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Recent Posts
- Just after the Depression years, the Grand Rapids City Government provided direct relief and created a public works project for those unemployed
- Some examples of the conditions for blacks in Grand Rapids and what types of discrimination blacks faced on a daily basis in the early part of the 20th Century
- “Maybe America has forgotten how smoke smells”: The state of Black Grand Rapids from the perspective of Paul I Phillips in the mid-1970s
- African Americans from Grand Rapids who were part of the US Civil War
- 1970 document sheds light on the housing crisis in Grand Rapids and the lack of political will to solve it
Tag Archives: 1967 riot in Grand Rapids
“Maybe America has forgotten how smoke smells”: The state of Black Grand Rapids from the perspective of Paul I Phillips in the mid-1970s
(As always, we are grateful for the assistance of the staff at the Grand Rapids Public Library, particularly those on 4th floor.) Our last post referred to a document from former Urban League members Paul I Phillips, where he documented … Continue reading
New artwork looks at the 1967 Riot in Grand Rapids
We have made nearly a dozen posts about the 1967 riot in Grand Rapids in the past several years. Some of these posts have focused on media coverage of the riot, some on internal documents and some of the posts … Continue reading
The Black Community made demands of the Grand Rapids Police Department in 1970
There is ample evidence that African Americans in Grand Rapids have always been the target of intimidation, harassment and violence from law enforcement. This history plagues the black community today, with recent incidents of police traumatizing black youth who were … Continue reading
50 years after the 1967 Riot in Grand Rapids: What we know and what can we learn?
On July 25th, 1967, Grand Rapids police officers arrested several Black youth, when they pulled them over believing they were in a stolen vehicle. One source says that the officers may have used excessive force in dealing with the Black youth, according … Continue reading
WOOD TV 8 footage of the 1967 Riot in Grand Rapids
(Thanks to the Grand Rapids Public Library for directing me to this archival material.) Last week, we posted a 1987 story from the Grand Rapids Press about the 1967 riot in Grand Rapids, where two men who were part of … Continue reading
A Retrospective on the 1967 Riot in Grand Rapids, Twenty Years Afterwards: From the Grand Rapids Press
(This is the first of a series of postings that deal with the 1967 riot in Grand Rapids, which took place 50 years ago between July 25 and July 27.) “It is not enough for me to stand before you … Continue reading
Cops, Property and the White Gaze: Photos from the 1967 Riot in Grand Rapids
Last week we posted a transcript, along with images, from a few archived stories from WOOD TV8 that we found at the Grand Rapids Public Library from the 1967 riot in Grand Rapids. In today’s post, we wanted to share … Continue reading
Centering White Voices: How WOOD TV 8 framed the 1967 riot in Grand Rapids
Next summer will mark the 50th anniversary of what is often called the 1967 “race riots” in Grand Rapids. Previously, we have looked at the Grand Rapids Press coverage of this black uprising, which was responding to police brutality and … Continue reading
Grand Rapids People's History Project 