AP/Wide World Photos [5991756]

During the summer of 1943, more than 250 racial disturbances occurred in forty-seven American cities, including Detroit, Michigan; Mobile, Alabama; Beaumont, Texas; and New York City's Harlem. In Detroit, twenty-five African Americans and nine whites were killed during a riot that erupted on June 20 following fights in an amusement park. Seventeen African Americans were killed by police in the worst race riot of the period. Damage was estimated at $2 million. A fact-finding committee appointed by the governor blamed blacks for the violence. In response to the riots, however, Mayor Jeffries formed the Interracial Committee to investigate racial discrimination. Here, a man, who has been shot in the stomach, is assaulted by whites as police escort him.