1968 — Apr 4-11, Martin Luther King Jr. assassination rioting, esp. Chicago, DC, KC– ~46

— 46 Blanchard high estimate based on locality breakouts below.
— 46 Gilje, Paul A. Rioting in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999, p. 158.
— 43 Burlington Hawk-Eye, IA. “Racial Calm…Troops Remain in Capital.” 4-12-1968, p. 1.
— 43 Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY. “Kansas City riots flare.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.
— 42 Blanchard low estimate based on locality breakouts below.
->40 Atlanta magazine. “The Night MLK Was Shot.” April 2004, p. 46.
— 39 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.
— 34 Muscatine Journal, IA. “Racial Death Toll…34 After 6th Night of Violence.” 4-10-1968, 1
— 32 Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, IN. “Firing at Troopers Worsens.” 4-9-1968, 1.
— 28 News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence in…Cities.” 4-9-1968, 3.
— 24 Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD. “Calm Uneasy After Riots.” 4-8-1968, p. 1.

Baltimore, MD ( 6)
— 6 Baltimore Sun. “Recalling Baltimore’s 1968 riots.” 4-3-1998.
— 6 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.
— 5 News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence in…Cities.” 4-9-1968, 3.

Chicago, IL ( 11)
–9-11 Coates. “Apr 5, 1968 Riots follow killing…Martin Luther King Jr.” Chicago Tribune, ’12
— 11 News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence in…Cities.” 4-9-1968, 3.
— 11 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.
— 11 WTTW, PBS. “Power, Politics, & Pride: 1968 Riots.” Explore History.
— 9 Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD. “Calm Uneasy After Riots.” 4-8-1968, p. 1.

Cincinnati, OH ( 2)
–2 Kiesewetter, John. “Civil unrest woven into city’s history.” Cincinnati Enquirer, 7-15-2001.
–2 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.
–1 News Tribune, Fort Pierce FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence…Nation’s Cities.” 4-9-1968, 3

Detroit, MI ( 2)
— 2 Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD. “Calm Uneasy After Riots.” 4-8-1968, p. 1.
— 2 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.

District of Columbia (9-13)
— 13 CNN. “Nation’s capital still recovering from 1968 riots. 4-4-1998.
— 12 Nyangoni, Betty. “Washington (D.C.) Riots of 1968,” p. 683 in Rucker/Upton. (V2). 2007.
— 12 Tucker, Neely. “The Wreckage of a Dream,” Washington Post, 8-24-2004, p. B1.
— 12 Wikipedia. “1968 Washington, D.C. riots.” 11-12-2012 modification.
— 11 Tager, Jack. Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence. 2001, p. 184.
— 9 Dietrich, Carol “King, Martin Luther, Jr., Assassination of (1968),” p. 341 in Rucker 2007
–6-8 Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD. “Calm Uneasy After Riots.” 4-8-1968, p. 1.
— 7 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.)
— 6 News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence in…Cities.” 4-9-1968, 3.

Jacksonville, FL ( 1)
–1 Burlington Hawk-Eye, IA. “Racial Calm Returns…Troops Remain in Capital.” 4-12-1968, 1.
–1 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.

Kansas City, MO ( 7)
— 7 Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections. “And Then It Happened.”
— 6 Burlington Hawk-Eye, IA. “Racial Calm Returns…Troops Remain…Capital.” 4-12-1968, 1
— 6 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.
— 6 Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY. “Kansas City riots flare.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.
— 5 Crime Scene KC. “Kansas City riots, April 1968.” KansasCity.Com.

Memphis, TN ( 1)
— 1 News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence in…Cities.” 4-9-1968, 3.
— 1 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.

Minneapolis, MN ( 1)
— 1 News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence in…Cities.” 4-9-1968, 3.
— 1 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.

Tallahassee, FL ( 1)
— 1 News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence in…Cities.” 4-9-1968, 3.
— 1 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.

Trenton, NJ ( 1)
— 1 Mickle, Paul. “1968: A city aflame.” The Trentonian. Capitalcentury.com website, no date.
— 1 The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.

Other localities mentioned in articles below which mention rioting/violence:

Bostom, MA
Buffalo, NY (Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, IN. “Firing at Troopers Worsens.” 4-9-1968, 1.)
Columbia, SC (Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, IN. “Firing at Troopers Worsens.” 4-9-1968, 1.)
Denver, CO
Des Moines, IA
Joliet, IL
Nashville, TN
New Orleans, LA
New York City, NY
Newark, NJ
Pompano Beach FL
Pittsburgh, PA
Raleigh, NC (Statesville Record, NC. “Witness Tells of Disorder in Capital City.” 4-5-1968, 1.)
San Francisco, CA
Wheeling, WV (Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, IN. “Firing at Troopers Worsens.” 4-19-1968, 1)
Wilmington, DE
Youngstown, OH

