Right now I have been working on reading through one of my primary sources for my research. It is a book that was published the same year as the race riots, and is from the perspective of the secretary for the NAACP. I am liking this source for the fact that it is giving me a lot of info on the UAW, and the fact that the race riots did not occur in any of the plants, but only outside of them. In my reading today, the author cites the lack of violence in the arsenal plants to a few reasons. The first being a "firm stance against discrimination and segregation of Negro workers by the UAW-CIO". Another factor was that since the military took over the plants in Detroit during wartime production, armed guards in the plants were under orders from the Army to "maintain order at all costs"
Also important to remember though for this source, is that it is an African American writer, directly after the riots, so there is bias that is coming into play because it is clearly an emotional issue. Walter White felt that the riots were an inneviatable result of "anti-Negro motivations of the Detroit Police Department", and white aggressors, specifically the Polish and Italian citizens in the area, and "white aggressors"
I still have a few headings to read under in this book, but it was definitely a good find in the Library, and one of the first primary sources I have really delved in to.
Well, I suppose that's it for now! See you guys in class!
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