Review Ch 10 from Strain’s
The Long Sixties, then choose ONE of the following topics as a focus for doing a bit of primary source research:
- Freedom Riders
- the March on Washington
- the Watts riots
- Stokeley Carmichael, SNCC, “Black Power”
- the Black Panthers in armed protest at the California State Legislature
- another individual, organization or event of your choice.
Procedure: start by reading about the topic on Wikipedia, using that source to note searchable names, dates for narrowing the search, etc. The log into the Proquest Historical Newspapers database, setting up your search to include more than one newspaper. If you’re looking up a multiple word phrase like the Black Panthers, it may help to use quotation marks in the search box: “Black Panther.” Make sure to DOWNLOAD any news pieces that you find striking, so you can access them later.
Post ONE of the pieces you downloaded under the appropriate HW heading below, along with a Bibliographic citation. Identify your piece as “Editorial,” “News Article,” “Letter to the Editor,” or something else.
Then, sifting through the news pieces you found, what patterns or contrasts do you find? Use one or more of the articles you dug up to tell a story about 1960s news coverage of the event or organization you’re researching. Your story should be engaging but shouldn’t misrepresent the evidence. Some possible angles: “Newspaper X had it in for Person Y”; “Americans hoped for X in the summer of 19__, but they feared Y”; “African-Americans saw X differently from the white mainstream.” Using more than one article as evidence allows you to establish a pattern and so make a bolder claim.
Write up your historical narrative in 1-2 ¶s, citing sources by parenthetic reference to the article author’s last name, and then listing those sources at the bottom alphabetically along with a link for each one. If the article doesn’t have an author byline, use the newspaper title and date instead. (This is a form of source citation that’s ideal for HW assignments but poorly suited for finished essays; I’ll explain why in class.)
Striking Points Made by Sitkoff
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“The unemployed and working poor had little interest in the symbolic and status gains that the college students, professionals, and religious Southern middle-class blacks, who had constituted the bulk of the movement prior to Birmingham, had centered their energies on. They had even less sympathy for, or knowledge of, the spirit of Satyagraha. King’s talk of love left them cold” pg 135
This quote is really fascinating, as you can see that aside from the major figures, white students, and even professionals. Peaceful, or “Spirit of Satyagraha,” wasn’t well liked among the poor or unemployed. There was fracturing even within major civil rights movements, with economic factors being something that sort of split some of the ideals; as you can see, the unemployed or working class did not fully share the same ideals as the middle class, white college students, and professional activists.
“Criticism of King for his ‘children’s crusade’ came from every
quarter. Moderates anguished about the safety of the children. Conservatives denounced the tactic as cynical and exploitative. Radicals demeaned it as unmanly. ‘Real men,’ objected Malcolm X, ‘don’t put their children on the firing line’. King retorted that, by demonstrating, the children gained a ‘sense of their own stake in freedom and justice,’ as well as a heightened pride in their race and belief in their capacity to influence their future. In fact, King had accepted Bevel’s plan to use Birmingham’s black
children as demonstrators because most adults had been reluctant
to march and the campaign would have soon fizzled out”(126-127). This quote was very striking as it highlighted the contrast between the beliefs of MLK and Malcolm X regarding using children to protest. One sees this as strategically smart while the other calls it morally wrong. This quote is also fascinating because although Malcolm X typically argues for freedom by any means necessary he is against this particular method, while King who believes more in traditional protesting and civil disobedience takes an unusual approach.
“The price of white security, Baldwin summed up, ‘is the diffraction of the blacks- the total liberation, in the cities, in the towns, before the law, and in the mind.’ Anything less, he warned in the words of a Negro spiritual: ‘God gave Noah the rainbow sign/ No more water, the fire next time!'” (142)
I found this passage particularly striking because I feel like it brings about a different argument black people were using during the time to fight for their liberation. Instead of the moral argument, being that all men and women are created equal and should therefore all be treated as such, Baldwin argues that if white people want to be safe, if they don’t want riots in the streets, then they need to accept black equality. I found this argument interesting because I feel like it represents the urgency of the movement. It had been almost 100 years since the emancipation proclamation and black Americans were still being subjugated and oppressed in horrific levels. While reading this passage, it felt to me that Baldwin here was able to express the very prevelent sentiment in black America that they would no longer wait, and if they were forced to, there would be repercussions. The transition, or even just deviation, from a moral argument to an argument about consequences, allowed me as the reader to feel the pressure they were putting on the public, which gave me a perspective into the pressures of the time, and how incredibly necessary they were.
“Simultaneously, their radicalism made the movement’s leadership and objectives appear responsible and moderate. And they scared some white leaders into accepting the civil-rights demands as the only effective way to avert potential disaster.” pg 143
I went in assuming Malcolm X and mainstream civil rights leaders like King were somewhat working against each other, competing for the same audience with opposite methods because of their nonviolent vs more aggressive approaches. But Malcolm actually made King’s demands look reasonable, which gave King more leverage with white officials. So even though Malcolm had disdain for King’s tactics and King did not endorse Malcolm’s, they functioned almost like a good cop/bad cop pair without coordinating. It showed that “rivalry” in this case was doing work for the other side’s negotiating with officials/movement purposes.