Narrative Information

Dietrich: “….The news of King’s assassination evoked expressions of dismay, shock, anger, and grief throughout the nation. It also precipitated one of the worst cases of racial riots and violence in the United States. Having received word of King’s death, all three television networks interrupted programming with the news. The immediacy of this coverage prompted riots in over sixty American cities including Chicago, Denver, and Baltimore. These riots continued for more than five days, affecting at least 125 cities in 28 states and the District of Columbia. Racial disturbances swept the nation from April 4-11, 1968….” (Dietrich, Carol “King, Martin Luther, Jr., Assassination of (1968),” p. 340 in Rucker, Walter C. and James N. Upton (Eds.). Encyclopedia of American Race Riots (Vol. 1 of 2). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007.)

Baltimore, MD

Baltimore Sun: “The 1968 riots rank with the 1904 fire that wiped out much of the downtown business district and the state legislature’s 1947 vote to prevent the city from annexing additional land as major events that changed the course of history for Baltimore this century.

“In the early hours, the unrest didn’t seem like a momentous event. The city was relatively quiet after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis on the evening of #F Thursday, April 4. But by April 6, sporadic, isolated incidents had gained momentum. Teeming crowds gathered on Gay Street in East Baltimore and began breaking store windows and looting. By 6:45 that evening, then-Gov. Spiro T. Agnew had called out the National Guard.

“Hundreds of city and state police officers were deployed to limit destruction in East and West Baltimore. Many merchants decried the lack of police protection for businesses. The sky was blackened with the smoke of 800 fires in 72 hours.

“The toll was steep: six people were killed, 700 were injured, 1,000 small businesses were looted or burned out and 5,800 people were arrested. Nearly 3,500 cases were tried in city courts.” (Baltimore Sun. “Recalling Baltimore’s 1968 riots.” 4-3-1998.)

Boston

Tager: “On Thursday, April 4, 1968, the assassination of the preeminent African American leader rocked the nation. As the news of King’s death spread that evening, poor black Americans who lived in the nation’s ghettos reached with anger and hatred against the white community. Riots broke out in over 160 cities, with catastrophic results in the largest urban ghettos. For example, in Washington, D.C., there were eleven people killed, 1,113 injured, over 2,000 arrested, and $24 million in property damage. Called in to quell the violence were 12,500 national guard and federal troops. Similar large-scale violence erupted in Chicago and Detroit, resulting in deaths and damage and necessitating a massive infusion of troops. Every city that contained a black ghetto, no matter its size, suffered through rioting in revenge for the death of King. Boston’s violence was more contained and on a smaller scale than other cities, but it demonstrated the sense of despair and powerlessness of the black poor.

“The rioting took place in the black neighborhoods of Roxbury, North Dorchester, and the South End. The worst disturbances occurred in the Grove Hall-Blue Hill Avenue section, the scene of the welfare riot of 1967. A newspaper reported that these neighborhoods ‘seethed with emotion and tension…angry bands of Negro youths stoned cars and buses traversing Blue Hill Ave. screaming their vengeance and pathos.’ Police cars and firemen were especial targets for stoning….” (Tager, Jack. Boston Riots: Three Centuries of Social Violence. Northeastern University Press, 2001, p. 184.)

Chicago:

Coates: “Before darkness fell on this day, a Friday, the plumes of smoke from the West Side already were visible to Loop office workers. In Chicago and across the nation, rioting was breaking out in response to the news that Martin Luther King Jr. had been gunned down in Memphis the day before….

“Throughout the weekend, police in the Lawndale and Austin neighborhoods on the West Side and in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side rushed from emergency call to emergency call as mobs of men, women and children moved from store to store, breaking plate-glass windows and taking what they found. Television sets, clothing, food and liquor were carted away from largely white-owned businesses that lined Madison Street and Homan and Kedzie Avenues. Fires blazed out of control across the West Side.

“Not long after sunset Friday, Army units and the first of 3,000 Illinois National Guard troops arrived to back up police, who had no training for such a civic catastrophe. Military units and fire department crews were greeted by sniper fire, but no soldiers, police or firefighters were killed or seriously hurt. By Saturday afternoon, soldiers in Jeeps bristling with machine guns had secured the overpasses along the Eisenhower from downtown almost to the city’s western edge. The fires, shootings and looting continued through Sunday night, but by Monday morning relative quiet had returned.

“Mayor Richard J. Daley later told reporters that he had ordered police “to shoot to kill any arsonist or anyone with a Molotov cocktail in his hand . . . and . . . to shoot to maim or cripple anyone looting any stores in our city.” In the first two days of rioting, police reported numerous civilian deaths but were unable to determine whether they were caused by the riots or other crimes. No official death toll was given for the tragedy, although published accounts say nine to 11 people died during the rioting. Three hundred fifty people were arrested for looting, and 162 buildings were destroyed by arson. Bulldozers moved in to clean up after the rioters, leaving behind vacant lots that remained empty three decades later.” (Coates, James. “April 5, 1968 Riots follow killing of Martin Luther King Jr. The City Erupts.” Chicago Tribune, 2012.

