Editing Detroit (section)

===Late 20th century, racial tension and decline===
{{Main|History of Detroit#Decline of Detroit}}
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|footer = From top: Aerial photo of Detroit (1932); Detroit at its population peak in the mid-20th century. Looking south down [[Woodward Avenue]] from the [[Maccabees Building]] with the city's skyline in the distance.
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Industrial mergers in the 1950s, especially in the automobile sector, increased oligopoly in the American auto industry. Detroit saw the consolidation of companies like Packard and [[Hudson Motor Company|Hudson]], which eventually disappeared. At its peak in the [[1950 United States census|1950 census]], Detroit was the fifth-largest U.S. city, with a population of 1.85&nbsp;million.<ref>{{citation |title=Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990 |year=1998 |url=https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/1998/demo/POP-twps0027.html |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau }}</ref> In 1950, the city held about one-third of the state's population. Over the next 60 years, the city's population declined to less than 10 percent of the state's population. The sprawling metropolitan area grew to contain more than half of Michigan's population during the same time period.<ref name=Woodford/>

The city's auto industry, which made up 60% of its economy, continued to offer employment opportunities, especially for African Americans migrating from the South to escape [[Jim Crow laws]]. While the migration brought higher employment rates, with a 103% increase in Black workers, racial discrimination persisted in employment and housing. Black Detroiters often held lower-paying factory jobs, while city services and better-paying positions remained largely dominated by white residents. Discriminatory policies, such as [[redlining]], limited Black access to housing and financial services, forcing many into overcrowded, unsafe neighborhoods. White residents and political leaders resisted integration, reinforcing a cycle of exclusion and segregation.<ref name=tjs1>{{Cite book|last=Sugrue|first=Thomas J.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/59879791|title=The origins of the urban crisis: race and inequality in postwar Detroit : with a new preface by the author|date=August 21, 2005|isbn=0-691-12186-9|edition=1st Princeton Classic |location=Princeton|oclc=59879791}}</ref>

[[Largest cities in the United States by population by decade#1950|As in other major American cities]] in the postwar era, urban planning and infrastructure changes also impacted Detroit's racial dynamics. The construction of highways and freeways in the postwar era displaced many Black communities, including historically significant neighborhoods like Black Bottom and Paradise Valley. These areas, vital for Black businesses and culture, were demolished for urban renewal projects, exacerbating the displacement of low-income residents with little consideration for the community impact.<ref name=tjs1/>

[[File:Detroitwoodward&atwater1953.jpg|thumb|An electric [[PCC streetcar]] in Detroit, 1953]]

The city also saw a shift in its transportation system, as Detroit's last [[streetcar|electric streetcar line]] was replaced with buses in 1956.<ref name="Peter Gavrilovich 2000 p.232">Peter Gavrilovich & Bill McGraw (2000) ''The Detroit Almanac: 300 Years of Life in the Motor City''. p. 232</ref><ref>[http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=9040 "News+Views: Back track"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317102927/http://www2.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=9040 |date=March 17, 2012 }}, ''Metro Times'', Retrieved on July 16, 2013.</ref> This change, alongside the rise of suburbanization and the relocation of industries to the outskirts, favored car-dependent, low-density development. By the 21st century, Detroit's [[Urban sprawl|sprawling]] metro area had developed into one of the most spread-out job markets in the U.S., contributing to a decline in Detroit's population and eroding its tax base as jobs moved beyond the reach of urban low-income workers.<ref>[http://www.freep.com/article/20130418/BUSINESS06/304180118/jobs-sprawl-Detroit-Brookings-Institution "Metro Detroit job sprawl worst in U.S.; many jobs beyond reach of poor"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130423013648/http://www.freep.com/article/20130418/BUSINESS06/304180118/jobs-sprawl-Detroit-Brookings-Institution |date=April 23, 2013 }}, ''Detroit Free Press''. Retrieved on July 16, 2013.</ref>