“‘Real men,’ objected Malcom X, ‘don’t put their children on the firing line.’ King retorted that, by demonstrating, the children gained ‘a sense of their own stake in freedom and justice.'” (127)
Although it has been well-known that Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. had different views on how to get rights for Black Americans, I had not realized how much they would go against each other publicly. I believe that this may have made the movement harder since there was not a lot of unity on how they wanted to move forward. In a certain way, it also showed Black Americans the different ways for them to fight for justice.
“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”(124 Sitkoff)
Something that specifically stood out to me about this quote was that King’s main argument is that people should not blindly obey laws just because they are laws. If a law is unfair or treats certain people less than others, citizens have a moral duty to challenge it. In the context of the Civil Rights Movement, King strongly believed segregation laws were unjust because they denied black americans equal rights and dignity. This quote also shows and explains why he supported nonviolent civil obedience: breaking an unjust law peacefully could expose its unfairness and pressure society to make a change.
“[White moderates from the south] had felt the heat from Washington. They feared the city was on the verge of a major bloodletting. And they had reckoned the toll of the black boycott: sales in April had dropped more than a third in downtown stores.”
Something I’m hoping to get out of the class is a better understanding of the potential concrete outcomes of demonstration/protest. There’s the more obvious benefit of rousing public awareness– but this quote highlighted how public awareness can create a pathway for influencing elites. (The public pressure influenced the federal government, who in turn pressures the economic powers who are directly impacting the community.) I am curious about the kinds of demands that were made in these conversations/the extent of the power of economic elites to influence the experience of Black people in Birmingham.
“More significant than the numbers, the nature of the struggle changed after Birmingham. Nearly a decade after Brown, African-American parents no longer would wait patiently for their children to attend desegregated schools. The militant “never” of hard-core segregationists would be matched by their own militancy. En masse, they forsook gradualism for immediacy. Tokenism and, for some, even nonviolence, no longer sufficed. Freedom Now meant, at a minimum, sweeping basic changes without either delay or dilution.
‘The package deal is the new demand,’ wrote Bayard Rustin. Instead of accepting further protracted, piecemeal alterations in the racial system, blacks clamored now for ‘fundamental, social, political and economic change.’ The price of racial peace, they insisted, must be decent jobs and housing for blacks as well as the franchise, an end to police brutality as well as immediate desegregation of all schools and public accommodations. To underscore their determination, moreover, blacks demonstrated for these concerns in an exceedingly relentless manner.”
This quote shows the transfer of the “waiting” mentality to a more immediate need for action, which embodies MLK’s Why We Can’t Wait. It also illustrates the complete revolution in the civil rights movement, in which these groups fighting for rights gained so much ground after inching forward slowly and slipping back for a century. Although the outcome of Birmingham was a victory, I also thought of the fact that any forward movement that returned to the “piecemeal alterations” would be not only disappointing but angering towards groups fighting for civil rights. I can understand the social and political pressure that the leaders of these movements were under, to properly time their actions without angering their opponents too quickly and putting the movement in danger but also in order to harness the momentum of their followers before they lost their motivation and passion.
Weiss’s Account, by Contrast
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Weiss’s account, by contrast, was incredibly eye-opening and interesting. Sitkoff focused on the activism that was made by the various groups of people, and how these sentiments were recorded, truly highlighting the racism and prejudice that these groups were receiving. As a result, many groups resorted to activism (the most prominent in Sitkoff’s account being the Boycotts in Montgomery). However, the CUCRL movement emphasized formal cooperation between whites and disenfranchised groups (a stark contrast from Connor’s brutal actions in reaction to protest). Whitney Young’s quote, “The day has passed when we could entrust our complete destiny to a single Messianic leader or rely on any monolithic approach” [Weiss, 46], broadens the idea of leadership as not just being a single individual, but many individuals, which was especially the case in the Civil Rights movement. At the same time, I was saddened to learn about the divide in the Civil Rights movement near the end of Weiss’s account, as they couldn’t even agree on simple initiatives. [Weiss, 55]
What I found deeply interesting about Weiss’ essay, especially in contrast to Sitkoff’s account, was how Weiss, like Sitkoff, noted the deep divides (ideologically, demographically, and socially) between the different sects of the civil rights movement, while also noting how that creative tension between said sects lent itself to making an overall stronger movement. Weiss states that “each organization brought the movement its own distinctive strengths and style,” whether that be “mobilization and empowerment…nonviolent direct action…dramatic demonstrations…nonviolent persuasion…[and/or] legal and legislative action” (Weiss 47-48). While Sitkoff highlighted in critical detail the “divisions and differences that would one day wreck the movement,” Weiss’s more positive spin, especially on organizations like the CUCRL and phenomena such as how the “antagonism between the two [main demographic/ideological groups] was functional because it made the conservatives seem more reliable and responsible in the eyes of the whites” really struck me as highlighting how much of a careful, impromptu, yet ultimately brilliant, balancing act the civil rights movement was (Sitkoff 153; Weiss 52).
One thing I found interesting from Weiss was how the civil rights organizations created the Council of United Civil Rights Leadership to help the different groups work together. Weiss explains that the meetings were important because they gave leaders opportunities for “sharing information, thinking collectively about the movement, and diminishing tensions among the civil rights organizations.” (Weiss 43) I found this interesting because it shows that the Civil Rights Movement was not made up of one group that always agreed with each other. The different organizations had their own ideas and strategies, so they needed a way to communicate and work together. This adds to what I learned from Sitkoff because Sitkoff also showed disagreements within the movement, but Weiss shows one of the ways the leaders tried to manage those disagreements instead of letting them completely divide the movement.
