Historical Marker Dedicated Where Three Black Teens Were Killed in Detroit During 1967 Unrest

A Michigan Historical Marker was dedicated on Friday at a site where three Black teens were killed by white law enforcement during civil unrest in Detroit in 1967.

The incident at the Algiers Motel, which was located on Woodward Avenue, has been written about for years and is the subject of the 2017 film, “Detroit.”

Three young African-Americans — Fred Temple,18, Carl Cooper, 17, and Aubrey Pollard, 19 — were killed and two white women as well as seven other Black men were brutally beaten, either by city police or U.S. national guardsmen.

At the time, fewer than 300 of the Detroit Police Department’s 5,000-member were African American. However, the Motor City was about 40% Black.

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The civil unrest began during the wee hours of the morning after Detroit police raided an unlicensed bar, known as a blind pig, in a largely Black neighborhood on the city’s west side. During five days beginning on July 23 there were 43 deaths, hundreds of injuries and nearly 1,700 fires and more than 7,000 arrests. {snip}

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