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Frank Joyce, October 17th, 2016
Joyce was a committed New Left Activist in Detroit in the 1960s. Here, he discusses the fragmentation–exacerbated by governmental and police surveillance–of many Detroit organizations. He was a member of the Northern Student Movement, People Against…
Janet Lemon, January 31st, 2017
Janet Lemon oral history interview, Detroit 1967 Oral History Project, Detroit Historical Museum.
Marvin Howell
Marvin Howell was eight years old in 1967 and remembers living close to the center of activity.
Sue Schmittroth
Sue Schmittroth was a teenager who was staying in the cultural center of Detroit in July of 1967. She and her friends explored around the city during the unrest to quell their curiosity and got into more than one altercation with law enforcement.
Art Lorenz
Art Lorenz was 13 years old in the summer of 1967. He remembers that he was unable to attend his football conditioning class. He also remembers a conversation a few weeks later with a Canadian friend who had only seen media reports of what happened.
David Stanislaw, December 28th, 2016
In this interview, Stanislaw discusses growing up in Detroit and attending Wayne State University. In July 1967 he was a student and caretaker of an apartment building on Wayne State's campus where he lived with his wife and two small children.
Darryle Buchanan, December 13th, 2016
In this interview, Buchanan discusses his experiences growing up primarily in Virginia Park during the 1960s. He notes the escalated police presence in the community, and details several anecdotes of police brutality he experienced as a child. During…
JoAnne Werbrouck, August 20th, 2016
JoAnne Webrouck remembers growing up in Detroit and after training, she got a job taking reservations for Hilton Hotels in downtown Detroit. During the week of July 23, 1967, she used the unexpected day off of work to peruse wedding venues before…
Jesse Davis, November 29th, 2016
In this interview, Mr. Davis discusses growing up in Detroit's close-knit Davison neighborhood and the effect the Chrysler Freeway had on the area. He was drafted into the military and was home on a two-day pass on July 23, 1967.
Mary Petlewski, August 25th, 2016
In this interview, Petlewski remembers her initial reactions of moving to the city of Detroit as a young child and her happy life in her neighborhood. In the summer of 1967, she was a student at the University of Detroit and worked full time in the…
Mike Stacy, August 22nd, 2016
In this interview, Stacy discusses growing up in Dearborn, going to Michigan State after serving in the Marine Corps, and working as a campus cop. He reflects on his time at the Recorder’s Court and how the unrest of 1967 affected his work there. He…
Mary Romaya, August 16th, 2016
In this interview, Mary Romaya discusses growing up in Northwest Detroit with her Chaldean family. Romaya talks about her experiences before during and after the July 1967 events. Romaya additionally discusses her father’s supermarket business and…
Collette Cullen, August 20th, 2016
In this interview, Cullen discusses how she felt with cultural norms in her all girls, Catholic school, and also when her family moved to Grosse Isle. She could see a lot of the unrest from outside her window because her house was close to…
Pat Watts, November 14th, 2016
In this interview, Watts talks about growing up in Detroit and traveling downtown. She also describes racial tensions in the city and the chaos that ensued during the unrest of 1967.
Ray Marbarak, August 12th, 2016
In this interview, Mabarak discusses his experience growing up on the east side and eventually joining in the military. He discusses National Guard training and conditions during ’67 and also what he witnessed in Recorder’s Court. He gives his…
Frank DiMaria, August 11, 2016
In this interview, DiMaria discusses his childhood growing up on the east side of Detroit and his memories from the week of July 23, 1967. His brother was a musician who played at a bar on July 22 and later in the week the two drove downtown to…
Linda Leonard, July 29th, 2016
In this interview, Linda Leonard remembers attending a concert and seeing looters. By the time the concert was over, there were fires and tanks and armed soldiers warning them to leave the area. She and her husband decided to remain in their…
Margaret Carden, September 13th, 2016
In this interview, Carden describes venturing around the city at night leading up to the unrest and at the very beginning of the disturbance and her memories of the week through the perspective of her interracial relationship. She also remembers the…
Dennis Vatsis, August 18th, 2016
In this interview, Vatsis discusses what it was like growing up in the Linwood area and leaving the city to move to Dearborn Heights. He recounts an encounter he had with a soldier during the incidents of ’67 and his thoughts on the future of the…
Bill Goodman, October 5th, 2016
In this interview, Bill Goodman discusses growing up in Detroit and describes how racism affected his family growing up. He also discusses his career as a civil rights attorney in Michigan during the 1960s.