The [[Detroit Walk to Freedom]] civil rights march occurred in June 1963.<ref>{{cite book|title=Freedom North: Black Freedom Struggles Outside the South, 1940-1980|year=2003|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|isbn=9780312294670|pages=166–168}}</ref> [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] gave a major speech that foreshadowed his "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech in Washington, D.C., two months later. While the [[civil rights movement]] gained significant federal civil rights laws in 1964 and 1965, longstanding inequities resulted in confrontations between the police and inner-city black youth who wanted change.<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->s|title=1967 Detroit Riots|url=https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/1967-detroit-riots|access-date=January 14, 2021|website=HISTORY|language=en}}</ref>

{{quote box
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| quote = I have a dream this afternoon that my four little children, that my four little children will not come up in the same young days that I came up within, but they will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not the color of their skin&nbsp;... I have a dream this evening that one day we will recognize the words of Jefferson that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." I have a dream&nbsp;...
| source = —Martin Luther King Jr. (June 1963 Speech at the [[Detroit Walk to Freedom]])<ref name="Detroit Speech">{{cite encyclopedia|title=23 June 1963 Speech at the Great March on Detroit|url=http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_speech_at_the_great_march_on_detroit/index.html|encyclopedia=Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute Encyclopedia|access-date=15 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304110107/http://kingencyclopedia.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_speech_at_the_great_march_on_detroit/index.html|archive-date=March 4, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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[[file:Sekai-1967-October-1.jpg|thumb|right|The deadly [[1967 Detroit riot]] resulted in massive demographic shifts via [[white flight]].]]
Longstanding tensions in Detroit culminated in the [[1967 Detroit riot|Twelfth Street riot]] in July 1967. Governor [[George W. Romney]] ordered the [[Michigan National Guard]] into Detroit, and President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] sent in U.S. Army troops. The result was 43 dead, 467 injured, over 7,200 arrests, and more than 2,000 buildings destroyed, mostly in black residential and business areas. Thousands of small businesses closed permanently or relocated to safer neighborhoods. The affected district lay in ruins for decades.<ref>Sidney Fine, ''Violence in the Model City: The Cavanaugh Administration, Race Relations, and the Detroit Riot of 1967'' (1989)</ref> According to the ''Chicago Tribune'', it was the 3rd most costly riot in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 10 most-costly riots in the U.S. |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-insurance-civil-unrest-riots-bix-gfx-20141126-htmlstory.html |access-date=November 2, 2022 |website=Chicago Tribune|date=November 26, 2014 }}</ref>

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In 1970, the [[NAACP]] filed a lawsuit against Michigan state officials, including Governor [[William Milliken]], alleging ''de facto'' segregation in Detroit's public schools. The lawsuit argued that although schools were not legally segregated, policies in Detroit and surrounding counties maintained [[Racial segregation in the United States#Education|racial segregation]] through housing practices, as school demographics mirrored segregated neighborhoods.<ref name=Meinke2011>{{cite journal|last=Meinke|first=Samantha|title=Milliken v Bradley: The Northern Battle for Desegregation|journal=Michigan Bar Journal|date=September 2011|volume=90|issue=9|pages=20–22|url=http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article1911.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121215065214/http://www.michbar.org/journal/pdf/pdf4article1911.pdf |archive-date=December 15, 2012 |url-status=live|access-date=July 27, 2012}}</ref> The District Court ruled in favor of the NAACP,<ref name=Sedler87>{{cite journal|last=Sedler|first=Robert A.|title=The Profound Impact of Milliken v Bradley|journal=Wayne Law Review|year=1987|volume=33|issue=5|page=1693|url=http://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/waynlr33&g_sent=1&collection=journals&id=1707|access-date=July 29, 2012}}</ref> but in the landmark 1974 [[Milliken v. Bradley|''Milliken v. Bradley'' decision]], the U.S. Supreme Court limited the scope of desegregation, ruling that suburban areas could not be forced to aid in Detroit's school desegregation.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Marshall|first1=Justice Thurgood|date=1974|title=This Supreme Court Case Made School District Lines A Tool For Segregation|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/07/25/739493839/this-supreme-court-case-made-school-district-lines-a-tool-for-segregation|access-date=January 14, 2021|website=NPR|language=en}}</ref>