News Coverage of Civ Rights Orgs
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Attachment Letters_to_the_Editor_emsp.pdf
Works Cited
PAUL B CORNELY, MD, Head of Department,
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine, Howard University,Washington. “Letters to the Editor: Riots in the Cities PAUL OSTERMAN. Chevy Chase. HERBERT SOMMERS. Washington. JULIETTE C. MUSCAT. Alexandria. DOUGLAS ROBERTON. Washington. ARDEN WAGNER. Annandale. DOUGLAS SAGER. Washington. FRANK E. KARELSEN. the Writer is a Member of the New York City Community for Mental Education of Disadvantaged Children. New York. CHRISTOPHER B. COHEN. Chicago. L.C. FARRAR. Washington.” The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), 28 July 1967, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026.
Attachment document-2.pdf
Letter to the Editor
Parker, W. H. “Police Recognition Appreciated as Encouraging by Chief Parker.” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), 01 Oct. 1965, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026 .
Attachment Something_Wrong_In_Paradise_W.pdf
DOC YOUNG, ,A.S. “Something Wrong in ‘Paradise West’: THE LOS ANGELES RIOTS.” Chicago Daily
Defender (Daily Edition) (1960-1973), 16 Aug. 1965, p. 11. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026, ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fsomething-wrong-paradise-west%2Fdocview%2F494197322%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.
Attachment WATTS_RIOT_STUDY_DEPICTED_AS_W-1.pdf
News Article
Watt’s Riot Study Depicted as Weak:
“Watt’s Riot Study Depicted as Weak: Rights Panel Calls Report a ‘Bitter Disappointment'” New York Times, 23 January 1966, p. 71
Attachment document-4.pdf
News Coverage of Key Events
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Attachment Youth_18_Arrested_As_Arson_S-1.pdf
The topic I chose to look into was the Newark Riots.
Christopher Strain’s discussion of minority empowerment in The Long Sixties delves into why the Newark riots of July 1967 occurred at such an fundamental turning point during the civil rights era. Strain argues that major civil-rights victories of the mid-1960s, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, attacked segregation and disenfranchisement, but did not eliminate deeper problems of economic inequality, lack of opportunity, and white supremacy. As African Americans gained greater access to political life, activists pushed for economic parity, political autonomy, safety, and genuine power within their own communities, further than just a formal proclamation of civil rights. Strain identifies the urban unrest of the 1960s as evidence of this growing frustration.
Beginning with Harlem in 1964 and Watts in 1965 and continuing through Detroit, Newark, and other cities during the “long hot summers,” these uprisings demonstrated that federal legislation had not solved the problems experienced by impoverished Black Americans outside the South. Strain notes that many white Americans interpreted the unrest primarily as lawlessness and looting, failing to understand the poverty, alienation, and racial inequality underlying it. Newark was one of the clearest examples of this tension. The immediate spark came on July 12, 1967, when two white Newark police officers arrested and beat Black cab driver John W. Smith. A rumor that Smith had been killed in police custody spread through the surrounding community, leading to protests that escalated into several days of looting, arson, and clashes with police and National Guard troops.
Secondary Sources
Strain, Christopher B. The Long Sixties: America, 1955–1973. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. Chapter 10, “Minority Empowerment: From Margin to Mainstream,” pp. 178–194.
Newark Archives Project. “Collection of 1967 Newark Riots Newsclippings.” Newark History Society and Rutgers University-Newark.
Whack, Errin Haines. “Newark Riots Recall an Era Echoed by Black Lives Matter.” The Washington Post, July 7, 2017.
Attachment 4_Arrested_in_Watts_Riots_File.pdf
I chose to delve into the Watts Riots.
Strain’s analysis is rather simplistic, as he says it “symbolize[d] the seething discontent and frustration of Urban Blacks outside of the south” (Strain, 182). The Watts riots occurred in LA following the case of police brutality regarding Marquette Frye, and the police mishandling his case. As a result, the neighborhood of Watts erupted in violence as both sides were fighting for their definition of righteousness. The actual cause for the Watts riots is disputed, but did reflect the growing social, racial, and economic tension of time, one of the major issues being the increase of poverty.
An article from the LA times highlights how the riots acted as a way to address the growing inequality and little communication between races (Watts Riots Spark Study in Burbank). Furthermore, of some of the 4000 people arrested with involvement to the riots, The Washington Post reported that 4 of the detained had appealed to the Supreme Court, taking a more neutral stance to the affair. (4 Arrested in Watts Riots File High Court Appeal). The Watts Riots remain one of the most influential riots to expose poverty and racial injustice today.
Sources:
“Watts Riots.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Sept. 2026, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_riots.
The Long Sixties : America, 1955-1973. Wiley Blackwell, 2017.
“Watts Riots Spark Study in Burbank.” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), 26 Aug. 1965, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026 .
“4 Arrested in Watts Riots File High Court Appeal.” The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), 09 Oct. 1965, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026 .