Cincinnati, OH

“….After the assassination of civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, Cincinnati was among more than 100 cities that experienced urban violence. Again the Ohio National Guard was summoned to Avondale, where two people were killed and at least 220 were injured. Police arrested 260 people during two nights of violence….” (Kiesewetter, John. “Civil unrest woven into city’s history.” Cincinnati Enquirer, 7-15-2001.)

District of Columbia

Judge: “….it was…terrorists [“the totalitarian left”] who set my hometown of Washington ablaze in the riots following the murder of Martin Luther King in 1968. More than 1,200 buildings were burned and the cost was almost $25 million, the third highest in U.S. history. Four months after the riot, in August 1968, Ben W. Gilbert, a black reporter for the Washington Post, made contact with three men who claimed responsibility for the violence following King’s death. The men were left-wing agitators who had been planning violence for months before King’s death, then used King’s death to spread mayhem, provoking crowds to violence, and even using dynamite to blow up buildings. In fact, many of the rioters were looters, criminals, and kids who, according to at least one witness, cared little or nothing about Martin Luther King….

“After the riots Gilbert put out the word that he wanted to talk to any parties responsible for any violence. Four months later he got a call at the Post, a man claiming that he had been a key player in April and wanted to talk. Gilbert met the man and two of his other revolutionaries in an old hotel. The men, who were hidden behind ski masks, were Marxist revolutionaries. One quoted Che Guevara — “In a revolution, you either win or die” — while another called white people “the Beast” and insists King was killed because he fought “colonization.” The leader then explained how they had been planning violent action in the city since February — two months before King was killed. The men then itemized, in detail, how they triggered violence after King’s death. “A lot of areas we went into,” said one, “there was nothing going on till we got there. But once we started out thing, man, people just took up.” Using Molotov cocktails and dynamite stolen from construction sites, the men bombed stores, most of them white-owned businesses in the black neighborhood now known as Shaw. One of the men claimed responsibility for at least fifteen of the fires that destroyed parts of the city. He then explained that he had at least 25 men working with him: “There is organization. Don’t you realize that, as I said, there’s a revolution going on; there must be organization! That’s the reason that it was not a riot but a rebellion! There is organization. You have your assigned districts that you work with.” It is a stunning revelation: the riots following the death of King were the result of left-wing terrorism….

“Reading the first-hand accounts of the riot that were written at the time, one thing becomes clear: blacks in Washington rioted in 1968 not so much in reaction to Martin Luther King’s death and frustration over the lack of civil rights, but because they were egged on by the three bomb-throwers interviewed by the Post and totalitarian thugs like Carmichael. (Was Carmichael one of the three men I wonder?) Also ignored is the uncomfortable (for liberals) fact that many of the rioters were kids greedy for free clothes from looted stores. “The crowds…generally were made up of bands of youth,” the Post reported. “Some were schoolchildren, younger than ten years old; some were teenagers and twenty-year-olds — many dropouts or unemployed.” A young black man at the scene put it more bluntly: “the death of Martin Luther King had nothing to do [with this]. It was an excuse to be destructive or clean up.” Indeed, Washington had had a problem with crime and groups of idle men and boys hanging out on street corners for years before 1968….” (Judge, Mark Gauvreu. “Quiet Riots.” The American Spectator, October 28, 2005.)

Nyangoni: “Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr….civil disorder broke out in nearly 110 U.S. cities. By far, the riot that occurred in Washington, D.C., between April 4 and 8 was the worst, bringing the city to a standstill. Schools closed, 1,000 buildings burned, 1,097 people were injured, 6,100 were arrested, and 12 people lost their lives. Damages exceeded $27 million.

“The first place the rioting occurred was at Fourteenth and U Streets, in the northwest quadrant of the city. This area was at the heart of one of the black neighborhoods. It was a busy hub of activity, serving as a bus transfer point and the home of stores, businesses, theaters, and the offices for such civil rights organizations as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

“When the news of the assassination was first broadcast over the airways, it was received in stunned silence and utter disbelief. Then it was announced that businesses were asked to close in respect for Dr. King. On Fourteenth and U Streets, a small band of young people, mostly black males, were gathering. They decided that they would go from business to business telling them that they should close. Soon the group was joined by Stokely Carmichael, who appeared at the scene. He was the West Indian-born former leader of SNCC who was known as a black activist. When he joined the crowd, it began to grow larger. The mood of the crowd changed. The crowd became angry and menacing. No longer were they asking the business owners to close – they were demanding that they do so. Carmichael left the area when anger turned to violence….But the violence escalated into breaking windows and widescale looting. Rioters threw rocks at motorists….As they [police] secured the area around Fourteenth and U Streets, trouble erupted in another part of the city. On the following morning, Walter Washington, the first black mayor of the city, had workers cleaning up the damage. For many in the city, this was presumed to be the end of the trouble. But it was not.

