Current Exhibitions

In 1940, President Franklin Roosevelt urged the United States to become the “arsenal of democracy,” arming democratic nations against the looming totalitarian threats of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. It took ingenuity and perseverance under difficult circumstances, but Detroit answered the call — producing 30 percent of the war material generated in the United States before the end of the war in 1945.

Detroit was a pivotal part of the Underground Railroad, an informal network of safe houses and people willing to help runaway enslaved people. They adapted the language of the railroads to keep it secret.

Starting in 2015, the Detroit Historical Society convened diverse groups and communities around the effects of a historic crisis with its Detroit 67: Looking Back to Move Forward project. From the hundreds of oral histories in our archive, the assistance and input of our many partners, and the latest historical scholarship, we have developed the Detroit 67: Perspectives exhibition to allow visitors to better understand the events of July 1967, what led up to them, where we are today, and how to connect to efforts moving Detroit forward