Scenes of Urban Destruction, Troop Patrols, and Law Enforcement Following the 1967 Twelfth Street Riot
About This Footage
This historic footage captures the aftermath of the 1967 Detroit Riot, one of the deadliest civil disturbances in American history. Sparked by a police raid on an after-hours club celebrating two returning Vietnam veterans, the unrest quickly escalated from protests to widespread looting, fires, and violence across the city. The scenes include smoldering ruins, burned-out buildings and cars, shattered windows, and destroyed infrastructure. Soldiers from the National Guard and the 82nd Airborne are seen patrolling streets, guarding intersections, and assisting police with order restoration. The footage also shows prisoners being escorted from the County Jail and loaded onto buses, military briefings, and the heavy toll taken on Detroit’s neighborhoods in just five days of unrest. A stark visual document of urban crisis and federal response during the civil rights era.