Long_hot_summer_of_1967

Long, hot summer of 1967

Long, hot summer of 1967

Race riots in the US in 1967

This article is about the race riots in the United States. For other uses of "long hot summer", see Long Hot Summer (disambiguation).

The long, hot summer of 1967 refers to the more than 150 race riots that erupted across major cities in the United States during the summer of 1967.[2][3][4] In June there were riots in Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, and Tampa. In July there were riots in Birmingham, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Newark, New Britain, New York City, Plainfield, Rochester, and Toledo.

Quick Facts Date, Location ...

The most destructive riots of the summer took place in July, in Detroit and Newark; many contemporary newspaper headlines described them as "battles".[5] As a result of the rioting in the summer of 1967 and the preceding two years, President Lyndon B. Johnson established the Kerner Commission to investigate the rioting and urban issues of Black Americans.[6]

History

A history of institutionalized unemployment, abusive policing, and poor housing was already present in certain areas of the United States. Riots began to flare up across the country but especially during the summer months. With rioting in urban areas across the country, and the Summer of Love occurring in hippie communities,[7] Americans were witnessing US troop movements in the Vietnam War shown on the nightly television news. At the end of July, President Lyndon B. Johnson set up the Kerner Commission to investigate the riots; in 1968 it released a report blaming pervasive societal inequalities in American ghettos for the riots. By September 1967, 83 people were dead, thousands were injured, tens of millions of dollars worth of property had been destroyed and entire neighborhoods had been burned.[8]

Reactions

It is in the context of having been through the "long, hot, summer" that in December 1967, Miami police chief Walter E. Headley uttered the now-infamous phrase, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts", after which Frank Rizzo, Richard Daley and George Wallace also spoke out in favor of a hardline approach towards looters and rioters.[9] The Republicans, although a minority party in the House of Representatives, were split over how to respond to the rioting, despite common historiographical perceptions which depict them as being entirely in favor of a "law and order" styled approach.[10]

In early July 1967, the Justice Department met with local media to ask for "restraint in reporting".[11] In December of the same year, The New York Times asked a psychologist about "deterrents" and was told that the riots would continue.[12]

Polling

In a March 1968 Harris poll reported in The Washington Post, 37% of Americans agreed with the Kerner Commission's report that the 1967 race riots were brought on mainly by inequalities; 49% disagreed. A majority of whites (53%) rejected the idea, with just 35% agreeing. In contrast, 58% of blacks supported it, and only 17% disagreed.[13]

Political response

Throughout the summer that year, both the Republican and Democratic parties were split on how to handle the riots. In both parties two factions existed: one that advocated for law and order, and another that supported an approach based on social justice. Democrats held the majority of seats in both Houses of Congress while the Republicans held the minority. Despite common historiographical perceptions that depict the Republicans as being entirely in favor of a "law and order" styled approach to the riots, there was division in the party. President Johnson's popularity levels decreased that summer because of the riots.[10]

During July, conservatives in the Republican Party dominated its response to the riots. Republicans believed this would be an opportunity to attack President Johnson and his War on Poverty initiative. Many Republicans would end up blaming Johnson for what happened that summer and many supported cutting back on programs that benefited urban areas.[14] In the Senate, Republicans took a largely different approach that month than those who were in the House with most Republican Senators supporting Johnson's anti urban poverty programs.[15]

In the 1968 presidential primaries, the two factions of law and order along with social justice would clash in the Republican Party. Ronald Reagan would orientate himself as a law and order candidate, Nelson Rockefeller siding with the justice faction and Richard Nixon catering to both factions. Nixon would end up emerging victorious. Nixon called to control crime, scale back the War on Poverty and encourage black capitalism as a way to "restore urban areas".[16]

On August 10, the Kerner Commission would recommend in a letter to President Johnson that they should substantially and immediately increase the amount of African Americans serving in the National Guard and Air National Guard. The reason being they thought with more African-Americans serving in the National Guard it could be a more effective force at preventing civil disorder.[17]

List of riots

Some of the riots include:

More information Location, Date ...

