Editing Detroit (section)

===Early 20th century and World War II===
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|footer = From top: [[Cadillac Square]] and [[Wayne County Building]] (1902); [[Campus Martius Park|Cadillac Square]] (1910s); corner of [[U.S. Route 12 in Michigan|Michigan Avenue]] and [[Griswold Street]] (circa 1920)
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In 1903, Henry Ford founded the [[Ford Motor Company]]. Alongside automotive pioneers [[William C. Durant]], the [[Dodge]] brothers, [[James Ward Packard|James]] and [[William Doud Packard|William Packard]], and [[Walter Chrysler]], they established the [[Big Three (automobile manufacturers)|Big Three automakers]], solidifying Detroit's status as the world's automotive capital by the early 20th century.<ref name="Woodford" /> The rise of the [[automotive industry in the United States]] transformed the city, leading to the development of related businesses such as garages, gas stations, and factories for parts.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} Detroit's population grew rapidly, reaching the fourth-largest city in the U.S. by 1920.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biggest US Cities in 1920 – Historical Population Data|url=https://www.biggestuscities.com/1920|access-date=June 4, 2021|website=www.biggestuscities.com}}</ref>

In 1907, the Detroit River carried 67 million tons of shipping commerce, surpassing both London and New York City in volume. This earned the river the title "the Greatest Commercial Artery on Earth." During [[prohibition in the United States]] (1920–1933), the Detroit River became a major route for smuggling illegal alcohol from Canada.<ref name="auto" /> The booming auto industry and the expansion of shipping trade were central to Detroit's economic growth in the early 20th century.

With the rapid growth of industrial workers in the auto factories, labor unions such as the [[American Federation of Labor]] and the [[United Auto Workers]] (UAW) fought to organize workers to gain them better working conditions and wages. They initiated strikes and other tactics in support of improvements such as [[Eight-hour day|the 8-hour day/40-hour work week]], increased wages, greater benefits, and improved [[Occupational safety and health|working conditions]]. The labor activism during those years increased the influence of union leaders in the city such as [[Jimmy Hoffa]] of the [[International Brotherhood of Teamsters|Teamsters]] and [[Walter Reuther]] of the UAW.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://crosscurrents.hawaii.edu/content.aspx?lang=eng&site=us&theme=work&subtheme=UNION&unit=USWORK029|title=Important U.S. Labor Leaders: Jimmy Hoffa|date=2003|website=Cross Currents|publisher=CULCON (A Digital Cultural Resource of the US-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange)|access-date=October 19, 2017 }}</ref>

The demographic shifts caused by industrialization led to significant racial tensions in Detroit. The [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] brought African Americans from the South, while many southern and eastern European immigrants also moved to the city. Competition for jobs and housing fueled tensions between different ethnic and racial groups.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}} This period saw the rise of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in Detroit, which became a powerful force in the city during the 1920s, targeting Black, Catholic, and Jewish communities.<ref name="43riots">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/eleanor-riots/ "Detroit Race Riots 1943"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301013611/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/eleanor-riots/ |date=March 1, 2017 }}. ''Eleanor Roosevelt'', WGBH, American Experience, PBS (June 20, 1983). Retrieved on September 5, 2013.</ref> Even after the Klan's decline, the [[Black Legion (political movement)|Black Legion]], a secret vigilante group, continued to spread fear in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bak|first=Richard|date=February 23, 2009|title=The Dark Days of the Black Legion|url=https://www.hourdetroit.com/community/the-dark-days-of-the-black-legion/|access-date=January 14, 2021|website=[[Hour Detroit]]}}</ref>

In the 1940s the world's "first urban depressed freeway" ever built, [[M-8 (Michigan highway)|the Davison]], was constructed.<ref>[http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/M-008.html Route Listings: M-8]. Michigan Highways. Retrieved on July 16, 2013.</ref> Systemic racial discrimination remained prevalent in Detroit, with restrictive housing covenants and violence against Black neighborhoods like [[Black Bottom, Detroit|Black Bottom]] and Paradise Valley.<ref name="census1" /><ref name="NYT26Mar11">{{cite news |last=Sugrue |first=Thomas J. |date=March 26, 2011 |title=A Dream Still Deferred |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/27Sugrue.html |url-access=limited |access-date=July 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/opinion/27Sugrue.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="DetroitDivided">{{cite book |author1=Reynolds Farley |url=https://archive.org/details/detroitdivided0000farl |title=Detroit divided |author2=Sheldon Danziger |author3=Harry J. Holzer |publisher=Russell Sage Foundation |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-87154-281-6 |location=New York |chapter=The Evolution of Racial Segregation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=olcZfAD7cPEC&pg=PP1 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The city's racial tensions boiled over during the [[1943 Detroit race riot]]. Sparked by a protest at the [[Packard Automotive Plant|Packard plant]], the riot resulted in 34 deaths, 433 injuries, and widespread property damage.<ref name="capeci">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/20173210?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents Dominic J. Capeci, Jr., and Martha Wilkerson, "The Detroit Rioters of 1943: A Reinterpretation"], ''Michigan Historical Review'', January 1990, Vol. 16 Issue 1, pp. 49–72.</ref><ref>[http://blogs.detroitnews.com/history/1999/02/10/the-1943-detroit-race-riots/ "The 1943 Detroit race riots – Michigan History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029204514/http://blogs.detroitnews.com/history/1999/02/10/the-1943-detroit-race-riots/ |date=October 29, 2013 }}, ''The Detroit News'', February 10, 1999; Retrieved on July 16, 2013.</ref>

During [[World War II]], the government encouraged retooling of the automobile industry in support of the [[Allies of World War II|Allied powers]], leading to Detroit's key role in the American [[Arsenal of Democracy]].<ref name="Willowrun">Nolan, Jenny (January 28, 1997).[http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=73&category=locations Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20121204140927/http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=73&category=locations |date=December 4, 2012 }}. Michigan History, ''The Detroit News''. Retrieved on November 23, 2007.</ref> Jobs expanded so rapidly due to the defense buildup in World War II that 400,000 people migrated to the city from 1941 to 1943, including 50,000 blacks in the second wave of the Great Migration, and 350,000 whites, many of them from the South. Whites, including ethnic Europeans, feared black competition for jobs and scarce housing. The federal government prohibited discrimination in defense work, but when in June 1943 Packard promoted three black people to work next to whites on its assembly lines, 25,000 white workers walked off the job.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=gP3DbiRcbPAC&dq=I%E2%80%99d+rather+see+Hitler+and+Hirohito+win+than+work+next+to+a+nigger&pg=PA180 Philip A. Klinkner, Rogers M. Smith, ''The Unsteady March: The Rise and Decline of Racial Equality in America'' – Google Books]. Retrieved on July 16, 2013.</ref> 

{{wide image|Detroit, Michigan, skyline ca. 1929.png|900px|align-cap=center|The skyline of Detroit, 1929}}