“That day, Stokely Carmichael resurfaced and held a news conference in which he boldly declared that ‘America killed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. last night.’ He continued, ‘We have gone full swing into the revolution’ (Judge 2005 )….

“By the afternoon, rioting, looting, and violence again erupted in other parts of the city. This happened mostly in black neighborhoods. In the areas where there was trouble, upwards of thousands of people roamed around with impunity. Stores, businesses, and a few homes were burned….Children and adults could be seen running up and down the street with clothes, shoes, food, furniture, appliances, liquor, and any other merchandise taken and were then torched. Some rioters were seen using carts and suitcases to carry away their loot. On April 5, the rioters reached within a few blocks of the White House. A mob mentality reigned for nearly three days and nights in some parts of the city….

“A curfew was imposed in the city. It began at 5:30 p.m. and ended at 6:30 a.m. President Lyndon B. Johnson issued an executive order to bring in 13,600 federal troop, including national guardsmen. They were immediately deployed to protect the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and various locations around the city. The federal military presence in Washington during the 1968 riots was the largest of any since the Civil War….Thirty-five years later, many of the areas struck by the riot had not been fully rebuilt….”

(Nyangoni, Betty. “Washington (D.C.) Riots of 1968,” pp. 683-685 in Rucker, Walter C. and James N. Upton (Eds.). Encyclopedia of American Race Riots (Vol. 2 of 2). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007.)
Kansas City, MO

Kansas City Public Library: “April 9, 1968: With tensions high after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., riots break out in Kansas City, leaving seven people dead and nearly 100 buildings damaged.

“Frustrated with the slow pace of civil rights reforms and outraged at the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., protestors turned to violence in Kansas City on April 9, 1968. The riots shocked many residents of the city, which had long been known for its lack of racial violence despite its deep, underlying racial tensions. The assassination of King, perhaps the nation’s leading exemplar of non-violent methods to bring about social change, ironically became the catalyst that brought simmering racial tensions to the point of civil disorder, not just in Kansas City, but in locales around the country….

“ On April 9, 1968, between 200 and 300 of these black youths gathered near City Hall to demand the closure of the city’s schools to commemorate the day of King’s funeral. Mayor Davis actually joined the protestors in their march. Despite Davis’ involvement with this peaceful demonstration, the Kansas City police shot tear gas and dispersed the crowd. By most accounts, the protestors at city hall never really became violent.

“After the police attack on the city hall protesters, angry blacks proceeded to vandalize and burn white-owned businesses. Within two days, a three-block wide section of town running down Prospect Avenue lay in ruins. Over 1,700 National Guard troops joined 700 policemen in putting down the riot. For two nights bullets flew from both parties as police and firemen battled to maintain order and put out fires. Nearly 300 arrests were made, mostly of young black males. Tragically, seven black citizens died in the violence….” (Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections. “And Then It Happened.”)

Pittsburgh, PA

“….In Pittsburgh, disorder mushroomed from the embattled Hill District to other sections of the city. National Guardsmen whirling in helicopters at rooftop levels maintained a shaky peace after four days of racial violence, first in Pittsburgh’s history.” (Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, IN. “Firing at Troopers Worsens.” 4-9-1968, p. 1.)

Trenton, NJ

“Seen through the smoke and orange glow of a city aflame, Trenton’s infamous riots of psychedelic 1968 created some surreal sights:

* Men driving golf balls up Perry Street into the ranks of cops wearing Little League batting helmets and welding masks.
* Sofas, lounge chairs and mattresses by the dozens seeming to gallop up streets after sprouting legs and dashing like horses fleeing a stable fire.
* A young man falling dead on a landscape of shattered glass and burning embers.

“This was the rioting and looting of April 1968 that many today mark as the last time Trenton was a commercial and residential hub. Historian Charles Webster puts it simply: “The riots killed Trenton.” After the racial strife in that senseless spring, Trenton’s fancy downtown jewelry and clothing stores were gone. No longer were there department stores, furniture salons, sporting goods shops and meat markets. More than 200 downtown Trenton businesses were ransacked and burned during the week of violence that followed the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis on April 4.

“More than 300 people, most of them young black men, were arrested on charges ranging from assault and arson to looting and violating the mayor’s emergency curfew. Most of the assaults were on policemen, including one nearly killed when run over by a truck. In addition to 16 other injured policemen, 15 firemen were treated at the strapped city hospitals for smoke inhalation, burns, sprains and cuts suffered fighting raging blazes – or at the hands of the rioters who threw rocks and bricks at them as they worked.