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Gonsalves, Kelly. "The 'long, hot summer of 1967'". The Week. Retrieved 2017-12-25.
  2. [2]
    McLaughlin 2014, p. 1.
  3. [3]
    Friedland, Michael B. (1998). Lift Up Your Voice Like a Trumpet: White Clergy and the Civil Rights and Antiwar Movements, 1954–1973. University of North Carolina Press. p. 189. ISBN 9780807846469.
  4. [4]
    Bould, Mark; Vint, Sherryl (2011). The Routledge Concise History of Science Fiction. Routledge. p. 105. ISBN 9781136820410.
  5. [5]
    McLaughlin 2014, p. 101.
  6. [6]
    McLaughlin 2014, p. 39.
  7. [7]
    Sullivan, Patricia (2021). Justice Rising: Robert KennedyÕs America in Black and White. Harvard University Press. p. 346. ISBN 978-0-674-73745-7. The summer of 1967—the "summer of love" for America's youth counterculture—was a "long hot summer" for Black urban Americans, a season of the deadliest and most widespread racial strife in US history. Racial clashes, disorders, and rebellions erupted in an estimated 164 cities in thirty-four states, bringing the nation's crisis to a boil.
  8. [8]
    Gonsalves, Kelly. "The 'long, hot summer of 1967'". theweek.com. The Week.
  9. [9]
    Purna Kambhampaty, Anna (June 11, 2020). "How American Power Dynamics Have Shaped Perceptions of Looting, From the Boston Tea Party to Today". Time.
  10. [10]
    McLay 2018.
  11. [11]
    Graham, Fred P. (July 8, 1967). "Restraint urged in race riot news; U.S. Officials Seek Delays Pending Police Action". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2020. Washington, July 7-- Officials of the Justice Department have been quietly meeting with news media representatives in racially tense cities to urge restraint in reporting racial outbursts, a department spokesman said today.
  12. [12]
    Burnham, David (December 30, 1967). "New urban riots foreseen in U.S.; Psychologist Contends No Effective Deterrent Exists". The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2020. There is no effective deterrent or antidote for the kind of Negro riots that have swept through the North in recent years, and such outbursts will continue "until the well of available cities runs dry," a research psychologist said yesterday.
  13. [13]
    "The Long Hot Summer: Riots in 1967". ropercenter.cornell.edu. ROPER Center for Public Opinion Research. August 28, 2017.
  14. [14]
    McLay 2018, pp. 1096–1097.
  15. [15]
    McLay 2018, p. 1100.
  16. [16]
    McLay 2018, p. 1109–1110.
  17. [17]
    Semple Jr., Robert B. (August 11, 1967). "RIOT PANEL URGES GUARD TO STEP UP NEGRO RECRUITING; Johnson Commission Calls Percentage Low and Asks 'Deficiency' Be Corrected PENTAGON IS INFORMED President Sends Report to McNamara as Matter for His Immediate Attention". The New York Times. pp. 1 & 34. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  18. [18]
    "Race Troubles: 109 U.S. Cities Faced Violence in 1967". U.S. News & World Report. July 12, 2017 [August 14, 1967]. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  19. [19]
    "The Nashville Race Riot (1967)". The Royal Gazette (Bermuda). February 25, 2021. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  20. [20]
    "History - MLK Jr. visits Louisville in the '60s". The Courier-Journal. January 16, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  21. [21]
    "No marker recognizes Ben Brown's killing on JSU campus". The Clarion-Ledger. May 12, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  22. [22]
    "Youth Rioting Hits Playland". Madera Tribune. May 15, 1967. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  23. [23]
    "The TSU Riot, 50 years later". Houston Chronicle. May 16, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  24. [24]
    "30 Arrested in Chicago Melee At Service Honoring Malcolm X; 'White People Invaded' Negro Undercoverman". The New York Times. May 22, 1967. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  25. [25]
    "The forgotten riot that sparked Boston's racial unrest". The Boston Globe. June 2, 2017. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  26. [26]
    Proceedings and Debates of the 90th Congress First Session. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1967. p. 19335 – via Google Books.
  27. [27]
