Video of the Week: 1967 Detroit Riot: A Community Speaks
RSSFrom SLJ October 2004
Dwain Thomas, Lake Park High School, Roselle, IL -- School Library Journal, 10/04/2004
videocassette or DVD. color. 54 min. Prod. by Small Screen Prods. Dist. by Carousel Film & Video. 2004. ISBN 1-56058-187-5. $200.
Gr 7 Up–In 1967, Lyndon Johnson’s presidency was struggling with the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War. Drugs were finding their way into all segments of American culture. The National Organization for Women (NOW) was less than a year old. And African-Americans were still called “colored” or “Negroes.” This extremely well-crafted program examines the sociological and political causes and effects, both immediate and longer term, of one of the darkest moments of the entire decade—four days of racially-based riots in Detroit. What happened in Detroit is well-known: a large loss of life and property as well as a sparking of similar disturbances in other American cities. Why the events happened is the larger focus of this unemotional yet poignant examination of conditions, many of which support the results of the official government investigation. The documentary utilizes contemporary interviews with principal figures from Detroit as well as ordinary citizens which concentrate on their recollections of events and their speculations about the causes and effects of the riots. The program includes a generous amount of newsreel as well as television news footage, in stark black-and-white and in color, and personal family photographs from 1967. These first person narratives amplify the impact of one of America’s most tumultuous times. Although the video is costly, its purchase is recommended for potential use in sociology, history, and contemporary issues classes as well as for individual research.