“The losses to downtown businesses were put at $7 million — not including what could have been if Trenton’s commercial engine hadn’t been killed off. Any plans to rebuild downtown were thwarted by insurance companies that dropped business coverage within hours of the chaos. Trenton’s Battle Monument neighborhood, the center of the action, remains scarred today by vacant lots and boarded up buildings.

“Also scarred are the minds of the merchants, cops, pols, and others who survived the riots – Dorothy Killingsworth’s maybe most of all. She’s the mother of Harlan Bruce Joseph, the 19-year-old Lincoln University divinity student who became Trenton’s sacrifice to the gods of riot and chaos that held sway in those days across urban America. Why the heir to the prestigious pastorship of Trenton’s New Macedonia Baptist Church ended up dead, shot in the back by a policeman’s errant bullet, is a story with roots in the deadly Newark riot of the year before and the outbreaks of violence from minority Baby Boomers elsewhere in America earlier in the ’60s.

“”This was something that was simmering in black communities for a while before our disturbances,” said Carmen Armenti, who had the misfortune of ousting Art Holland and taking over as mayor 22 months before the riot. “It was not an easy time to be a public official,” Armenti said last week. “They were not good economic times, and there was high unemployment among African-Americans and a multitude of other frustrations for black people.” Keeping the lid on racial strife was the top political priority in those days, Armenti said, and Trenton was faring fairly well at it until King was cut down by a sniper’s bullet as he stood on a hotel balcony in Memphis on April 4, 1968. That lit the fuse on the powder keg that was Trenton.

“The night of the assassination and the next, as the weekend newspapers reported, roving bands of “Negro youths” smashed a few windows and tossed around a bunch of trash cans in a protest of King’s murder that, while violent, wasn’t anything like the riots then raging in more than 70 other American cities.

“At 9:20 on the Tuesday morning of April 9, Trenton Central High School Principal William Walker decided to head off a protest about classes not being canceled in respect to King and sent all students home. Soon, droves of youngsters were downtown enjoying the sun and 70 degrees….Suddenly, someone threw a rock at a store display window, shattering the glass and whatever peace and love there was on the street that day. Who threw – and why so many young people quickly joined in the destruction – was never determined.

“All the cops knew was that, in minutes, people were snatching trays of diamond rings out of the smashed window displays at swanky Lippman Jewelers on North Broad Street. Outnumbered street cops, some handling those hated police dogs, tried to quell the disturbance while Armenti scrambled to convince the governor to send in state troopers and the National Guard.

“Word of the action downtown spread quickly and, with city junior high-schoolers also dismissed early, Trenton’s ritzy shopping district became a magnet for rambunctious young people drawn to the action and, as Armenti said, “a criminal element that sought to take advantage of the situation.”

“Joseph, aware of unrest at Trenton High from his days as an honor student there, went to the scene around the corner and up East State Street from his house on Carroll Street because he hoped to help head off trouble, his mother said the other day. “He was that kind of kid – a peacemaker. He studied the Bible all the time. He walked through that door and I never saw him again,” said Dorothy Killingsworth, 76, who still lives in the family home downtown on Carroll. An hour or so after Joseph left the house, a friend of her son ran in hollering that “Bruce” had been shot. She called the hospital and asked about the condition of “my son, Harlan Bruce Joseph. The nurse said, ‘What’s you’re relation to him?’ I’ll never forget that. I told her, ‘If he’s my son, then I guess I’m his mother.’ Her panic deepened by the nurse’s reluctance to talk, Killingsworth rushed out for the drive to the hospital in the car of a young white couple from Princeton, friends of her son, who were visiting when word of the shooting came.

“A member of the mayor’s youth advisory board, Joseph was shot dead by Officer Mike Castiello as the cop tried to scare off looters pulling clothing and women’s accessories out of the Charm-Aronson Shop on East State Street opposite City Hall. Castiello said at the time that some rioters jostled him as he tried to shoot over the heads of the looters.

“By mid-afternoon, looting from smashed stores was widespread. Droves of youths were terrifying haberdashers and other fine clothing merchants by storming in for mass shoplifting. The shelves of corner grocery stores were cleared of stock after proprietors were run off. The looting soon became even more organized. Cops and businessmen who remember said furniture stores were cleaned out fastest. Young men and women simply hoisted chairs and other such items over their heads and ran. Sofas being held overhead for the run to some nearby home often appeared to have sprouted two sets of legs. As evening came, the fires started. Most were started by firebombs hurled into stores through smashed-open windows. Firemen moved in to battle the blazes, but were thwarted by rioters throwing bricks and stones at them from rooftops now fully in control of the lawless. By nightfall, Armenti was standing on the balcony of City Hall experiencing the surreal sights and smells of his beloved Trenton burning, while his cops were beating back a mob set on storming the old police headquarters on Chancery Lane….

