Sheila Cockrel, then 19 years old, was home when she began to smell smoke and sensed that something was wrong. Her most vivid memories include tanks rumbling down streets not far from her home. Like many, she feared for the safety of her family and friends.
This is part of a series of eyewitnesses to the civil unrest that broke out in Detroit in 1967, after a summer of nationwide outbursts. The violence lasted five days and left 43 people killed, 1189 injured, over 7000 arrests and more than 2000 buildings destroyed, making it the deadliest instance of civil disorder since the Civil War draft riots. It served as a catalyst for Pres. Johnson’s establishment of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, which was tasked with finding the cause of these outbreaks. Their conclusion: “We are moving toward two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal.”
JULY 27, 2024
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August 5, 2024This week Matter of Fact travels to Colorado where organizations are making an effort to k...
Lawsuits Target Programs Focused on Helping Minorities
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MARCH 16, 2024
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March 17, 2024This week Matter of Fact travels to Colorado where organizations are making an effort to k...
Ford Foundation President on Funding fight for Equality
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April 30, 2023The Ford Foundation is one of America's largest charities, giving hundreds of millions of ...
New Rosa Parks Documentary Dispels the Myth of Her "Accidental" Role in Civil Rights Movement
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October 23, 2022Nothing Rosa Parks did was accidental, yet she's been relegated to a single day in America...
OCTOBER 22, 2022
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Civil rights scholar says America ‘at a moment of reckoning in so many areas’
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June 8, 2022Dr. Yohuru Williams shares that he is hopeful for change in America and that there is so m...
FEBRUARY 26, 2022
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February 27, 2022In a far-reaching interview, Soledad O'Brien speaks with the multi-talented John Legend ab...
