed these forts at strategic locations in order to prevent the British from moving out of the New England Area and establish a monopoly.  The area of Detroit, because of its location was picked as one of the areas for these forts.  The surrounding Great Lakes made this a prime location because travel was easy and it made defending the area easier.  A French Court Agreed and established the settlement on the Detroit River in 1701.  The fort and settlement built here were not the first in the Detroit area, but little is known about the prior inhabitants.

Detroit in the Eighteenth Century

The economy suffered at the end of the 17th century due to an abundance of beaver pelts that accrued in about 10 years.  The French decided to close all of their trading posts but four which were to remain open only as long as the military needed them. 

A commander of one of the posts wanted to ensure that Britain could not move west and Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac wanted to ensure that the trade was controlled as well.  He decided to “Europeanize” Native Americans so he persuaded them to surround his post with their settlements because military defense and travel as well as other economic purposes would be made simpler due to the river being close. This area is now known as modern day Detroit.

Fort Detroit got its name from the Detroit River, which in French means the “strait of Lake Erie.”  In 1701, the city was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac.  At this time it was not a city, but a settlement which he named Fort Detroit.  Francois Marie Picote, sieur de Belestre was the last military commander of Fort Detroit until he surrendered on November 29, 1760 to the British.

Fort Detroit was shortened to Detroit after British troops gained control during the French and Indian War.  The name was shortened in 1760 and in 1763 several Indian tribes blockaded Fort Detroit under Chief Pontiac. Due to the minor wars between the French and the British over United States Territory, the French lost all of their forts east of Detroit which caused the post located in Detroit to grow significantly. The French expanded the fort to ensure its survival and to make sure an army was available at the fort, the Governor of Canada offered free land and livestock to anyone who would settle there. In response to the action by the tribes, the British Royal Proclamation of 1763 contained limitations on white settlement in Indian territories.  In 1796 Detroit was given to the United States from Great Britain under the Jay Treaty.

Detroit became an official town by the legislature of the Northwest Territory in 1802.  There was no mayor, but the Government was made up of a five person board.  Michigan Territory was established in 1805 and Detroit was made its capital.

19th Century Detroit

From the years 1805 to 1847, Detroit was the capitol of Michigan. In June of 1805, a fire broke out that nearly devastated the entire city.  All that remained standing was a warehouse by the river and brick chimneys that were atop wooden houses.  The government in Detroit proposed an Act to the U.S. Congress to rebuild Detroit which would expand it by an extra 10,000 acres and in 1806 the Act was passed.  During the War of 1812, the Governor surrendered the city of Detroit to the British only to have it returned to the United States in 1813 and in 1815, Detroit became an official city

Since Detroit was located close to the Canadian Boarder, it was often a stop on the Underground Railroad.  Zachariah Chandler, who was was anti-slavery and a former Whig, founded the Republican Party in Jackson, Michigan.  Ulysses S. Grant was also stationed in Jackson.  Many people from Detroit volunteered to fight during the Civil War.  Many residents from Detroit started with the Iron Brigade, which helped to defend our Nations Capital early on in the War.  Abraham Lincoln has even been quoted saying “Thank God for Michigan!”

Detroit was often referred to as the “Paris of the West” during the Gilded Age as many mansions and buildings were built after the Civil War.  Thomas Edison even electrified Washington Boulevard.

Detroit in the 20th Century

Henry Ford built the first automobile factory in 1899.  Rival automobile manufacturers which include Dodge and General Motors soon came to Detroit.  All of these manufacturers set up their headquarters in Detroit making it the world’s automobile capital.

Because of the new automobile industry, the industrial production increased within the city limits.  These new factories created many new jobs and people came in large numbers from Europe and the South.  In just thirty short years, the town’s population grew from 265, 000 to 1.5 million.  The city’s appearance also changed.  Detroit was previously known as the “Paris of the Midwest”, but the industry caused the city to transform into a blue collar landscape.  The river became lined with factories and the downtown area became home to skyscrapers. 