“Tom Murphy and Richard Foley were young cops in the front line of the offensive that night, and the memory both hold most vividly is of the golf balls that came whizzing past them as they headed up Perry Street toward Broad to begin clearing rioters from the street. Some looters had stolen all the golf balls out of Snyder’s Sporting Goods, on Perry at Broad, and were using clubs to propel the projectiles at the shifting, dodging column of policemen advancing toward them from the next block. “I’ll never forget that scene as long as I live,” said Murphy, who is now retired. “They were really whacking them at us. The golf balls were hitting guys and smashing car windshields. You had to dive for cover.” That’s when one of the cops commandeered a supply of Little League batting helmets from one store and several welding masks from another and started handing them out to officers to wear as protection….

“A deputy chief showed up with a Browning Automatic Rifle – old, but about the highest tech weapon the police force had – and Murphy and George Findler hustled to set up the tripod to train the big gun at the roof of 104 Princeton.

“It took six hours of clubbing, grabbing and forcing fighting young people into police wagons to bring the riot under control. It also took hours of pleading with rioters to stop by the Rev. S. Howard Woodson, the top black political leader of the day, and Albert “Bo” Robinson, who had just joined a Trenton antipoverty agency he’d go on to head for 25 years. Were it not for the efforts of Woodson, Robinson and younger activists like Deputy Mayor W. Oliver “Bucky” Leggett – a city councilman today – Trenton’s riots might have been even more costly in life and property, Armenti and the cops said….

“Sporadic violence would break out in Trenton for the next two days, as Armenti’s dawn-to-dusk curfew stayed in effect and cops worked 12-hour shifts. But it was easier by then because 200 state troopers were in town to help the locals….

“…downtown Trenton’s days as a glamorous commercial center ended with the riots of 1968.” (Mickle, Paul. “1968: A city aflame.” The Trentonian. Capitalcentury.com website, no date.)

Wilmington, DE

“On Thursday, April 4, 1968, The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. On Sunday, April 7th in Wilmington, church leaders held a memorial and prayer service in Rodney Square. The following day, schools held additional morning and afternoon memorials. During the memorials, several groups of young people began marching down Market Street causing damage to several stores.

“By nightfall, violence broke out in ‘The Valley’ section of the city. Vandalism, shooting and looting continued for many hours. Fire-bombings occurred at various locations. Government officials declared a state of emergency and ordered 10:30PM to 6:00AM curfew.

“For the next several days, officials declared additional emergency orders including the turning off of electrical power in sections of the West Side as fires continued in homes and businesses. Reports of sniper’s firing at emergency personal added to the horror. The National Guard was mobilized, sending 3,500 troops to the city who camped out in an area behind the PS DuPont High School. Tension continued as the schools reopened in late April.

“By May 1st, the city curfew was lifted followed by New Castle County on May 14th. When the new school year began in September, reports of student beatings and racial intimidations occurred. It is believed that during this time, the exodus of the white students began.

“It took the swearing-in on January 21, 1969 of Delaware’s new governor, Russell W. Peterson, to withdraw the National Guard. Throughout the entire event, Governor Terry refused to remove the troops even after Wilmington’s Mayor Babiarz’s requests.” (OldWilmington.net. “The 1968 Wilmington Riots.”)

Newspapers at the Time

April 8: “Violence, looting and arson scourged sections of Baltimore and Pittsburgh Sunday, but Army troops and National Guardsmen, rushed in to quell the disorders, enforced an uneasy calm today. Washington and Chicago, hardest hit by the violence which broke out in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Thursday night, were quiet. Authorities turned to the
task of trying to provide homes and food for the victims of the riots.

“Twenty-four have died in trouble which struck more than a dozen U.S. cities. In addition, more than 1,200 have been injured and almost 6,000 arrested.

“While the violence in most of the major cities ebbed, trouble struck again in Nashville, Tenn. Only hours after segments of the 4,000 National Guardsmen were on duty, the ROTC building on the campus of Tennessee A&I State University, site of recent racial violence, was destroyed by fire Sunday night. Police said it appeared to be the work of arsonists.

“The shaky calm in Chicago and the nation’s capital was being enforced by 32,000 Army troops and National Guardsmen. Cyrus Vance, President Johnson’s riot troubleshooter in Washington, said shortly before midnight: “The city appears to be experiencing another night of relative calm. We are not yet out of the woods, but I am hopeful the encouraging trend will continue.” Washington Mayor Walter E. Washington announced a series of emergency measures to “meet the human needs.” Long lines formed outside the few open supermarkets and community groups collected food for meals and tried to find ways to provide cash for families left penniless by the disaster. The violence left six dead and the death toll may rise to eight if two other deaths are ruled riot-connected. Almost 1,000 persons were injured, more than 4,000 were arrested and more than 750 fires were set.