Amid these challenges, Detroit elected [[Coleman Young]] as its first Black mayor in 1973. Young focused on increasing racial diversity in city services and improving Detroit's transportation system, although regional tensions with suburban leaders persisted.<ref>{{cite web|title=Detroit Police Department|url=http://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/detroit-police-department|website=Detroit Historical Society|access-date=April 23, 2015}}</ref> In 1976, a federal grant for a regional [[rapid transit]] system failed due to conflicts over planning, leaving Detroit to develop its own [[Detroit People Mover]] system.<ref>{{cite news|last=Austin|first=Dan|title=How metro Detroit transit went from best to worst|url=http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/2015/02/06/michigan-detroit-public-transit/22926133/|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=February 6, 2015|access-date=April 21, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of Detroit {{!}} Detroit Historical Society |url=https://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/detroit-people-moverhttps://detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/detroit-people-mover |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=detroithistorical.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Felton|first=Ryan|title=How Detroit ended up with the worst public transit|url=http://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/how-detroit-ended-up-with-the-worst-public-transit/Content?oid=2143889|date=March 11, 2014|access-date=April 21, 2015|newspaper=Metro Times}}</ref> The city's struggles were exacerbated by the 1973 and 1979 oil crises, which hurt the auto industry and led to layoffs and plant closures, further diminishing the city's tax base.<ref>{{cite news|title=Poletown Becomes Just a Memory: GM Plant Opens, Replacing Old Detroit Neighborhood|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-18-fi-6228-story.html|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] | first=James|last=Risen|date=September 18, 1985}}</ref>

Despite efforts to revitalize the city, such as the opening of the [[Renaissance Center]] in 1977, downtown Detroit continued to lose businesses to suburban areas.<ref name="Woodford" /><ref name="partnership">{{cite web |title=Development and Growth |url=http://www.theworldiscoming.com/seethechange.html |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613121052/http://www.theworldiscoming.com/seethechange.html |archive-date=June 13, 2008 |access-date=May 16, 2009 |work=City of Detroit Partnership}}</ref><ref name="Bailey">Bailey, Ruby L.(August 22, 2007). "The D is a draw: Most suburbanites are repeat visitors", ''Detroit Free Press''. Quote: A Local 4 poll conducted by Selzer and Co., finds, "nearly two-thirds of residents of suburban Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties say they at least occasionally dine, attend cultural events or take in professional games in Detroit."</ref> Middle-class flight, high unemployment, and increased crime worsened the city's conditions, with abandoned buildings and neighborhoods further contributing to its decline. Young's focus on downtown development was criticized as insufficient in addressing the broader social and economic challenges faced by the city's residents.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Detroit and Deindustrialization {{!}} Dollars & Sense |url=https://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2013/0913bluestone.html |access-date=March 6, 2024 |website=www.dollarsandsense.org}}</ref> In 1993, Young retired as Detroit's longest-serving mayor and was succeeded by [[Dennis Archer]]. Archer prioritized downtown development, easing tensions with its suburban neighbors. A referendum to allow casino gambling in the city passed in 1996; several temporary casino facilities opened in 1999, and permanent downtown casinos with hotels opened in 2007–08.<ref>{{cite web|title=East Riverfront History|url=http://www.degc.org/businesses/east-riverfront-history-1|publisher=Detroit Economic Growth Corporation|access-date=April 21, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629145310/http://www.degc.org/businesses/east-riverfront-history-1|archive-date=June 29, 2015}}</ref>