Biography
Black defendant convicted in the racially asymmetric prosecutions following the June 1943 Detroit race riot — three days of white-mob violence against Black neighborhoods that killed 25 Black residents and 9 whites. President Roosevelt invoked the Insurrection Act and deployed federal troops to restore order. Of the 1,800 arrests that followed, 85% were of Black residents; nearly all rioting and assault prosecutions targeted Black defendants while white attackers were largely uncharged. Fox, age 17, was convicted of a riot-related murder he could not have committed; sentenced to 25 years. Cleared and released after a two-year legal fight by his defense team that exposed the prosecution's frame-up.