In “…Chicago…nine persons died in a wave of violence, burning and looting. More than 300 persons were homeless…and a serious food shortage was expected because stores in the riot area
had been either stripped by looters or closed and boarded up.

“Detroit, where two persons were killed in violence Thursday and Friday [Apr 4-5], remained calm, but guardsmen continued to patrol the streets and an 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew was still in effect.

“In New York City, both Harlem and the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn – both predominantly Negro – were quiet following looting Friday night.

“Elsewhere in the country, violence flared sporadically. Firemen in Joliet, Ill., were hampered by Negroes as they tried to battle a series of blazes. A block-long complex of three warehouses was burned to the ground. An 8 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. curfew was imposed for a second night.

“Violence and occasional clashes between police and Negroes occurred in Des Moines, Iowa, scene of a peaceful memorial march for King early Sunday. Police said at least six fires had been started, windows were broken and cars damaged by thrown bricks.” (Daily Mail, Hagerstown, MD. “Calm Uneasy After Riots.” 4-8-1968, p. 1.)

April 9: “By Bob Monroe, Associated Press Writer. Some 61,000 National Guardsmen and Army troops were deployed in the nation’s trouble-wracked cities today to curb the spasms of violence that have shaken the urban centers since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. An additional 1,900 federal troops dispatched to Baltimore Monday helped hold a steadily tightening grip on the city today. Fires and looting diminished but an outbreak of sniping added new worry.

“Ohio Gov. James A. Rhodes sent some 1,800 guardsmen to Cincinnati and Youngstown as the two cities were added to the growing list of areas hit by racial turmoil. In Cincinnati a white college teacher was dragged from his car and stabbed to death Monday night [Apr 8] at the height of rioting in several Negro sections of the city.

“The death brought to 28 the number of known dead in five days of rioting in dozens of cities. All but four of the dead were Negroes. More than 1,600 have been injured and more than 10,000 arrested.

“The death toll included 11 in Chicago, 6 in Washington, 5 in Baltimore, 2 in the Detroit area
and one each in Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Memphis and Tallahassee, Fla.

“Relative calm existed today in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Washington with heavy troop patrols enforcing the uneasy peace. Arrests for curfew violations soared in the nation’s capital.

“The nationwide deployment of 61,000 troops was apparently the largest such force ever turned out for a civil emergency in the United States.

“Baltimore police said they had confirmed five separate sniping incidents Monday night at locations around the heart of the city. No one was hit. It was the first outbreak since the start of burning and looting Sunday. The additional troops raised to 10,000 the military force occupying the city and Lt. Gen. Robert H. York ordered rigid enforcement of a 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew. “The number of arrests rose rapidly, passing 3,600 for the duration of the disturbances. Authorities contended the peak had been reached in the violence with Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro saying, ‘We’re over the hump. I’m encouraged.’

“A state of emergency remained in effect in Wilmington, Del., today after a night of sniping, fire-bombing and looting in a Negro neighborhood. Twelve persons were injured, one seriously. City police controlled the situation but there were 50 state policemen and 1,200 National Guardsmen standing by to aid them if needed. Minor trouble broke out about noon then erupted full scale at night.

“In Youngstown some 400 National Guardsmen and police patrolled three sections after a brief flurry of gunfire and fire-bombings that left three men wounded, including two policemen. The city was under a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew. All bars in Mahoning County were ordered closed for 72 hours beginning at 7 p.m. Monday. Gas stations were also ordered closed.

“Cincinnati police said the 2½ hours of rioting there occurred after a rumor spread that a white policeman had shot a Negro woman. Police said the woman was killed accidentally by her husband.

“During the rioting in the Mount Auburn area, Noel Wright, 30, was pulled from his car, beaten and fatally stabbed. His wife, Lois, 28, was beaten by three Negro girls but was not seriously injured….” (News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “61,000 Troops Curb Violence in…Cities.” 4-9-1968, p. 3.)

April 9: “Jacksonville (AP) – Fire-bombings and sporadic looting occurred in Jacksonville Monday night and early today. Officials in Pompano Beach fought six fires as beefed up police forces and dogs patrolled the streets. Two bullets were fired at Asst. Police Chief I. L. Griffin as he stood on a Jacksonville street directing his men. Griffin said the bullets missed him by ‘a couple of inches…It tore a big hole in my police car, I know that. I was standing right beside it.’….

“The sporadic disorders and fire-bombings in the northern Florida city lasted about five hours. Eighteen persons were arrested. Most were Negroes, charged with disorderly conduct….” (News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “Fire Bombs, Looting in Jacksonville.” 4-9-1968, p. 1.)

