1970s THROWBACK: "DETROIT'S TROUBLES"

Tensions between the races have been high since the 1940s, when Southern blacks began moving to Detroit in search of work at automobile factories, said Mr. Boyle, the historian.

As the migration of blacks who swept into Detroit became especially intense, middle-class whites began moving to the newly built suburbs. But violent 1967 riots turned this stream into a torrent.

"It’s really hard to overstate how deep the fear was, on both sides of the color line," Mr. Boyle said.

And after the riots, Detroit failed to bounce back, Mr. Boyle said. Businesses followed their customers. Thousands of houses were abandoned as the city’s population plunged.

"In some cities like Chicago, Boston and maybe New York, people say to themselves, 'I want to be in this neighborhood where I grew up, where my grandparents live or where my synagogue is' — that really roots people in place," he said. "Detroit didn't work that way."

During the 1950s, the city lost 363,000 white residents while it gained 182,000 black residents. In 1950, the population was 16 percent black, and by the time of the 1967 riot it had grown to a third. Today, about 82 percent of the city's population is black.

The Rev. Charles Williams II, who leads the Detroit chapter of the National Action Network, said little had been done to ease tensions. Those strained relations have hindered the city's efforts toward economic progress.

"Race has basically been used as a tool to pit people against each other," he said. "There's a sincere, in-depth hate. Folks in the city have been taught to not trust those in the suburbs. Folks in the suburbs don't trust those in the city."

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