This July marks the 50th anniversary of the civil disturbance and unrest that erupted in Detroit.

50 years later, we can now recognize that Detroit in 1967 was a city of deep divisions that permeated every level of public life.

The city's segregation and prejudices led to omissions in coverage and perspectives. The city's African American community was under-represented in news stories and often delegitimized. The absence of blogs and social media accounts meant many voices and frustrations, from the city and suburbs alike, went unheard.

As we planned our coverage, we wondered: What would it have been like to witness the summer of '67 with the tools and technologies of today?

Read more: Detroit 1967 riot: Rebellions and unrest

We've collaborated with former Free Press journalist Bill McGraw, who has written extensively on 1967, and the Detroit Historical Society, to build a detailed timeline of the events of the unrest.

See the yellow text on the timeline? Click on that text to find an annotation written by a local Detroit historian or expert using the Genius web platform. Those annotations, along with oral histories collected by the Detroit Historical Society, are there to help you explore new information, memories and perspectives of those four days in July.

We've also launched social media accounts to live-Tweet and share the historic events of July 1967 as they progress, 50 years later.

Watch history unfold with us and offer your own perspective at Detroit1967 on Facebook, @Detroit_1967 on Twitter and @Detroit_1967 on Instagram -- and follow the #Detroit67 hashtag to find a wealth of journalism and content from the Free Press, the Detroit Historical Society and other organizations. For a deeper dive into the history of these events, visit the Detroit 67 exhibit, Perspectives, on display now at the Detroit Historical Museum.

We look forward to the conversation.

Sunday, July 23

3:35 a.m.: Detroit Police Officer Joseph Brown, working undercover, slips into the blind pig at 12th and Clairmount and buys a beer.

4:05 a.m.: Cops begin loading 85 blind-pig patrons into patrol wagons. A small crowd is gathering.

4:40 a.m.: The crowd on 12th Street is growing and becoming hostile.

5:10 a.m.: People are throwing bottles and breaking store windows as police pull out with the last prisoners.

5:20 a.m.: Police commanders notify Commissioner Ray Girardin. He calls Mayor Jerome Cavanagh.

5:30 a.m.: Police send reinforcements into the 10th (Livernois) Precinct, which surrounds 12th and Clairmount.

7:45 a.m.: Police Commissioner Girardin orders cops to seal off Belle Isle.

7:50 a.m.: 12th Street crowd estimated at 3,000; people are looting and throwing rocks and bottles.

8 a.m.: Legal adviser Robert Danhof calls Gov. George Romney at his Bloomfield Hills home.

8:24 a.m.: A fire has broken out in a 12th Street shoe store. Firefighters battle the blaze with no problems.

8:30 a.m.: Officials cancel all police leaves and order 12-hour shifts as the 12th Street disturbance spreads.

The crowd on 12th Street has swelled to at least 8,000; police are trying to seal off the neighborhood.Community leaders are walking 12th Street, pleading for calm, but find little cooperation.

9:45 a.m.: U.S. Rep. John Conyers, on a car, pleads through a bullhorn, "Be cool." The crowd is heckling him.

10:30 a.m.: The 12th Street crowd grows more hostile and throws rocks and bottles. Police make six arrests.

11 a.m.: Michigan State Police put on "7X mobilization alert" — meaning "standby."

Noon: Detroit officials are turning down repeated offers of help from state authorities, saying the situation is stabilizing.

12:15 p.m.: All important utility installations in Detroit get armed guards.

1 p.m.: Fires are reported at 12th/Taylor; 12th/Blaine; 12th/Pingree; 12th/West Philadelphia. Firefighters are pelted with bottles and rocks.

2 p.m.: In a meeting, officials acknowledge the situation is worsening.

2:05 p.m.: Mayor Cavanagh asks for Michigan State Police after turning down repeated offers of help from state officials.

2:30 p.m.: National Guard dispatches four personnel carriers from Camp Grayling to Detroit.

3 p.m.: Looting is spreading to Dexter, Linwood and Grand River avenues.

3:30 p.m.: Many fans at the Yankees-Tigers doubleheader at Tiger Stadium can see huge columns of black smoke beyond left field.

4:20 p.m.: Mayor Cavanagh has asked for the Michigan National Guard to be brought into Detroit.

4:30 p.m.: Krikor Messerlian nicks a looter with his saber. Another youth beats him with a 30-inch piece of wood.

5 p.m.: About 200 National Guard members have been dispatched to Central High School.

5:20 p.m.: Looting is taking place now on Joy Road and Oakland Avenue.

6 p.m.: Looting at 14th and West Grand Boulevard.

6:15 p.m.: There's looting on Washington Boulevard downtown.

6:20 p.m.: Michigan State Police report looting in Highland Park.

6:57 p.m.: National Guard troops begin to appear on the streets of Detroit.

7 p.m.: In the past hour there have been 626 riot-related incidents.