Attachment Something_Wrong_In_Paradise_W-1.pdf
My primary source, an article in the Chicago Defender entitled “Something Wrong in ‘Paradise West’,” highlighted the key tensions present in both the background behind the Watts Riots, as well as the riots themselves. According to the Defender and other sources, the Watts Riots began on August 11, 1965 with the attempted arrest of Marquette Frye, a black man suspected of driving under the influence. After Frye failed a field sobriety test administered by officer Lee Minikus, Frye’s mother, Rena, arrived and allegedly argued with the police and Frye, who then became agitated at Minikus and his backup patrol officer. Tensions then escalated into a melee, by which “this isolated spark” turned into a “conflagration.” A large group of young black adults, their average age being 18, began looting the area as thousands of others joined in the riots. The Defender then takes a turn in its reporting, focusing on the economic inequality that African-Americans faced in the Watts district. Despite ~98% of its population being African-American, the Defender claimed that Watts was largely economically dominated by non-black people. Despite the high quality of education, black people in Watts are owners of “principally small shops,” with the larger stores being “wholly owned by Caucasians and Jews.” Additionally, the entire area is “over-populated with liquor stores…[with] 58 liquor stores in a 50-block expanse…through Watts.” “The people of Watts are a rejected lot,” the Defender writes. No doubt this explains, as Christopher Strain mentioned in “The Long Sixties,” the “seething discontent and frustration of urban blacks” (Strain 183). When the National Guard was called in days later (though this was not mentioned by the Defender), this frustration then turned on them, leading to some of the most destructive riots up to that point in Los Angeles history.
Attachment Something_Wrong_In_Paradise_W-2.pdf
DOC YOUNG, ,A.S. “Something Wrong in ‘Paradise West’: THE LOS ANGELES RIOTS.” Chicago Daily
Defender (Daily Edition) (1960-1973), 16 Aug. 1965, p. 11. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026, ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fsomething-wrong-paradise-west%2Fdocview%2F494197322%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.
Attachment document-4-1.pdf
An individual that stood out to me from Chapter 10 Minority Empowerment: From Margin to Mainstream was Jimmie Lee Jackson. Jackson’s death led one to one of the most historical events of the Civil Rights movement, which is known as Bloody Sunday. Jimmie Lee Jackson had been trying to protect his mother during a protest/demonstration when an Alabama state trooper shot and killed him. Many newspapers from that time did not focus on Jackson’s name, but instead would refer to him in different ways. For example, the Chicago Tribune refers to him as a “Negro” as they say “Negro Given Funeral Of A Martyred Hero – King Leads Rites for Victim of Racial Action” (Chicago Tribune). This title refers to the fact that Jackson was considered a martyr by the Civil Rights Movement. However, the Chicago Tribune seems like they do not agree with him being given a funeral of a martyred hero because he was a Negro. On the other hand, the Afro-American News Article’s title says, “Jimmie Lee Just Wanted to be a Voter – Riot Victim Gets Martyr’s Funeral” (Leon Daniel). This article has a different outlook, as the tone of the beginning of the article title has the reader have compassion towards Jackson. This difference in tone between these two articles shows how there were many different views on the killing of Jimmie Lee Jackson and other black individuals as well.
Afro-American
Chicago Tribune
Your Account, Based on Primary Sources
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The newspaper sources I found show that Newark’s story could look very different depending on which part of the story a newspaper chose to look into. Even before the 1967 uprising, The New York Times presented Newark’s Black neighborhoods with a lens filled with crime and negative connotations. A February 1966 article, “Youth, 18, Arrested As Arson Suspect In Newark Fires,” looked into a series of fires in Newark’s predominantly Black Central Ward and emphasized the police investigation and the arrest of an 18-year-old suspect. This is significant because it establishes a pattern that would became even more prominent during the following summer when Newark’s Black neighborhoods were represented to outside readers primarily as places of fires, crime, and disorder, rather than as communities dealing with racial and economic inequality. When the 1967 uprising began, this framing became the primary one, especially to the white population. Later coverage shows that newspapers described the Newark events in terms of “sniping” and “looting,” while Life magazine published sensational coverage of alleged snipers. In other words, the most visible parts of the uprising such as the burning buildings, broken storefronts, armed police, and crowds in the streets, essentially became the story, rather than the message of racial unrest that the protesters were trying to portray.
My other primary sources complicate that interpretation. A July 1967 Washington Post letter to the editor by Paul B. Cornely, “Riots in the Cities,” questioned the tendency to treat urban unrest as irrational violence and pointed toward the long history of poverty and discrimination experienced by Black Americans. More directly, Henry M. Di Suvero’s September 1967 Chicago Tribune letter, “Voice of the People: The Newark Police,” focused on the Newark police themselves and argued that police mistreatment of Black residents was an important part of understanding the uprising. These sources imply that Newark’s uprising produced two competing stories. One story was about disorder: a city burning, businesses being looted, and police trying to restore control. The other was about the conditions that had made the disorder possible: police brutality, poverty, racial discrimination, and political exclusion. The Newark newspapers did not merely report a riot, they essentially conversed over the meaning of that riot. The contrast between the articles suggests that both interpretations existed at the time, but the second becomes much harder to ignore when the coverage is read alongside the experiences and arguments of people who understood police brutality and racial inequality from within Newark’s Black community.
