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Helen McQueery, August 4th, 2016
In this interview, McQueery discusses living with racism in Detroit and how it affected her employment. She talks about being the first black, and first woman, working in the field of photography in the Detroit area. Helen also offers her…
Richard Viecelli, August 12th, 2016
Viecelli discusses the 1967 disturbance from a police officer’s perspective, which he considers not a riot, but a “baby war.” He was stationed at Kiefer Command Center, where he tracked incoming and outgoing calls for the police. Notably, Vicelli…
Hubert Locke, August 17th, 2016
In this interview, Locke discusses working his work at the Detroit Police Department during 1967. He also describes the tension between government and the department, along with frustration between citizens and the Detroit Police Department. Locke…
Venita Thompkins, July 23rd, 2016
Venita Thompkins was 4 years old in July of 1967. She remembers seeing fires on her street and being nervous about the presence of troops and tanks and the energy of the 12th Street and Virginia Park neighborhood.
Julian Witherspoon III
Julian Witherspoon was 10 years old and lived between 12th Street and 14th Street.
Muriel Earl and Albert Colbard, June 29th, 2016
In this interview, Earl and Colbard tell of their upbringing on the west side of Detroit and their memories of what happened the night the blind pig was raided a few houses down from their house. They discuss what happened during the week, and how…
Thomas Wilson, July 6th, 2016
In this interview, Wilson discusses moving to Detroit from West Virginia. He enjoyed growing up in a working neighborhood. He then moved to discussing the chaos of the civil disturbance on 1967. He provides examples of how the National Guard…
Ralph Jones
Ralph Jones had just graduated from Cass Tech in the summer of 1967. The week of July 23, he was a camp councilor and spent several days away from the city.
Mary Thompson, June 27th, 2016
In this interview, Thompson describes race relations in Detroit before, during, and after July 1967. She recalls the day she found out about the disturbance as she drove down Dexter toward Twelfth Street in her taxi. She then went home to care for…
Norbert Kidd, June 29th, 2016
In this interview, Norbert Kidd discusses his experience with the unrest in 1967. Though he was not viewing the events up close, he watched the flames and destruction from the balcony of his apartment building. He also talks about how he went and…
Maxine Jones, June 18th, 2016
In this interview, Jones remembers the feelings in the city during the events of the summer of 1967. Her sister gave birth a few days before the unrest began and they had to track down her brother-in-law who was missing. She discusses how that…
Gerald Raines, March 19th, 2016
In this interview Gerald Raines discusses his home life and education while growing up in Detroit, Michigan. He also details his observations during the first few days of the 1967 disturbances, including his time spent volunteering to assist the fire…
Berl Falbaum, April 21st, 2016
In this interview, Falbaum discusses his impressions when he first moved to Detroit, as well as his work covering Mayor Cavanagh's office during the summer of 1967.
Tyrone Cunningham
Tyrone Cunningham and his brother went to see the destruction on 12th Street when they heard about the unrest.
Juanita Harper, August 15th, 2015
In this interview, Harper discusses growing up in Detroit including life before, during, and after the 1967 disturbance. She tells the story of the death of her brother, who was shot by a National Guardsman, and the lasting effects of the event on…
Richard Rybinski, July 25th, 2015
In this interview, Rybinski discusses growing up in the Warrendale neighborhood in Detroit as it grew during the post–World War II housing boom as well as his parents’ employment histories in Detroit during the forties, fifties, and sixties. He also…
Renee Giles, August 3rd, 2015
In this interview, Giles discusses her experiences as an 11 year old living on Fourteenth Street near the origin of the unrest in July 1967. She and her family were evacuated by the National Guard and stayed with relatives. Her father saved a…
Deborah Chenault Green
Deborah Chenault Green recalls her vivid memories living in the Twelfth Street neighborhood during the unrest in 1967. She also shares some of her poetry inspired by these events.
Bob Frank
Bob Frank recalls the theft and looting of his business, a pawnshop on Twelfth Street.