July 24, 1967, file photo, a Michigan State police officer searches a youth on Detroit’s 12th Street where looting was still in progress after the previous day’s rioting. (AP Photo/File)
DETROIT (AP) — Protests that started 50 years ago in a west side Detroit neighborhood would grow into a riot and later a conflagration that threatened to swallow entire city blocks.
An angry crowd of Black people gathered near 12th and Clairmount streets in the early morning hours of July 23, 1967, after police raided an illegal after-hours club and made arrests. The crowd grew and a tense situation erupted in violence, gunshots and flames.
As smoke from dozens of fires rose cloud-like for five days above the Motor City, Associated Press photographers snapped shots of the burning storefronts and homes.
Just as startling are photos of the crowds that surged into Detroit streets, looters making off with stolen goods from hapless businesses and scores of national guardsmen called in to restore order.
The images have stood for a half-century, etched into Detroit’s fabric and history.
July 27, 1967, file photo, residents of Detroit’s riot area stand in line for free emergency food from a neighborhood organization. Hundreds of grocery stores were burned or looted during the rioting. (AP Photo/File)
