THE TIMES

Stokely Carmichael originated the black nationalism rallying slogan, Black Power.

Photo credit: AP

and condemned it as a motto for racism or the beginning of a race war. Even Martin Luther King Jr. urged Carmichael to drop the phrase, but he refused because its encouragement of cultural, political and economic self-determination resonated with blacks who were constantly measured by arbitrarily set white European standards.

After Carmichael’s speech gained national attention, the U.S. House of Representatives struck the “Open Housing” clause from the 1966 Civil Rights Act, and the bill was later defeated entirely. This clause banned discrimination in the sale, lease and financing of housing and in the furnishing of real estate brokerage services. This response was largely a result of realtors and homeowners lobbying against the bill for economic reasons. (The Fair Housing Act banning such practices passed Congress and became a law in 1968.)

The 1967 Detroit Riot was the bloodiest of the urban riots in the United States during the “Long, hot summer of 1967.”

1967: Newark And Detroit Riots

In the 1960s, riots erupted across America in urban communities motivated by disputes between African Americans and white police officers that escalated and ignited violence. In 1967 in Newark, N.J., two white police officers brutally beat John Smith, a black cab driver who allegedly drove around a police car. Smith was interrogated, arrested and severely beaten by the arresting

A shop owner stands guard in front of his shop with his gun and his “Soul Brother” sign.

officers before he was taken to the precinct. Once word got out of the horrific incident, thousands of residents rioted and looted local businesses. Violence spread from the predominantly black neighborhoods of Newark's Central Ward to downtown Newark, prompting the New Jersey State Police and within 48 hours National Guard troops to intervene, thus furthering the violence. This civil unrest continued for six days and resulted in 26 deaths; an estimated 725 people were injured, and nearly 1,500 people were arrested.

Just days after the Newark riots ended, more black outrage emerged in Detroit, which was a simmering cauldron of racial tension following decades of institutional racism and segregation. During a police raid on an unlicensed bar in a predominantly African American area in the Virginia Park neighborhood, officers arrested all patrons in attendance, including 82 African Americans. As a crowd of onlookers gathered, bottles were thrown and a riot erupted. Approximately 17,000 local officers and national law-enforcement officials, including the National Guard and U.S. Army paratroopers, were ordered to quell the unrest. The city endured five days of bloody chaos; 43 people were killed in the unrest, mostly African American men at the hands of law enforcement.

Armed conflict in the streets of Newark, New Jersey, 1967

Photo credit: New York Times

Wounded by gunshot, Joe Bass, Jr. 12, lies in Newark street.

LIFE cover, July 28, 1967