Rhetoric 105, Section S1

24 February 2004

Rumors

When students across the United States study the 1940’s, one main topic is focused on, World War II. Students learn that during the forties, Europe was war torn and America sent its troops overseas to fight in some of the most infamous battles of the twentieth century. But what is left out of history lessons is what was going on American soil when the battles across the ocean were raging on. This decade was a racially charged time in American history, even though this fact is over shadowed by the Nazis of Germany in history books. Several race riots occurred in the forties. Even though they were equal in violence to the riots of the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties, many Americans forget the riots of the forties. The biggest and bloodiest race riot of the 1940’s took place in Detroit, Michigan, in June of 1943. Several publications covered the riots, and none of the printed facts ever matched up until years later. This rioting resulted from a rumor that flowed through city streets. The rumor and the riot that it caused destroyed an entire city and many human lives. James Baldwin emphasizes the historical significance of rumors and uses this theme in his essay, “Notes of a Native Son,” to highlight the struggle toward equality.

On June 21, the city of Detroit exploded as racial tensions finally reached their boiling point. Various news organizations, such as Time and Newsweek, covered the story. At the time of the riots, none of the reported accounts of the uprising matched. The most disputed facts were the discrepancies regarding why the riot started, the number of deaths and injuries, and the exact time the riot began. Yet, most news sources reported that around six hundred people were taken into custody over the forty-eight hour period that the riot lasted.

The dubious facts among the news organizations are clearly seen in the numbers reported. According to Facts on File, the conflict started when whites invaded Negro territory around ten or eleven at night. Facts on File reports that over seven hundred people were injured and twenty-six Negroes and three whites were killed (Facts on File 195). Newsweek also reported on the riot. It said that only fifteen were killed, five hundred were injured and six hundred were arrested. Newsweek printed the time of the beginning of the brawl as midnight. Fights occurred throughout the following day because the whites felt that Negroes were monopolizing Belle Isle Park (“Riotous Race Hate” 42). Although Newsweek underestimated the numbers involved in the Detroit riot, many of the other sources failed to provide causes for the fighting.

Time, a respected printed source, also covered this event differently from other sources. According to this magazine, at least twenty-three were dead, over seven hundred were injured and over six hundred jailed. Of the dead Negroes, police shot at least eight. Time also reported that an unknown source gave warning to Detroit police before the riot occurred the night of June 21. R.J. Thomas (U.A.W.-C.I.O. president) said that the Ku Klux Klan was planning to stir up trouble around that time (“Deep Trouble” 19).

Many news groups covered the Detroit race riot during the days it occurred; however, after the fighting ended, the media, the federal government and the local government searched for a person or group to blame. One report suggested that “inadequate housing, recreation and public transportation” led to the bloody riot while many other reasons surfaced (Facts on File 218). At the time, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People assailed a Detroit prosecutor for attempting to blame the catastrophe on the African American press and other groups (Facts on File 241). However, many sources established faulty rumors as the primary spark for this riot.

Rumors aggravate racial tensions. They are “often the forewarning of racial disturbance” (Momboisse 57). In Harper’s Magazine, a record of the riot states that Leo Tipton, a Negro, announced in a nightclub that a black woman and her baby had been killed at Belle Isle Park. This man urged that the nightclub customers assist in the fighting (Brown 495). However, the author of this magazine article presents a “twin” rumor that circulated in the white crowd – “that Negroes had raped and killed a white woman on the park bridge” (Brown 495). Although the black rumor, spread by Leo Tipton, is written in a few sources, the white rumor is missing from sources other than Harper’s Magazine. Leo Typton and another African American man, Charles Lyon, were found guilty of spreading a fictitious story that elevated tensions in Detroit and led to the bloody riot (Facts on File 338). No equivalent punishment was presented for any white people responsible for the rumor that surfaced in the white crowd.

James Baldwin uses the subject matter of rumors in his essay “Notes of a Native Son.” While Baldwin is in Harlem, he hears the story of a white soldier who had shot a black man defending the honor of a black woman. Different versions of this story spread across the city like wildfire. Baldwin describes the rumor as “flowing immediately to the streets” and creating great commotion in Harlem (Baldwin 81). The words Baldwin uses give a sense of the rumor’s speed and power in times of racial tension. This power is clearly seen in Detroit in the summer of 1943. Baldwin is able to pick up where the history books leave off. Through his essay, readers can clearly see what actually happened in cities across the United States in the 1940’s. Baldwin takes events from the world around him and incorporates them into his essay giving present readers a history lesson unmatched by a textbook.

In the 1940’s, America was involved in more than just World War II – racial tensions. At this time, the very beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement formed in the United States. Racial tensions were high, and sometimes these tensions exploded into riots, as in Detroit. Printed sources of the time recorded bits and pieces of varying data and left out other information. The public was finally beginning to become conscious of the racial inequalities in American cities. In addition, James Baldwin provided future generations a view of the injustices of the time.

Works Cited

Brown, Earl. "The Truth About the Detroit Riot." Harper's Magazine Nov. 1943: 488-498.

"Deep Trouble." Time 28 Jun. 1943: 19.

Momboisse, Raymond M. Riots, Revolts and Insurrections. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas,

1967.

“Notes of a Native Son.” 1955. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998. 63-84.

Person's Index: Facts On File. 3 vols. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1943.

"Riotous Race Hate." Newsweek 28 Jun. 1943: 42-43.