On February 28, 1942, in Detroit, a city built on land that had served as an important meeting place for Anishinaabe tribes for thousands of years, the Sojourner Truth Public Housing Project officially opens. The local housing authority faced intense pressure to exclude Black residents, but ultimately chose to admit them. As the first Black families move in, a mob of thousands of white people gathers and grows violent. 40 people are injured, 220 arrested, and 109 held for trial — all but three are Black.

Segregationist housing policy persists for decades, with white housing groups fiercely opposing the presence of people of color in neighborhoods deemed white. The U.S. Fair Housing Act of 1968 formally prohibits discriminatory housing policies — though enforcement remains limited.