    "Violence in Alabama". The New York Times. June 12, 1967. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  28. [28]
    "The Legacy of the Cincinnati Strangler". Cincinnati Magazine. August 1997. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  29. [29]
    "Two Ohio Cities Are Focal Point of Overnight Racial Disorders". Reading Eagle. June 15, 1967. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  30. [30]
    "Stones Thrown at Police At Los Angeles Fire Site". The New York Times. June 13, 1967. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  31. [31]
    Proceedings and Debates of the 90th Congress First Session. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1967. p. 20198 – via Google Books.
  32. [32]
    Proceedings and Debates of the 90th Congress First Session. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. 1967. p. 20197 – via Google Books.
  33. [33]
    Cyr, Jared (June 29, 2018). "HARTFORD RACE RIOTS". Hartford through Time. University of Connecticut. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  34. [34]
    "NEGROES IN NYACK SMASH WINDOWS; 18 Arrested in Disturbance Linked to Jersey Violence". The New York Times. July 20, 1967. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  35. [35]
    "Fire and Explosions Strike Youngstown In Racial Violence". The New York Times. July 23, 1967. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  36. [36]
    "Michigan State Insurance Commission estimate of December, 1967, quoted in the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders AKA Kerner Report". 1968-02-09. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
  37. [37]
    "Grand Rapids 1967 riot: When anger, oppression erupted into 'chaos'". MLive Media Group. July 18, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  38. [38]
    "MT. VERNON IS HIT BY NEW VIOLENCE; Mayor Declares Emergency Exists After Looting". The New York Times. July 27, 1967. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  39. [39]
    "1,000 Guardsmen Sent to Quiet South Bend, Ind.; Carfew Fails to Calm City Bands of Youthful Negroes Roam Streets 2d Night". The New York Times. July 27, 1967. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  40. [40]
    RIOTS, CIVIL AND CRIMINAL DISORDERS: HEARINGS BEFORE THE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE (PDF). United States Government Publishing Office. 1968.
  41. [41]
    "NEWBURGH RALLY ENDS IN VIOLENCE; 30 Negroes Are Arrested in Rampage After Argument at a Neo-Nazi Meeting NEWBURGH BESET BY RACE VIOLENCE". The New York Times. July 30, 1967. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  42. [42]
    "Police Seal Area in Providence After Negro Youths' Rampage". The New York Times. August 1, 1967. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  43. [43]
    Staff Study of Major Riots and Civil Disorders, 1965 Through July 31, 1968. Vol. 74–76. United States Government Printing Office. 1968. pp. 12 & 13 – via Google Books.
  44. [44]
    "In segregated D.C., few officials feared rioting. They had not considered the suffering of black residents". The Washington Post. March 27, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  45. [45]
    Riots, Civil and Criminal Disorders Hearings Before the United States Senate Committee on Government Operations, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Ninetieth and Ninety-First Congresses · Parts 13-19. United States Government Printing Office. 1968. pp. 2770–2771 – via Google Books.
  46. [46]
    Croyle, Johnathan (June 10, 2020). "1967: After claims of police brutality, downtown Syracuse witnesses scenes of rioting and looting (vintage photos)". Syracuse.com. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  47. [47]
    O'Leary, Mary; Stannard, Ed; Abdul-Karim, Shahid (August 12, 2017). "1967 riots: 4 tense days that began 'evolution' of blacks". New Haven Register (Digital). Retrieved March 18, 2023.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Racial formation in the United States: from the 1960s to the 1990s (1994)
  • Walter C. Rucker and James N. Upton, eds. Encyclopedia of American Race Riots (2007) 930 pages –
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Long_hot_summer_of_1967, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.