7:30 p.m.: Romney leaves his Bloomfield Hills home for 1300 Beaubien, the police headquarters.

7:45 p.m.: Cavanagh describes situation in Detroit as "critical" but "not out of control."

7:45 p.m.: Cavanagh orders a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m..

7:49 p.m.: Looting has started at Hamilton and Webb.

8:30 p.m.: Looting at 7 Mile and Woodward and Michigan and Junction, both mainly white areas.

8:40 p.m.: Looting at Livernois and Fenkell.

9:07 p.m.: First sniper fire reported at Seward and Poe.

9:15 p.m.: A 16-year-old African-American boy is wounded; he's the first gunshot victim.

9:35 p.m.: Police are being sent to 12th and Lawrence because of "shooting at firemen."

10:10 p.m.: The disturbance is spreading to the east side. Looting is reported at Mt. Elliott and Forest.

10:15 p.m.: Police shoot and wound a looter for the first time.

10:25 p.m.: Mayor Cavanagh orders the closing of all city gas stations.

10:35 p.m.: Looting and crowds at Pennsylvania and Kercheval, scene of a two-night disturbance in 1966.

10:50 p.m.: Romney orders mobilization of all National Guard troops at Camp Grayling to Detroit.

10:48 p.m.: Sniper fire reported at 12th and Taylor.

11:08 p.m.: Looting near the Brewster Homes on east side.

11:45 p.m.: Looting reported at Monterey and Petoskey.

11:58 p.m.: Liquor sales are now banned in Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park.

11:59 p.m.: With 259 alarms today, the overstretched fire department asks for help from suburban fire departments.

Monday, July 24

Midnight: Romney declares state of emergency in Detroit, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Ecorse and River Rouge.

12:05 a.m.: From a car, a store owner shoots and kills a looter, 45-year-old Walter Grzanka, who had stolen shoelaces, cigars and tobacco.

1:15 a.m.: Pregnant and the mother of two, Sheren George, 23, dies after being shot by unknown assailant as she drives up Woodward.

2:15 a.m.: Romney has told Vice President Hubert Humphrey that federal troops are needed to control the situation in Detroit.

2:45 a.m.: Clifton Pryor, 23, is shot and killed at 667 W. Alexandrine by a National Guardsman, who suspected Pryor was a sniper.

2:46 a.m.: Friends and neighbors say Pryor was simply helping to guard his apartment building.

3 a.m.: U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark advises Romney he must declare an insurrection before federal troops can be sent.

3:01 a.m.: At a news conference, Romney says, "fleeing felons are subject to being shot at."

3:30 a.m.: Firefighter John Ashby is electrocuted by a high-voltage wire while battling a blaze.

4:30 a.m.: Looting and sniping rampant in the 5th Precinct around St. Jean and Jefferson.

7 a.m.: Detroit police report 400 persons have been injured since midnight.

8 a.m.: Fred Williams, 49, is electrocuted by a live wire behind his blazing home on Goodwin. The blaze started in a firebombed store.

9:45 a.m.: Army veteran Herman Ector, 30, is shot and killed by an unlicensed security guard. Ector objected to the guard's treatment of looters.

11:25 a.m.: Recorder's Court will stay open 24 hours a day until further notice to process criminal cases.

1:25 p.m.: Robert Beal, a suspected looter, is shot by a Detroit police officer inside Rite-Way Auto Parts, 9335 Oakland.

1:45 p.m.: Daniel Jennings, father of 14, is shot and killed by the owner of Stanley's Patent Drugs after Jennings and two others broke in.

1:46 p.m.: Police chase and shoot Joseph Chandler, a suspected looter, from a market at 3360 Second. He dies at Henry Ford Hospital.

2:30 p.m.: Suspected looter Herman Canty, 46, is shot and killed by police at the Bi-Lo Supermaket, 2450 W. Grand Blvd.

3 p.m.: U.S. Army paratroopers arrive at Selfridge Air Base in Mt. Clemens.

4 p.m.: Alfred Peachum, a suspected looter, is shot inside a supermarket at 3430 Joy. Police bullets wound two middle-age women nearby.

4:15 p.m.: Cyrus Vance, President Lyndon Baines Johnson's representative, and U.S. Army Gen. John Throckmorton, paratrooper commander, are briefed at police headquarters.

4:16 p.m.: Suspected looter Alphonso Smith, 35, is shot and killed by police under suspicious circumstances inside market on Dexter.

4:17 p.m.: Twenty-three fires are burning west of Woodward; six fires east of Woodward.

4:30 p.m.: Richard Paul Shugar accuses Nathaniel Edmonds, 23, of being a looter, and shoots and kills him at Baldwin and Harper.

5 p.m.: Cyrus Vance, LBJ's representative in Detroit, tours riot zones.

5:20 p.m.: Suspected looter Edward Kemp is shot by police and guardsmen at a market on Mack. He had five pack of cigars.

7:15 p.m.: Federal, state and local officials huddle with community leaders about sending in the Army.

