African American History, Events

Revisit: HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT RIOT (1969)

Hartford, Connecticut in the late 1960s was a city immersed in racial unrest, class disputes, and activism. The city was a dichotomy between the ghetto, predominantly black or Puerto Rican and impoverished, in the North End and the South End, white and middle or working class. The black population had grown dramatically in 1965 from 25 percent to 75 percent. Job opportunities for Puerto Rican and black people were few and never well-paying, with the added hindrance that white people owned 80 percent of the businesses in the North End. Racial discrimination permeated every aspect of the city, and police brutality was particularly heavy on black Hartford citizens. Continue reading Revisit: HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT RIOT (1969)

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Revisit: RACE AND VIOLENCE IN WASHINGTON STATE: THE REPORT (1969)

The report, Race and Violence in Washington State, published in 1969, was undertaken by the Washington State Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Civil Disorder. The Commission was established by the Urban Affairs Council on April 25, 1968 in response to the widespread racial disorders, or riots, that erupted in cities nationwide between 1964 and 1967.  That national crisis led to the 1967 Kerner Commission Report. The Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Civil Disorder was tasked with performing a similar role at the state level, educating public leaders regarding Washington’s potential for racial disorders and investigating why there had not yet been any significant disturbances in Washington. The Commission also rectified a perceived failing of the Kerner Commission by investigating what steps were already being taken to prevent disorders and their effectiveness. Continue reading Revisit: RACE AND VIOLENCE IN WASHINGTON STATE: THE REPORT (1969)

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African American History, Events

Revisit: LANGSTON HUGHES’ VISIT TO THE SOVIET UNION (1932-1933)

In June of 1932, poet Langston Hughes, political activist Louise Thompson, and 22 other African American artists, filmmakers, and actors, traveled to the Soviet Union (USSR) to create a film about African American life in the American South. The film, aptly titled Black and White, was to focus on the many examples of racial discrimination experienced by blacks in the region as well as to counter the many black stereotypes plaguing the film industry at the time. Continue reading Revisit: LANGSTON HUGHES’ VISIT TO THE SOVIET UNION (1932-1933)

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African American History, Events

UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA DESEGREGATION RIOT (1961)

On January 9, 1961 two black students, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, entered the University of Georgia campus to register for classes. Their registration was the end of a long court battle to integrate the university that began a decade earlier when another student, Horace Ward, tried to gain admission into the law school. Holmes and Hunter were represented by an NAACP law team, as was Ward, who earned his law degree from a different university. Continue reading UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA DESEGREGATION RIOT (1961)

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