Sojourner Truth Project
| Sojourner Truth Homes | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Type | Residential |
| Address | 4801 E. Nevada, 48234 |
| Town or city | Detroit, Michigan |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 42°25′34″N 83°03′19″W / 42.42611°N 83.05528°W |
| Groundbreaking | 1941 |
| References | |
Sojourner Truth Homes | |
| MPS | The Civil Rights Movement and the African American Experience in 20th Century Detroit MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 100008140 |
| Added to NRHP | September 15, 2022 |
As a strikingly controversial project in 1941, Sojourner Truth Project set precedents for Detroit housing project policy through the next decade. Created by the Detroit Housing Commission (DHC) and United States Housing Authority (USHA), the proposed 200 units would alleviate housing shortages caused by the wartime climate of World War II. However, the project was met with extreme backlash from white residents and middle-class black homeowners in Conant Gardens. Violence erupted in 1942 when black families moved into the project housing. More than a thousand black supporters and white opponents crowded streets culminating in violent displays later characterized as the Sojourner Truth riot.