The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit

The DHC is a government organization charged with helping low- and moderate-income Detroiters access quality affordable housing. After World War II, the DHC made several attempts to build integrated housing projects, only to be foiled by white homeowners associations, developers, real-estate professionals, and lending institutions. After the Sojourner Truth riot of 1942, the DHC mandated the continuation of racial segregation in public housing.

The DUL is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to uplift people of color. Founded in 1916, the DUL ran the city’s most important Black employment agency through the 1940s. The DUL initially helped recent migrants find unskilled work. After World War II, however, it shifted its emphasis to helping skilled Black workers, further burdening Black workers who had lesser economic advantage.

President Roosevelt signed the Fair Employment Act into law on June 25, 1941. Banning discriminatory hiring practices in defense industries and federal agencies, the Fair Employment Act was an important symbolic blow to workplace discrimination in the US.

The FEPC was a six-member bipartisan group created in 1941 to enforce the Fair Employment Act. Members of the FEPC were empowered to investigate formal complaints brought by workers claiming discrimination based on race, color, and creed.

The MIC was a largely independent city agency whose mission was to help ease racial tensions in Detroit. Members of the MIC lobbied for desegregation, especially in housing, by undermining racial covenants and investigating instances of racial conflict. The MIC was renamed the Human Rights Department in 1974.

McCarthyism was the persecution of innocent people on charges of Communism and un-Americanism. After World War II, pro-industry factions used McCarthyism to silence critics of capitalism, namely labor activists and civil-rights organizations, by publicly accusing them of conspiring with Communists and deeming it unpatriotic to criticize business decisions.

The NAACP is a civil-rights organization that aims to eliminate race-based discrimination in American society, including in the systems of criminal justice, education, employment, and healthcare. Founded in 1909, the NAACP played a central role in promoting housing equity in 20th-century Detroit. The Detroit branch of the NAACP, for example, sued the city to force the integration of public-housing projects.

The UAW is an American labor union headquartered in Detroit. One of the UAW’s most important accomplishments was negotiating high wages and pensions for auto workers in the 20th century. The UAW supported civil-rights legislation. However, it failed to adequately address the structural underpinnings of workplace discrimination and job loss, leading to a crisis that continues to impact Detroit.