In the heat of June in 1943, a wave of destructive and deadly civil unrest took place in the streets of Detroit. The city was under the pressures of both wartime industrial production and the nascent civil rights movement, setting the stage for massive turmoil and racial violence. Thirty-four people were killed, most of whom were Black, and over half of these were killed by police. Two thousand people were arrested, and over seven hundred sustained injuries requiring treatment at local hospitals. Property damage was estimated to be nearly $2 million.

With Run Home If You Don't Want to Be Killed, Rachel Marie-Crane Williams delivers a graphic retelling of the racism and tension leading up to the violence of those summer days. By incorporating firsthand accounts collected by the NAACP and telling them through a combination of hand-drawn images, historical dialogue, and narration, Williams makes the history and impact of these events immediate, and in showing us what happened, she reminds us that many issues of the time--police brutality, state-sponsored oppression, economic disparity, white supremacy--plague our country to this day.

Author: Rachel Marie-Crane Williams
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 03/08/2021
Series: Documentary Arts and Culture, Published in Association with
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.3lbs
Size: 9.90h x 7.70w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781469663272


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 12/03/2021 pg. 1

About the Author
Williams, Rachel Marie-Crane: - Rachel Marie-Crane Williams is associate professor of art and art history, and gender, women's, and sexuality studies, at the University of Iowa.