Primary Sources
“Youth, 18, Arrested As Arson Suspect in Newark Fires.” The New York Times, February 14, 1966, p. 15. News Article. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Cornely, Paul B. “Riots in the Cities.” The Washington Post, Times Herald, July 28, 1967, p. A16. Letter to the Editor. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Di Suvero, Henry M. “Voice of the People: The Newark Police.” Chicago Tribune, September 16, 1967, p. A10. Letter to the Editor. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Attachment McCone_Inquiry_on_Watts_Riots_.pdf
The primary sources I researched had an overall positive view of the affair. Many residents in LA were unhappy with the widespread discrimination and poverty that seemed to plague the city, and many felt the riots were a necessary evil in order to expose that. There were exceptions of course, as a Los Angeles times article written in October (the Riots were in mid August 1965), believed that Watts residents were not too involved in the riots, but outsiders had come in and protested. (‘Outsiders’ blamed for Watts Riot). These riots incited a large amount of change, however, as the city of LA pledged to make measures that rebuilt the work alongside Human Relations Committees, the Civil Liberties union, Women Voters, and other minority groups. The riots became so influential to the world altogether that LA mayor Samuel Yorty came out and apologized for his inaction. As a result, his popularity fell and it signified the growing popularity of violence as a way to expose social injustice.
The Watts Riots were incredibly violent however. A report by the New York Times 8 Months following the riots correlated the events to a “revolutionary attitude”. In the end of the Riots, 34 people were dead. There was rioting, looting, burning, which causes $40 Million in damages, according to this report. Many of the papers agreed that this riot had a great impact on the City of LA, and many sources, including papers from the NYTimes, Washington Post, and LA Times all agreed the police and city government were responsible for the injustice, and these riots kept them accountable. As a result, these riots remained incredibly significant in regards to the anti-poverty and racial equality movement, having an immense impact.
Works Cited
“McCone Inquiry on Watts Riots Warned State of New Violence: Report Urged ‘Revolutionary Attitude’ Toward Alleviating Living Conditions After 6-Day Strife that Killed 34.” New York Times (1923-), 16 Mar. 1966, p. 39. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026 .
Lembke, Daryl E. “S.F. Negro Leaders Say Yorty ‘Failed’ in Riot: Serve Strong Notice they Will Oppose Mayor if He Decides to Run for Governor YORTY CRITICISM.” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), 19 Oct. 1965, p. 3. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026 .
“Watts Riots Spark Study in Burbank.” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), 26 Aug. 1965, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026 .
Parker, W. H. “Police Recognition Appreciated as Encouraging by Chief Parker.” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), 01 Oct. 1965, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026 .
“‘Outsiders’ Blamed for Watts Riots.” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), 14 Oct. 1965, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 12 Sept. 2026 .
The Watts Riots, a dark chapter in Los Angeles history by the accounts of multiple newspapers at the time, highlighted the deep undercurrent of rage flowing through many black communities in America, in spite of the sweeping advance of civil rights legislation that had passed in the past year or so. The Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, a region in which the Chicago Defender called a “rejected lot,” a region in which people would “as soon take up residence in Hell as live in Watts,” had long suffered under the notion of being “generally regarded as poor,” thus inviting animosity towards the rest of the city, regardless of race (Young). The Washington Post, in an article a day after the article, noted that the region had suffered under the “conviction that the Negro race has been victimized by whites who are interested only in their own economic gain” (Nelson). It’s no wonder, then, that when a black man, Marquette Frye, was pulled over by a white police officer, Lee Minikus, on August 11, 1965, tensions flared into what the Defender called a “conflagration” as Frye’s mother arrived and allegedly provoked both Frye and the officers (Young). In a sharply critical response to the rioting that followed by the Los Angeles Times, the Times alleged over that during one night of the riots, over 1,000 protestors “attacked police and motorists with bricks” in a “five-hour melee” that resulted in an “undetermined number of persons [being] injured, including at least 12 police officers and two newsmen” (“1,000 RIOT IN L.A.,” Aug 12, 1965). In a five-day period, thousands of disgruntled African-Americans from mainly the Watts community fought police, with some elements of the crowd partaking in looting of local stores.
Other than the Defender, the major news publications of the day took a sharply critical stance of the riots. The Los Angeles Times, as previously mentioned, noted the violence and damage caused by the rioting, with one quote sourced by the Times stating that it was “just a night to throw rocks at policemen,” according to Deputy Chief Murdock (“1,000 RIOT IN L.A., Aug 12, 1965). Heavy focus was paid to the property damage caused by the rioting, including “at least 50 autos” being damaged (“1,000 RIOT IN L.A., Aug 12, 1965). The Boston Globe condemned the rioters as plunderers, lamenting the “thousands of dollars worth of plunder taken by looters” , as well as highlighting the denouncements of the riots given by Dr. King and President Johnson (“L.A Police Recover Watts Plunder,” Aug 21, 1965). The death toll, a whopping 37, including a “body among the ruins of a store in the riot area,” shocked the nation. The Washington Post, however, took a more tempered view, noting how the protestors themselves say the Watts Riots as a “revolt rather than a riot and therefore subject to a different value system” (Nelson). The Watts area had long suffered from being “over-populated with liquor stores,” with larger stores being “almost wholly owned by Caucasians and Jews,” according to the Defender (Young). It’s no surprise, then, that the Watts Riots, an untempered release of the rage of a marginalized community, came so violently and so suddenly.
Works Cited
“1,000 RIOT IN L.A.: POLICE AND MOTORISTS ATTACKED ROUTINE ARREST OF 3 SPARKS WATTS
MELEE; 8 BLOCKS SEALED OFF INCOMPLETE SOURCE.” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), 12 Aug. 1965, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026, ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2F1-000-riot-l%2Fdocview%2F155225841%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.
