Darius Jamal Young

This study delves into the pivotal year of 1963 in Detroit, focusing on how Black Detroiters confronted the city’s racialized political structure by combating issues such as housing and school segregation, job discrimination, police brutality, and an unjust justice system. The book examines the familial relationship of Black Detroiters to the Southern movement but also demonstrates how they confronted systemic racism in the North. The book will cover several key moments that occurred in the city that year. It features the contributions of Civil Rights icons Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X as well as local activists, such as Albert B. Cleage, Jr. and Henry Milton, who became the leaders of the emerging Black radical movement in the city. Ultimately, the book examines grassroots activism and the fight Black Detroiters took up to provide access to schools for their children, decent housing, fair wages, justice, and political autonomy. “Freedom Now!” offers new insights into the complexities of Black resistance and resilience amidst the Northern Black freedom struggles of the 1960s.