8:15 p.m.: Vance announces federal troops will not be committed at this time.

8:30 p.m.: Police kill Richard Sims after he tries to break into a bar. Sims' wife witnessed the shooting without realizing it was her husband.

8:32 p.m.: In Washington, D.C., LBJ meets with FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, who says, "They have lost all control in Detroit."

8:55 p.m.: Romney and Cavanagh plead with an LBJ aide for federal troops to be sent to Detroit.

9:15 p.m.: Sniper reported fire along 12th Street.

9:28 p.m.: Sniper fire hits 7th (Mack) Precinct at Mack and Gratiot.

9:30 p.m.: Cops and National Guard shoot fleeing looter Frank Tanner at East Grand Boulevard and Helen, but lose him. Tanner collapses in pain.

9:30 p.m.: Army troops move from Selfridge to state fairgrounds at 8 Mile and Woodward.

9:45 p.m.: Romney once again is asking U.S. Attorney General Clark for federal troops.

10:22 p.m.: Heavy sniper fire pins down police and National Guard at Lycaste and Charlevoix and Fairview and Goethe on the east side.

11 p.m.: Vance advises LBJ that the situation in Detroit is deteriorating and requests permission to use federal troops.

11:30 p.m.: Firefighter Carl Smith is killed at St. Jean and Mack, possibly by friendly fire, as police and guardsmen battle snipers.

Tuesday, July 25

Midnight: President Johnson appears on national TV to announce federal paratroopers are moving into Detroit neighborhoods.

12:01 a.m.: Police shoot and kill suspected looter Manual Crosbey as he flees officers from looted market on East Nevada.

12:02 a.m.: LBJ tells the nation that "Law and order have broken down in Detroit, Michigan."

12:20 a.m.: Heavy sniper fire at 5th (Jefferson) Precinct at St. Jean and Jefferson.

12:50 a.m.: Snipers shooting at firefighters at Mack and St. Jean command post.

1:15 a.m.: Security guard Julius Dorsey dies when caught between police, guardsmen and fleeing looters. Looters escape.

1:17 a.m.: Direct communication line opens between Detroit and the Pentagon.

1:50 a.m.: Small-arms fire on Boston Boulevard.

2:40 a.m.: Sniper fire at firefighters in Oakland-Alger neighborhood.

2:45 a.m.: Large fire burning and sniper fire at Linwood and Montgomery.

3 a.m.: Detroit Police Officer Jerome Olshove is shot and killed by a fellow officer's shotgun during a scuffle with a prisoner arrested for looting.

4 a.m.: Federal troops take over lower east side around Mack, Kercheval, Van Dyke, Mt. Elliott and East Grand Boulevard.

4:01 a.m.: Gen. Throckmorton orders all Army and National Guard troops to unload weapons and to load only with permission.

8 a.m.: Cavanagh, Romney and Vance urge business to open in areas not touched by violence.

8:05 a.m.: Eleven hours after he was shot, fleeing looter Frank Tanner is located at East Grand Boulevard and Helen. He's dead on arrival at DGH.

10 a.m.: Romney permits small amounts of gas, only if it goes directly into an automobile gas tank.

3 p.m.: Police shoot Arthur Johnson, 36, and Perry Williams, 33, while they were looting a loan company at 1401 Holbrook.

3:45 p.m.: Looting at Alger and Jefferson.

6:16 p.m.: Large fire raging in 3300 block of Harrison between Myrtle and West Vernor.

9:10 p.m.: Police patrol wagon containing machine guns pinned down by sniper fire at Hazelwood and Lawton.

9:45 p.m.: Jack Sydnor, the only sniper known to have died, wounded the Detroit Police Department's Roger Poike before cops killed him.

10:05 p.m.: Police ordered out of West Grand Blvd/Dexter/Claimount/Woodrow Wilson for National Guard sweep.

10:25 p.m.: Sniper firing automatic weapon at Commonwealth and Merrick.

Wednesday, July 26

1 a.m.: Connecticut businesswoman Helen Hall dies after being shot in the heart while standing in her motel room's window in New Center.

1:20 a.m.: Tonia Blanding, 4, pronounced dead at Henry Ford Hospital from .50-caliber machine gun bullets to chest that came from a National Guard tank.

12:15 a.m.: Detroit police, National Guard and Michigan State Police respond to a call about possible sniping near the Algiers Motel.

2:15 a.m.: Police homicide unit notified about three dead bodies at Algiers Motel.

5 p.m.: George Talbert, 20, is shot and killed by a National Guardsman while Talbert was walking on LaSalle Gardens South, unarmed.

11 p.m.: Albert Robinson, 38, is shot and killed outside his apartment at Davison and LaSalle; witnesses say a guardsman bayonetted him.

Thursday, July 27

11:30 a.m.: Willie McDaniels, 23, dies after being shot as a looter the day before. Witnesses dispute police version of events.