Sojourner Truth Homes

Construction of the federal Sojourner Truth Homes defense housing complex began in 1941. The complex was to house two hundred Black families in response to Detroit’s housing shortage and overcrowding in its segregated Black neighborhoods. The Seven Mile- Fenelon Improvement Association led protests to change the homes to White use. With assistance from Congressman Rudolph Tenerowicz, it succeeded. The Reverend Horace White, Senator Charles Diggs Sr., and the Reverend Charles Hill led a civil rights counter-protest, and the complex reverted to its initial designation for Blacks. When twenty-four Black families attempted to move in on February 28, 1942, seven hundred White protestors blocked their entrance. Violence erupted, and the Detroit police dispersed the crowds. Mayor Edward Jeffries Jr. postponed occupancy of the Sojourner Truth Homes housing complex after the violence on February 28, 1942. Black community leaders wrote to President Franklin Roosevelt to intervene. World War II propaganda from America’s enemies began exploiting the conflict, highlighting racial prejudice in the United States. Roosevelt sought to end the conflict, but the Black community rejected a compromise to relinquish the homes they had been promised. They used a rally in Cadillac Square on April 12 to demand immediate occupancy. On April 15 the National Housing Agency ordered the homes opened to Black residents. Protected by the National Guard, the first Black families moved into Sojourner Truth Homes without incident on April 29.