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Ghetto Riots

Ghetto Riots. Aims:. Identify why riots took place in northern cities of the USA in the 1960s. Understand why some Blacks began to question non-violent tactics. Life in the North.

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Ghetto Riots

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  1. Ghetto Riots

  2. Aims: • Identify why riots took place in northern cities of the USA in the 1960s. • Understand why some Blacks began to question non-violent tactics.

  3. Life in the North • The Civil Rights Movement had concentrated in achieving change in the southern states for many years; mainly due to the discrimination and segregation which existed there. • Despite this, around 50% of Blacks lived in the north of the USA and had been untouched by the achievements of the Civil Rights Movement. • Many lived in ghettos facing bad housing, high unemployment, poverty, gang violence and crime.

  4. Ghettos • A ghetto is the name for an inner city area with high levels of poverty and typically containing one ethnic/racial group. • In northern cities many whites had moved out of the inner cities and Blacks had moved in . • The areas had become very poor and run down with increasing tensions between white and Blacks. • Racial discrimination and poverty made it almost impossible to escape from ghetto areas.

  5. The Vicious Cycle of the Ghetto

  6. The Ghetto Riots – Watts 1965 • In 1965 the first of many city riots broke out in Watts, an area in Los Angeles that was a ghetto slum. • The population in Watts was 90% Black and the local police force almost entirely white. • In August 1965 the police stopped a Black youth for drunk driving. • What started as a local fight turned into a riot which lasted six days, leaving 34 dead, 900 wounded and 4,000 arrested.

  7. Over the next few years there were many riots – in 1966 alone there were 43 ‘race riots’. • The riots were often caused by tension between Blacks and White authorities and resentment between Blacks and Whites. • Many Blacks were tired of being the victims of violence and intimidation by White police officers.

  8. Importance of Watts, 1965 • After the Watts riots, Martin Luther King went to Los Angeles to spread the message of non-violence – however he was heckled and shouted at by young Blacks. • This was the beginning of a turning point for the Civil Rights Movement – the message of non-violence was no longer as popular. • The more violent message of ‘Black Power’ promised faster results and attracted more support from the Black population. • The riots also turned White Americans and even some middle class Black Americans against the cause of Civil Rights.

  9. Tasks • Complete questions 1-2 from page 95 of your workguide. • Complete questions 1-3 from page 96 of your workguide.

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