The Origins of the Urban Crisis

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The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit, is the first book by historian and Detroit native Thomas J. Sugrue in which he examines the role race, housing, job discrimination, and capital flight played in the decline of Detroit. Sugrue argues that the decline of Detroit began long before the 1967 race riot. Sugrue argues that institutionalized and often legalized racism resulted in sharply limited opportunities for Detroit blacks for most of the twentieth century. He also argues that the process of deindustrialization, the flight of investment and jobs from the city, began in the 1950s as employers moved to suburban areas and small towns and also introduced new labor saving technologies. The book has won multiple awards including a Bancroft Prize in 1998.