Mrs. Bennett
Title
Mrs. Bennett
Description
Mrs. Bennett was a wife and mother living in Detroit in July of 1967.
Publisher
Detroit Historical Society
Date
07/26/2016
Rights
Detroit Historical Society, Detroit, MI
Format
Text
Language
en-US
Type
Written Story
Text
When we will reflect upon the 1967 riots we remember so much and we often laugh about certain episodes that happened during the riots . WE do thank God for where we are now through it all we are still in the Big D and through the riots and the violence and everything else we still have Hope in this city . WE've raised our four children and adopted one more .
OUR oldest son retired from this Michigan State Police after 25 years and I retired from the Detroit Police Department after 29 years and certainly I do remember one particular night during the riots we were living in a two-family house at West Davison and 12th it's a vacant lot now but I recall one night the Federal National Guard tanks came I guess they were going east on Davison and they shot out the street lights late at night my husband grabbed two girls that we had at the time they were four and six and my cousin Gaie was visiting from New Jersey and she was visiting for the summer to . We all got behind the mattress and all of a sudden we heard a baby crying in his crib he was only 29 months James jr. And he woke up and he started to cry because he didn't know what was going on I looked at my husband and said oh no we forgot jr. I looked at my cousin Gail and I said Gale go get jr. she looked at me and said that you and rRebs baby you go get him .So many other memories , you know youcould not buy food because stores.were burnt down so we were going to different churches getting food for for the family and I do remember they gave us horse meat to eat and I said wow I've never eaten horsemeat before but it had a good taste thank you Jesus I was sitting on the steps with my cousin and I we were sitting on the steps and a young man came back and he said how come you aren't out shopping and I said shopping we don't have any money so he looked at me and said Mrs B you don't need any money just go get what you want but I said oh no I could never do that and it was just so much going on but I do thank God that we lived through the 1967 riots and we have been married over 54 years and we thank God for our spiritual leader Bishop Charles Haywood Ellis and His companion and so much was going on and we just thank God that we are still alive today. Living in the Big D
OUR oldest son retired from this Michigan State Police after 25 years and I retired from the Detroit Police Department after 29 years and certainly I do remember one particular night during the riots we were living in a two-family house at West Davison and 12th it's a vacant lot now but I recall one night the Federal National Guard tanks came I guess they were going east on Davison and they shot out the street lights late at night my husband grabbed two girls that we had at the time they were four and six and my cousin Gaie was visiting from New Jersey and she was visiting for the summer to . We all got behind the mattress and all of a sudden we heard a baby crying in his crib he was only 29 months James jr. And he woke up and he started to cry because he didn't know what was going on I looked at my husband and said oh no we forgot jr. I looked at my cousin Gail and I said Gale go get jr. she looked at me and said that you and rRebs baby you go get him .So many other memories , you know youcould not buy food because stores.were burnt down so we were going to different churches getting food for for the family and I do remember they gave us horse meat to eat and I said wow I've never eaten horsemeat before but it had a good taste thank you Jesus I was sitting on the steps with my cousin and I we were sitting on the steps and a young man came back and he said how come you aren't out shopping and I said shopping we don't have any money so he looked at me and said Mrs B you don't need any money just go get what you want but I said oh no I could never do that and it was just so much going on but I do thank God that we lived through the 1967 riots and we have been married over 54 years and we thank God for our spiritual leader Bishop Charles Haywood Ellis and His companion and so much was going on and we just thank God that we are still alive today. Living in the Big D
Original Format
Email
Submitter's Name
Mrs. Bennett
Submission Date
07/22/2016
Files
Collection
Citation
“Mrs. Bennett,” Detroit Historical Society Oral History Archive, accessed October 9, 2024, http://oralhistory.detroithistorical.org/items/show/324.