ABSTRACT
Despite the advances made between 1955 and 1965, racial relations remained an acute problem in US society, not least in the large cities of the North and on the West Coast, which had been left largely untouched by the campaigns of the civil rights movement. This neglect was highlighted by a major race riot in the Watts ghetto, a black residential area of Los Angeles in California, between 11 and 15 August 1965. Thirty-four people were killed, more than 1,000 injured and over $40 million lost in property damage, largely to white-owned businesses. Almost 3,500 rioters and looters were arrested. Disturbing enough in itself, Watts was one of the first of 239 outbreaks of racial violence in over 200 US cities in the five 'long hot summers' of 1964-8. Almost every large American city outside of the South was at some stage affected, including Oakland in California, 1965 and 1966, Cleveland, Ohio, 1966 and 1968, Chicago, Illinois, 1966 and 1968, Newark, New Jersey, 1967 and Detroit, Michigan, in 1967. The number and intensity of the riots, as well as their geographical diversity, also increased over time. In 1964 there were 16 serious outbreaks of violence in 16 cities, but the first five months of 1968 alone saw 65 riots in 64 cities. Between 1964 and 1972 inner-city ghetto riots resulted in at least 250 deaths, 10,000 serious injuries and 60,000 arrests. Incalculable millions of dollars were lost in damage to shops and businesses. This reflected the fact that the anger and frustration of ghetto residents were directed primarily against property rather than people. The majority of fatalities resulted from shootings by local police forces and national guardsmen rather than directly from the actions of rioters themselves.