World War II changed the city enormously.  The production of automobiles stopped from 1942-1945.  The factories which once produced automobiles started to produce tanks, jeeps, and B-24 Bombers.  Detroit became known as “The Arsenal of Democracy” due to the contribution to the war. 

In the 1960’s and into the 1970’s the city experience urban blight.  The number of people living in the city peaked in the 1950’s.  Once the population peaked at about 1.85 million residents, they left the city for the suburbs.  In 1950’s an interstate was constructed making suburban living more popular by cutting down driving time.  By 1960 the city of Detroit lost approximately 175,000 people to suburban living.  As the white population declined, the African American population rose.  From 1950 to 1970 the Black population in the city doubled.  Many African Americans left the South in poverty in hopes to find work in the automobile industry.  The white flight of Detroit played a role in the Twelfth Street Riot.  In 1967, this riot was the deadliest riot in the History of the United States.  During this riot 43 people were killed, about 470 injured, and at least 2,000 buildings were destroyed.

The Twelfth Street Riot was one of the causes that deteriorated the city’s reputation among whites.  In the 1970’s, African Americans made up half of the city’s populations.  The first black mayor, Coleman Young, was elected in 1973.  Young was popular with the colored residents in the city, but many whites did not approve of him and left the city in large numbers.

White flight was one of the causes which created a shift in population since 1960.  Because of this many homes and buildings were abandoned, and many other buildings are need to be fixed up.  Recently efforts for urban renewal have demolished and renovated these buildings, and tore down old houses to create new housing developments.  Abandoned homes still remain in bad areas. 

Twelfth Street Riot

Henry Ford promised the African Americans a better future.  They were brought from the south off of their farms.  When they came to the city they did not find a bright future, some found it worse than the lives they lived before.  The white people of Detroit started to despise the blacks when Ford brought them from the South and gave them their jobs.  When they worked they got along, but when work was done it wasn’t so harmonious anymore.  Blacks segregated themselves in different neighborhoods, and associated in other places.  At this time segregation was still constitutional.

The areas that the African Americans lived in were beyond horrible living conditions.  Even though they lived in poverty, they lived in their culture and history.  During the time that Detroit expanded, the blacks were forced to stay in one area of the city.
A major riot occurred in 1943 and 10,000 people took part.  It ended with cops detaining the blacks, who did not even start the riot.  The riot was started by the whites.  They went into a black neighborhood to cause trouble because the blacks were not allowed to step food in the white neighborhoods at the time.  During the labor shortage during the World Wars, no houses were built and many people were without homes.  The blacks had nowhere to go, as the whites were put into governmental housing.  Even more African Americans lost their home when an expressway right through the middle of black neighborhoods.

In the 1960’s, the luck for the African Americans turned.  New jobs were being created and they were being promoted within the automobile industry, in turn making more money to afford a decent living.

Ossian Sweet

“I have to die a man or live a coward.” These words were spoken by Detroit physician Ossian Sweet.  In 1925, Sweet made the decision to move his family from the ghetto to an all white neighborhood.  He wanted to get out of the ghetto to build a better life for his family.  The neighborhood that he was to move to was a good neighborhood, but not safe for blacks.  Although he knew the risks as another black man moved into an all white neighborhood and was driven out of town, he decided to do it anyway.
The living conditions for blacks were horrible 7% of the population was crammed into 1% of the housing.  Some people slept on bar pool tables and some lived four families to a house.  Sweet only wanted something better for his family.

Sweet got his medical Degree at Howard University and practiced in Detroit for a while before he practiced in Vienna and Paris.  He returned to Detroit in 1924 where he took on a job at the first hospital for blacks.  Before he even moved in, trouble began.  The woman that sold Sweet her house warned him that she had received threatening calls and that she would be killed along with him if he were to move in.
On September 8, he came to his home with a small truck full of furniture.  He was nervous and brought guns and asked his family to stay with him for the first couple of days.  His two brothers decided to stay.  There was enough tension in the neighborhood for the police department to watch his house day and night.

On the 9th of September Sweet invited more friends to stay with him, along with his wife.  The streets and sidewalks were full of people.  Shots came out of their home and the person that lived across the street from them was dead.  All of the people in the house were charged with murder.