“L.A. Police Recover Watts Riot Plunder.” Boston Globe (1960-), 21 Aug. 1965, p. 16. ProQuest. Web.
14 Sept. 2026, ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fl-police-recover-watts-riot-plunder%2Fdocview%2F366103704%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676 .
Nelson, Harry. “Watts Regards Riot as a Revolt: Rioters Feel no Guilt, Psychiatrist Believes Fathers seen
as Idle Leap in Numbers Feel More Confident.” The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), 18 Aug. 1965, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026, ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fwatts-regards-riot-as-revolt%2Fdocview%2F142584896%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.
Young, A.S. “Something Wrong in ‘Paradise West’: THE LOS ANGELES RIOTS.” Chicago Daily
Defender (Daily Edition) (1960-1973), 16 Aug. 1965, p. 11. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026, ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fnewspapers%2Fsomething-wrong-paradise-west%2Fdocview%2F494197322%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676.
Freedom Riders
Type of Source: News Article
Bibliographic Citation:
Newson, Moses. “Editor Has Close Brush with Death.” The Afro-American, May 27, 1961, p. 1.
This primary source is an account by Moses Newson, a journalist and Freedom Rider who was on the Greyhound bus that was attacked in Alabama during the Freedom Rides. I chose this source because it gives a first-person perspective of what happened during the Freedom Ride instead of only describing the event from an outside perspective. Newson’s account shows how dangerous the Freedom Riders’ protest actually was. The attack was not simply an argument over segregation. The Riders faced physical violence, threats, and the possibility of being killed. Newson’s account shows that the Freedom Riders were willing to continue challenging segregation even when they knew they could face serious violence. It also shows the difference between the rights guaranteed by federal law and what actually happened to Black Americans in parts of the South.
The article from the Cleveland Call and Post provides another perspective on the same event. Its coverage reported that Genevieve Hughes escaped the burning bus through a broken window and that several passengers were taken to Anniston Memorial Hospital with cuts, burns, and other injuries. These sources show that the Freedom Riders’ experience was not just a peaceful protest against segregation. The reporting reveals the physical danger they faced and the unequal treatment they encountered even after escaping the mob. The contrast shows how the Freedom Riders’ story could be understood both as a news event involving violence and injuries (“Cleveland Call and Post,” May 20, 1961). And as a personal struggle over whether the rights guaranteed by federal law would actually be protected.
This site has several sources in one: https://about.proquest.com/en/.....om-Riders/
The topic I chose to focus on was freedom riders. This primary source is an account by Moses Newson, a journalist and Freedom Rider who was on the Greyhound bus that was attacked in Alabama during the Freedom Rides. I chose this source because it gives a first-person perspective of what happened during the Freedom Ride instead of only describing the event from an outside perspective. Newson’s account shows how dangerous the Freedom Riders’ protest actually was. The attack was not simply an argument over segregation. The Riders faced physical violence, threats, and the possibility of being killed. Newson’s account shows that the Freedom Riders were willing to continue challenging segregation even when they knew they could face serious violence. It also shows the difference between the rights guaranteed by federal law and what actually happened to Black Americans in parts of the South.
The article from the Cleveland Call and Post provides another perspective on the same event. Its coverage reported that Genevieve Hughes escaped the burning bus through a broken window and that several passengers were taken to Anniston Memorial Hospital with cuts, burns, and other injuries. These sources show that the Freedom Riders’ experience was not just a peaceful protest against segregation. The reporting reveals the physical danger they faced and the unequal treatment they encountered even after escaping the mob. The contrast shows how the Freedom Riders’ story could be understood both as a news event involving violence and injuries (“Cleveland Call and Post,” May 20, 1961). And as a personal struggle over whether the rights guaranteed by federal law would actually be protected.
This site has several sources in one: https://about.proquest.com/en/.....om-Riders/
Freedom Riders
Type of Source: News Article
Bibliographic Citation:
Newson, Moses. “Editor Has Close Brush with Death.” The Afro-American, May 27, 1961, p. 1.
The Black Panthers at the California State Legislature
Type of Source: News Article
Bibliographic Citation:
“Armed Negroes Invade Capitol.” Los Angeles Times, 03 May 1967, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026.
This source reflects how mainstream white newspapers interpreted the armed entry of the Black Panthers into the California State Capitol . In their article about the incident, the Los Angeles Times uses the term “invaded” to describe the Panthers’ political demonstration, portraying the event as an act of aggression instead of a legal political protest. The Panthers were within their rights. They were armed because, in California, they were legally allowed to have loaded guns. Bobby Seale, along with about thirty Panthers, entered the building to make a statement against the Mulford Act, which had been passed with the intention of disarming Oakland’s black communities.
The topic I selected for further research was the Black Panthers armed protest against the California State Legislature.
First, I want to note that Christopher Strain’s analysis of the minority empowerment in The Long Sixties provides an important background for understanding the reason behind May 2, 1967 protest of the Black Panthers. As noted by Strain, by mid-1960s, despite a huge number of civil rights laws enacted, black people who lived in urban ghettos of cities such as Oakland and suffered from police brutality and economic poverty, have not received anything. As a result, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale created the Black Panther Party which initially engaged into monitoring police officers activities in the black neighborhoods using armed community patrols, all within the boundaries of California law. The Mulford Act was an attempt to terminate this practice of the party. As Panthers marched armed into the Capitol building and issued their statement on the steps of this institution, this political gesture was intended to be seen by everyone. At this time, Governor Reagan was standing outside and commented on the protest as “ridiculous.” This statement became popular all over the media, but not the actual words of Seale.
