June 1943
Events
- June 20, 1943Detroit Race Riot: 34 Killed, Federal Troops Deployed
On June 20, 1943, a fight between Black and white youth on Belle Isle bridge escalates into three days of citywide race war. 34 people are killed — 25 Black, 9 white; 600+ are injured; nearly 2,000 arrested. White mobs drag Black passengers from streetcars and beat them. The Packard plant had seen racial conflict after Black workers were promoted to work beside whites. President Roosevelt deploys 6,000 federal troops. Police kill 17 Black people and no whites. The riot exposes wartime racial terror in a Northern industrial city.
- June 3, 1943Zoot Suit Riots: Sailors Attack Black and Latino Youth in Los Angeles
Over ten days beginning June 3, 1943, U.S. Navy and Marine servicemen roam Los Angeles attacking Mexican American and Black youth wearing zoot suits. Mobs strip and beat victims on streetcars and in theaters. Police largely arrest the victims rather than perpetrators. The Los Angeles press celebrates the attacks. At least 150 people are injured. The riots reveal how racial minorities faced violence from both civilian racists and uniformed military personnel.
- June 20, 1943The Detroit race riot of 1943
Wartime tensions erupt into deadly violence in Detroit.