Witnesses to the Detroit Riots of 1967. 2nd Edition. Eyewitness accounts of the Detroit Riots of 1967. Heather Buchanan, Teresa Kimble and Sharon Stanford, Editors. 

"Things quickly escalated in that neighborhood. I wasn’t even 12, but I was starting to realize that life here was different. My mom warned me about Twelfth Street, saying, “Stay off it.” But the more she told me to stay away, the more I was drawn to it. I had to walk on it anyway when I went to St. Agnes, my school. The first time I walked down Twelfth Street, I was amazed. It was alive. There were stores, theaters, restaurants—it was a bustling, self-contained world. Everything you needed was right there. On our block alone, we had a pharmacy, a barbershop, a hardware store, a lounge, a market, and even a dairy. As a kid, I thought it was paradise. But beneath that energy, tensions were building up."

-- from "A Childhood Shattered: My Memories of the 1967 Rebellion in Detroit" by Darryle Buchanan