Baltimore riot of 1968

The Baltimore Riot of 1968 began two days after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4 1968, rioting broke out in 125 cities across the United States. When rioting did break out on Saturday, April 6, the Governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew, called out thousands of National Guard troops and 500 Maryland State Police to quell the disturbance. When it was determined that the state forces could not control the riot, Agnew requested Federal troops from President Lyndon B. Johnson. The riot had broken out mainly in the black ghettoes of East and West Baltimore [http://archives.ubalt.edu/bsr/timeline.htm] in which extensive property damage and looting occurred. Many of the business destroyed in the riot were located along the main commercial avenues of the neighborhoods and were often owned by Whites of a Jewish background. There is some debate within the black community about whether or not this riot, in which innocent people were murdered, should be called a "riot," a "civil disturbance," or a "rebellion." While the assassination took place elsewhere, Baltimore's large African-American population, led to Dr. King's death having a large impact on the city. Later in the 70s Baltimore became the national NAACP headquarters instead of New York.

By Sunday evening, 5000 paratroopers, combat engineers, and artillerymen from the XVIII Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, specially trained in riot control tactics, including sniper school, were on the streets of Baltimore with fixed bayonets, and equipped with chemical (CS) disperser backpacks. Two days later, they were joined by a Light Infantry Brigade from Fort Benning, Georgia. With all the police and troops on the streets, things began to calm down. According to the Virginia State Police H. Rap Brown was transferred to the Cambridge Courthouse for waiving extradition. In several instances, these disturbances were rapidly quelled through the use of bayonets and chemical dispersers by the XVIII Airborne units. That unit arrested more than 3,000 people, who were turned over to the Baltimore Police. A general curfew was set at 6pm in the city limits and martial law was enforced. As rioting continued, African American plainclothes police officers and community leaders were sent to the worst areas to prevent further violence.

By the time the riot was over, 6 people were dead, 700 injured, 4,500 arrested and over a thousand fires set. More than a thousand businesses had been looted or burned, many of which never reopened. Total property damage was estimated at $13.5 million (1968 dollars).

One of the major outcomes of the riot was the attention Spiro Agnew received when he criticized local black leaders for not doing enough to help stop the disturbance. These statements caught the attention of Richard Nixon who was looking for someone on his ticket who could counter George Wallace’s American Independent Party, third party campaign. Agnew became Nixon’s Vice Presidential running mate in 1968.

In Other Media

The riot is mentioned on Baltimore based police dramas and The Wire. On Homicide it is mentioned as one of Lt. Al Giardello and Detective Stuart Gharty's first assignments on the episodes "Black and Blue" and "Shades of Gray." On The Wire, it is mentioned on "Boys of Summer" as an event that proved problematic for a former Baltimore Mayor that at the same time enabled Maryland's Governor to become a Vice Presidential Nominee.

References

* University of Baltimore 1968 Riot site, Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth, "http://www.ubalt.edu/template.cfm?page=1634", includes extensive timeline of events.
* Maryland State Archives Document Packet, prepared by Dr. Edward C. Papenfuse and Dr. Mercer Neale, with the Assistance of the Staff of the Maryland State Archives, Is Baltimore Burning?, "http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/stagser/s1259/121/2395/html/0000.html". Includes original documents, news footage, and suggestions for further research.

ee also

* 1968 Washington, DC riots
* Louisville riots of 1968
* Protests of 1968