The unrest that began July 23, 1967, became a symbol of Detroit as a deeply divided city and continued to fuel white flight to the suburbs. By 2000, Metro Detroit had become the nation's most segregated region, according to a Detroit News analysis of census data.
Four decades after violence left Detroit with a legacy of destruction and distrust, racial attitudes and suspicions are tempering, a Detroit News poll shows.
More whites say they would prefer to live in evenly mixed-race neighborhoods than in white-dominated communities, a dramatic change from 20 years ago. Fewer African-Americans believe whites want to oppress them and fewer whites feel that blacks dislike them.
At the same time, blacks see stubborn or worsening discrimination where most whites don't believe it exists -- in jobs, housing and justice.
