1968 riots
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How WTOP, Federal News Radio reporters covered the DC riots
Long-time WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Dave McConnell and Federal News Radio senior correspondent Mike Causey share their memories of covering the unrest in D.C. in the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
11 months ago -
This DC church survived the 1968 riots. Then came the wrecking ball. Finally, rebirth
Mount Joy Soul Saving Station, a tiny storefront church in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood, survived the 1968 riots. But it couldn’t withstand the wave of urban renewal that swept through the neighborhood afterward. Pastor Hattie Bynum didn’t give up hope.
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Then & Now: Powerful images show 1968 riot damage and rebuilt DC neighborhoods
The eruption of unrest in 1968 left scars on D.C. neighborhoods for years. See how the city has changed over 50 years with this interactive photo gallery.
11 months ago -
50 years after the riots: Shattered lives and unanswered questions
More than store windows were shattered in the unrest of 1968. Some families have been struggling to pick up the pieces even half a century after the riots roiled D.C. Vincent Lawson, a 15-year-old Northeast boy, vanished the second day of the riots. His sister describes the search for her brother and its tragic end. All told, 13 people died as a result of the riots, including two people who were never identified. This story is part of the series, “DC Uprising: Voices from the 1968 Riots.”
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DC Uprising: After the riots, an activist on trial
On the second night of the unrest following Dr. King’s assassination, Rufus Mayfield, a community activist, and co-founder of the organization Pride Inc., was out on the streets of D.C. to calm tension. He would witness a police officer fatally shoot a 15-year-old boy. But months later, it would be Mayfield who would go on trial. This story is part of the series, “DC Uprising: Voices from the 1968 Riots.”
11 months ago -
‘The mayor saw it with his own eyes:’ Reporter chronicles 1968 chaos of DC riots
In the 1960s, 14th and U was the pulsing center of black life in Washington. So when the first bricks went through store windows at a Peoples Drug store there after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Washington Star reporter Paul Delaney knew there was only one place to be. This story is part of the series, “DC Uprising: Voices from the 1968 Riots.”
11 months ago -
DC Uprising: A timeline of the 1968 riots
Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stepped out on a hotel balcony in Memphis and was felled by an assassin’s bullet. The killing sparked unrest in the nation’s capital and hundreds of cities nationwide. Track how the aftermath of King’s killing played out on the streets of D.C. with this timeline, which is part of the series, “DC Uprising: Voices from the 1968 Riots.”
11 months ago -
Under fire: Retired police, firefighters remember 1968 DC riot flashpoints
The D.C. Fire Department responded to more than 1,000 fires during the most intense four days and nights of disturbances that rocked Washington in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The D.C. police department — 80 percent white in a town still bitterly divided by race — found itself outnumbered. Here’s how authorities responded to the chaos. This story is part of the series, “DC Uprising: Voices from the 1968 Riots.”
11 months ago -
DC Uprising: An oral history of the 1968 riots
It’s been 50 years since the 1968 D.C. riots, in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, a chaotic event that exposed the deep racial fissures in the city’s social fabric, caused millions of dollars of damage, ravaged neighborhoods and led to 13 lost lives. Listen to what happened in the voices of people who experienced it. This oral history is part of the series, “DC Uprising: Voices from the 1968 Riots.
11 months ago -
‘Everything was on fire’ — remembering the DC riots 50 years later
It’s been 50 years since the 1968 D.C. riots, in the wake of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King — a chaotic event that exposed the deep racial fissures in the city’s social fabric, caused millions of dollars of damage, ravaged neighborhoods and led to 13 lost lives. This is what happened and how it shaped the Washington, D.C., we know today. This is the first part of the series, “DC Uprising: Voices from the 1968 Riots.”
11 months ago -
‘I still see the scars’: Memories of 1968 obscure progress
For 50 years, friends and relatives have advised Larry Rosen to forget about the D.C. riots. Rosen owed a pharmacy on 14th Street in Northwest Washington before and after the April 1968 civil unrest.
11 months ago