Between the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Defender reports, the truth about the event lies. The Los Angeles Times focused on the invasion meanwhile the Chicago Defender reports talked more about the Black Panthers as a political party and just some violent organization. They even spoke about the Mulford Act and how it affected the black communities. Both newspapers covered the same event but told totally different stories about it.
The term I decided to research and learn more about was “Black Power” along with Stokely Carmichael and SNCC.
This primary source, published by the New York Times and written by Gene Roberts (a professor of journalism and a journalist who worked for both the NYT and Philadelphia Inquirer) focuses on the term “black power”, its impact, and the various outlooks that people in the 1960s held regarding the term. “Black power” was a term popularized in the mid 1960s by Stokely Carmichael and quickly became frequently used by young black civil rights activists in the mid-1960s. Carmichael was an immigrant from the Caribbean moving from Trinidad and Tobago to the United States at just 11 years old. He was a major civil rights activist, freedom rider, and voting rights activist. His vast influence and impact led him to be targeted by COINTELPRO which ultimately led to Carmichael moving to Ghana. Before his departure he founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC was a youth-led organization focused on growing social and economic equality for Black Americans through a combination of organized sit-ins, boycotts, and peaceful protests in public places, but towards the late 1960s they began turning to ‘a philosophy of militancy and armed self-defense’. To the young black community using the slogan ‘black power’ it meant racial pride, (racial) unity, and (racial) power, without the need for intervention from those outside the race; and as the term became more popular black nationalism amongst these people became second nature; However, many others viewed the ‘black power’ as a setback for the civil rights movement or simply as obsolete.
Older African Americans believed ‘black power’ made people lose focus on the actual movement. Bayard Rustin, an civil and LGTBQ+ rights activist said the slogan “deals in emotional satisfaction and obscures the necessity for analytics, tactics, and the program”. Others believed that the term helped no one, and even went as far as saying, the civil rights leaders and other black Americans could “just ask for rights” or “get something in your head”(Roberts) if they wanted power. Dr. King said “as long as there was hope that the [Civil Rights] movement would succeed, he expects no defections to the black power movement” (Roberts). This trend of older black people objecting to “black power” highlights how older African-Americans saw the path to equality and racial progress differently from younger African-Americans. While the older people in the community prioritized real, tangible progress and legislation, the younger generation wanted to be heard socially and politically, and demonstrate that their fight would not end until their goal was reached.
ROBERTS Special to The New,York Times. “Negro Nationalism A Black Power Key: Advocates of ‘Black Power’ are found to be Drifting Toward an Alliance with Negro Nationalists.” New York Times (1923-), 24 July 1966, p. 1. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026 .
Works Cited
Von Hoffman Washington Post,Staff Writer. “King Terms SNCC Ideas ‘Unrealistic’: SNCC’s ‘Go-it-Alone’ Attitude Termed Unrealistic by King.” The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), 30 May 1966, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026 .
Attachment WATTS_RIOT_STUDY_DEPICTED_AS_W.pdf
“Watt’s Riot Study Depicted as Weak: Rights Panel Calls Report a ‘Bitter Disappointment'” New York Times, 23 January 1966, p. 71
The Watts Riots occurred in the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles in California in August of 1965. These riots were sparked by the excessive use of brutality on black citizens of Los Angeles, discriminatory employment grievances, residential segregation, and poverty in the area. Specifically, the event that sparked these events was the arrest of Marquette Frye, a 21-year-old black man who was pulled over for suspected drunk driving. He resisted arrest and with the help of his mother attempted to resist arrest and they were both subsequently beaten with a crowd of onlookers watching the brutality. The riots then continued from August 11th to the 16th resulting in 34 lives lost and 40 million dollars of property damage done to the city.
Because this was a local event the majority of the reporting done on the riots was done by the LA Times. However, the LA Times, New York Times, and Boston Globe all took a stance of “Law and Order”. With the Los Angeles Times focusing their reporting on the “containment” of the riots rather than the brutality of crimes committed against their black population. Referring to the riots as a “rampage of negros” and detailing extensively how the police were trying to contain this rampage (Houston). Additionally, the Globe seemed to feel that while the “myth of police brutality” (Buckley) may have some sort of credit to it the riots in Watts were a disservice to the Civil Rights movement and needed to be put down to maintain the “law and order” of the area. Overall, while some of the papers conceded to their being a police brutality issue, the issue of public security, that being the security of the white residents of the area, was of greater importance than the systemic and horrific oppression that the black citizens of LA faced at the hands of their municipal government and law enforcement agencies.
