Watts Riots (1965):
The Watts Riot was the largest as well as the costliest of the riots in the Civil Rights era. "The riot spurred from an incident on August 11, 1965 when Marquette Frye, a young African American motorist, was pulled over and arrested by Lee W. Minikus, a white California Highway Patrolman, for suspicion of driving while intoxicated. As a crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene of Fry's arrest, strained tensions between police officers and the crowd erupted in a violent exchange." (
http://crdl.usg.edu/events/watts_riots/?Welcome- click here to read more in depth about the rioting).
http://crdl.usg.edu/events/watts_riots/?Welcome- click here to read more in depth about the rioting).
In Watts, an LA neighborhood, unemployment was high, there was no hospital at all and the police force was almost entirely made up of white people, raising tensions between African Americans and police officers. The arrest of Marquette Frye pushed the African American community past their breaking point and the violent exchange turned into a full scale riot. Over the six-day riot 14,000 CA National Guard troops were put into South LA and a curfew was established.
34 people died, 1,000 were injured and almost 4,000 were arrested before the rioting stopped on August 17. After the rioting, even though an official investigation found the the riot was a result of growing discontentment "with high unemployment rates, substandard housing, and inadequate schools" (http://crdl.usg.edu/events/watts_riots/?Welcome), city leaders and state officials failed to improve conditions of African Americans living in the Watts neighborhood. To read more in depth about the legacy of the Watts Riots, read the part of this article (click on the image) titled "Opinion & Analysis: Legacy of the Watts Riots".
If you want to read a little more in depth about looting and the role of/reason that riots may arise, read this article (click on the image to the left) as well. The Watts Riots signaled the transition within the Civil Rights Movement from predominately nonviolent protest to violent protests or riots, and thus these riots were effective in bringing change within the movement, however at the time they were not effective in bringing change surrounding the movement's goals.