page_title: History of Detroit
section_title: World War II and the  "Arsenal of Democracy"
hierarchical_section_title: History of Detroit / 20th century / World War II and the  "Arsenal of Democracy"
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking south from the Maccabees Building with the Detroit skyline in the distance, Detroit, Mich. Photo shows Woodward Ave. extending south from Warren. 1 transparency&#160;: color. Deutsch: Blick in Richtung Süden vom Maccabees Building auf die Skyline von Detroit, Michigan, mit der Woodward Avenue im Jahr 1942
context_page_description: Detroit, the largest city in the state of Michigan, was settled in 1701 by French colonists. It is the first European settlement above tidewater in North America. Founded as a New France fur trading post, it began to expand during the 19th century with British and American settlement around the Great Lakes. By 1920, based on the booming auto industry and immigration, it became a world-class industrial powerhouse and the fourth-largest city in the United States. It held that standing through the mid-20th century.
  The first Europeans to settle in Detroit were French country traders and colonists from the New Orleans colony. They were joined by traders from Montreal and Quebec; all had to contend with the powerful Five Nations of the League of the Iroquois, who took control of the southern shores of Lakes Erie and Huron through the Beaver Wars of the 17th century, during which they conquered or pushed out lesser tribes.
  The region grew initially based on the lucrative inland and Great Lakes connected fur trade, based on continuing relations with influential Native American chiefs and interpreters.
context_section_description: The entry of the United States into World War II brought tremendous changes to the city. From 1942 to 1945, production of commercial automobiles in the city ceased entirely, as its factories were used instead to construct M5 tanks, jeeps, and B-24 bombers for the Allies. The Guardian Building was converted into a headquarters for wartime production. The city made a major contribution to the Allied war effort as part of America's Arsenal of Democracy. Historians note that this accolade was "easily and often corrupted to 'arsehole'" by tired Detroiters waiting in lines everywhere. The government believed that Detroit was vulnerable to air attack, and encouraged companies to diversify production to outside the region.
  The B-24 Liberator, the most produced bomber in history, was used to bomb Germany heavily.  Prior to the war, the aviation industry could produce, optimally, one such plane a day at an aircraft plant. By 1943, Ford's plants managed to produce one B-24 an hour at a peak of 600 per month in 24-hour shifts. Many pilots slept on cots waiting for takeoff as the B-24 rolled off the assembly line at Ford's Willow Run facility.
  Racial tension grew rapidly in World War II, as high paying jobs brought in tens of thousands of families, despite severe housing shortages.  The historian of Detroit's Poles finds that they saw the blacks as "threatening their jobs, homes, communities, and churches."
  An August 1942 Life article, "Detroit is Dynamite", discussed in detail the city's labor and race issues, stating that "the news from Detroit is bad this summer ... The result is a morale situation which is perhaps the worst in the U.S." Because of the city's importance to the war effort, the article was censored from copies of the magazine sold outside North America. The long-awaited riot exploded in June 1943, as groups of blacks and whites fought it out. The 3-days of street fighting started on Belle Isle, and killed 25 blacks and 9 whites, wounded 433, and destroyed property valued at $2 million. The U.S. Army was called in to restore order.
  Throughout World War II, thousands of African Americans migrated from the South up to Detroit largely to escape racist Jim Crow laws and the extreme poverty. As more white men enlisted to fight in the war, African Americans believed more employment positions would open, allowing them to find jobs easier, especially since Detroit was a manufacturing center in the midst of the war. This was largely true; to meet production demands, factories were forced to hire African Americans and women. African Americans especially saw an increase of employment by over 103%. Despite this, however, African Americans were given fewer employment benefits, lower wages, and little to no ability to move up the supposed industrial ladder.
  These unjust labor practices were the foundation for discrimination in other areas as well, namely housing. With an increased influx of African Americans from the South, housing became extremely scarce, especially in poorer neighborhoods. African Americans were often expected to live in "black only neighborhoods", as realtors believed that mixing African Americans into white neighborhoods would lower the value of white homes. This caused overcrowding in already decrepit Detroit neighborhoods like Paradise Valley. Living in these conditions led to the increased spread of disease and vermin, and made illness within these African American neighborhoods run rampant.
  During World War II, Detroit became a center of industry, largely due to its innovative roots. The treatment of African Americans during World War II, however, represented the duality between an increase in labor versus a decrease in the standard of living. These tensions between African Americans and whites continued to mount, as African Americans continued to face increased discrimination in the workforce and at home. This boiled over, into the post-war era and the 1960s Civil Rights movement.
caption: The Detroit skyline, July 1942.
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