Race Relations: Death in a Desegregated Neighborhood

Unrest in a Detroit Neighborhood.

In February 1925 Dr. Ossian Sweet, a black physician, moved with his family to a house on Garland Avenue, on the outskirts of a white neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. Predictably, many of their new neighbors were outraged by the Sweets' presence. When anonymous death threats began, Dr. Sweet hired black bodyguards, who accompanied him everywhere, and announced that he had a formidable arsenal of firearms in his home. Sweet and his friends, all army veterans, were proficient in the use of such weaponry. Initially, white troublemakers confined their activities to throwing rocks at the house and other acts of petty vandalism. Local police did nothing to curtail such actions.

Rioting and Death.

On the evening of 9 September several white youths had an altercation with two of Dr. Sweet's brothers on the street. A mob quickly formed, but both Sweets escaped safely into the doctor's...

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