Sources:
Civil Disobedience Bound to Bring Trouble- file:///Users/brennamalloy/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Downloads/Buckley_Reviews_Watts_Riot_Rep.pdf
Two Slain in New Watts Riot-
file:///Users/brennamalloy/Library/Mobile%20Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Downloads/TWO_SLAIN_IN_NEW_WATTS_RIOT_2.pdf
Letter to the Editor
A Murder Reflecting Bigotry and Hatred in the South
Michael Schwerner was born in November of 1939, but only lived until June of 1964. A similar situation occurred for both of his comrades which came with him to Neshoba County, Mississippi. The scene of this area when these three civil rights workers were there was “racially segregated and economically depressed” (Chaney). Young local blacks and northern volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the 1960s and achieved a mass amount of desegregation, through suffering at the hands of segregationists, used to turn the public’s eye towards the horror of segregationist behavior. There was a precedent of civil rights activists in Neshoba County being savagely beaten for their beliefs by white supremacists. While driving, the men were arrested for an alleged “traffic violation”, and were held in the Neshoba County Jail. They were released that same evening and began to drive back to Meridian, but were stopped by patrol cars. These cars were full of Klu Klux Klan members who shot Schwerner and Goodman in the chest, and shot Chaney after beating him viciously. A day later, their car was found in the Bogue Chitto Swamp, but the bodies of the three men were not found until 44 days later.
Three years after Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman disappeared and were murdered, the FBI arrested 21 Klansmen and 18 were indicted for conspiracy to “ injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate”, and only 7 guilty verdicts were issued, ranging from 3-7 years. The state of Mississippi has never filed a murder charge against any of the murderers. An organization known as the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission was revealed to be deeply complicit in the murders of these three men. The article I found states that the Commission’s purpose was “to investigate, collect, and disseminate information” about civil rights workers. The article reveals that while there was no physical evidence the the Commission participated in the murders, there is a ridiculous amount of circumstantial evidence of it in the Commission’s files themselves. This evidence both reveals and confirms that the Commission was a source of information for the Klan, attempted to impede the federal investigation of the murders, and gathered and distributed information about the whereabouts of Michael Schwerner to the Klan members.
Wikipedia Contributors. “Michael Schwerner.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Feb. 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Schwerner. Accessed 15 Sept. 2026.
Chaney, Ben. “Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman: The Struggle for Justice.” Human Rights, vol. 27, no. 2, 2000, pp. 3-5+. ProQuest, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?q.....tid%3D9676.
Attachment ARMED_NEGROES_PROTEST_GUN_BILL.pdf
The Black Panthers at the California State Legislature
Type of Source: News Article
Bibliographic Citation: “ARMED NEGROES PROTEST GUN BILL”: 30 Black Panthers Invade Sacramento Legislature La
New York Times (1923-); May 3, 1967; ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times
pg. 23
This New York Times article of the Black Panthers’ protest at the California State Legislature shows how quickly the demonstration became framed around the Panthers’ weapons rather than the political issue they were protesting. The May 3, 1967 article, titled “Armed Negroes Protest Gun Bill,” immediately emphasizes that the protesters were armed, making that detail the central focus of its description of the event. This particular wording reflects how mainstream newspapers portray the Black Panthers primarily through the lens of danger and confrontation rather than as a political organization challenging legislation. At the same time, the fact that the article appeared the day after the protest demonstrates how much national attention the demonstration received. The Panthers had brought their opposition to the gun bill directly into the state Capitol, and the New York Times choice to make their armed presence the defining feature of the headline suggests that readers were encouraged to see the event as a dramatic challenge to public order. The article shows how newspaper coverage of the Black Panthers usually reflected the surface level details of their protest while giving less attention to the political arguments behind it.
Attachment Black_Panthers_White_Power_V.pdf
The topic i chose to research was about the Black Panthers armed protest against the California State Legislature.
Newspaper coverage of the Black Panthers often presented the organization through the lens of violence, militancy, and conflict with the police. Wallace Turner’s 1968 New York Times article, “Black Panthers, White Power: Violent Confrontation on Coast,” introduces Eldridge Cleaver as a “gun-carrying” Black Panther and emphasizes his role as an outspoken critic of the police and the existing political system. The article also places the Panthers within Oakland’s poorer Black neighborhoods, describing them as an increasingly militant voice for Black residents. Even the headline, “Black Panthers, White Power: Violent Confrontation on Coast,” frames the organization primarily through confrontation and racial conflict.
Huey Newton’s account of the Panthers’ 1967 protest at the California State Legislature presents a vastly different perspective. Rather than focusing primarily on the Panthers as a source of danger, Newton explains their armed demonstration as a political response to racism and police repression. He describes the group’s decision to go to Sacramento as an effort to challenge the Mulford Act and defend what they believed were the rights of Black people. The contrast between these sources shows how differently the Panthers could be understood: mainstream newspaper coverage emphasized their militancy and confrontation, while Newton presented that militancy as a necessary form of political resistance. Together, the sources show that the Panthers’ use of armed protest was not simply about violence; it was also a deliberate political statement about racism, policing, and Black self-defense. This contrast shows two articles depicting the same story from different narratives.
Attachment Three-Lives-for-Mississippi_-The-Day-Michael-Schwerner-Was-to-Die.pdf
Chaney, Ben. “Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman: The Struggle for Justice.” Human Rights, vol. 27, no. 2, 2000, pp. 3-5+. ProQuest, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?q…..tid%3D9676.
Attachment King_Terms_SNCC_Ideas_Unreali.pdf
News Article
Von Hoffman Washington Post,Staff Writer. “King Terms SNCC Ideas ‘Unrealistic’: SNCC’s ‘Go-it-Alone’ Attitude Termed Unrealistic by King.” The Washington Post, Times Herald (1959-1973), 30 May 1966, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. 14 Sept. 2026 .