April 12: “By United Press International….In Jacksonville, Fla., where tensions still prevailed, police arrested a 24-year-old white man and charged him with the slaying of a Negro airman who was shot to death Tuesday night from a passing car. Several scattered incidents of firebombing and rock throwing were reported Thursday night.

“As normalcy returned to most of the 125 cities which suffered violence or vandalism, controversy arose over the techniques used to contain disorders.

“In Kansas City where three nights of fire and violence left six dead, Negro leaders accused police of having a “belligerent attitude” and of using tear gas indiscriminately. Police denied the charge.

“A grand jury in Trenton, N.J., was to be called to investigate the fatal shooting by police of a Negro ministerial student during violence Tuesday night. The youth had been a member of Mayor Carmen Armenti’s Youth Council while a student at Trenton Central High School. His friends said he had not been looting as police claimed.

“In Baltimore, Gov. Spiro Agnew and Negro leaders exchanged recriminations. Agnew criticized the Negro spokesmen for not condemning black power advocates. The Negroes, who said the governor tongue lashed them, in turn accused him of not demonstrating enlightened leadership.” (Burlington Hawk-Eye, IA. “Racial Calm Returns to US: Troops Remain in Capital.” 4-12-1968, 1.)

April 12: “By the Associated Press. Authorities say 19 of the 39 persons killed in the post-assassination violence either were shot while they were looting or died as a result of fires. All but five of the 39 were Negroes. Four of the victims were females, 15 of the dead were 21 years of age or under including one 11-month-old baby who burned to death in his crib in Chicago.

“Of the total, 25 persons died from gunshot wounds, 10 died as a result of fires and 4 died from other causes, according to an Associated Press survey.

“Eleven persons died in Chicago, 7 in Washington, 6 each in Baltimore and Kansas City, 2 each in Cincinnati and the Detroit area and 1 each in Memphis, Minneapolis, Tallahassee, Trenton and Jacksonville.

“Police gunfire accounted for 11 of the gunshot victims, nine were shot by unknown persons and five were shot by private citizens. No deaths were specifically attributed to National Guard action.

“Chicago authorities gave the following case-by-case breakdown on the 11 deaths there. All the victims were Negroes:

1. Curtis Jefro, 31. a die caster, lived in a housing project with his wife, two sisters, a brother and a sister-in-law. Went out on his 12th floor balcony to observe a disturbance Saturday. Found dead of a bullet would which police said was a stray bullet.
2. Marvin Carter, 24…Married with three children. Left home Friday around 5 p.m. four hours later police saw some men carrying merchandise from the rear of a South Side store. They fired and Carter fell dead in an alley.
3. Robert T. Dorsey, 31, a truck driver. He and his wife, who had no children, were waling home Friday when shots rang out on the West Side. Dorsey pushed his wife to the ground, then fell, moaning ‘They got me. They shot me in my back.’
4. Clayton Webb Jr., 27, a meat packing plant employe, went out Friday in his bedroom slippers to get some beer. Several hours later police found him shot to death in a South Side alley. His mother said, ‘Clayton was never in trouble. He drank, but he was all right. I don’t know what happened to the child.’ Neither do police.
5. Willie McMullin, 21, had been in Chicago a year since he left his home in Dundee, Miss. He worked in a meat packing company….McMullin was found dead Friday of smoke inhalation in a looted, destroyed grocery store on the West Side….
6. Ponowel Holloway, 16, was shot and killed by police while he was looting a store on the West Side. He was a sophomore at Marshall High School.
7. Cyrus Hatfield, 32….Hatfield’s body was found in the ruins of women’s apparel shop which had been looted and set on fire. A bullet was in his chest.
8. John Sandifer, 24, bled to death in a gutter on Roosevelt Road, apparently from a huge gash in his knee. Police said he may have been a looter who cut himself on broken windows in one of the stores which had been looted….
9. Paul Evans, 22, was shot to death Friday inside a burned out store on the West Side, police were investigating his death.
10. Everett Austin, 11 months, found burned to death in his crib in a third floor apartment on the West Side. The fire was apparently deliberate. Mrs. Austin was playing cards in a nearby apartment. ‘There was no way I could get to my baby,’ she said.
11. Mrs. Barbara Walker, 25, who was shot and killed by her brother, Oscar King, 27 while they were driving on the Kennedy Expressway. Cook County Coroner Andrew J. Toman attributed Mrs. Walker’s death to the rioting because he said her brother had been worked into a frenzy by the disturbances.”

(The Progress, Clearfield, PA. “Riot Toll in Nation Hits 39.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.)

April 12: “By United Press International…. Newark. N.J. imposed a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. EST on a six block area where unruly youths congregated Wednesday night in order to avoid more trouble. Some 300 fires have seared the city since early Tuesday, 50 stores have been looted, and 88 persons arrested….” (Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY. “Kansas City riots flare.” 4-12-1968, p. 6.)

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