The Revolt of the Urban Ghettos, 1964-1967

Abstract

The revolt of the urban ghettos in the mid-1960's was in large part the consequence of a dichotomy in the think ing of Caucasians regarding the city. Accepting the city as a source of work but rejecting it as a desirable place to live, whites moved out to the suburbs and left the inner city to the underclasses. The minority groups, on the other hand, ini tially sought socioeconomic salvation within the city; it was, in the words of biographer Claude Brown, the "Promised Land." Instead, the ethnic groups suffered confinement to the ghettos and restricted opportunities within the city. The ghetto enclave produced a consciousness of experience among its residents, of which a sense of entrapment was an integral aspect. The more than one hundred major riots which ensued between 1964 and 1967 were spontaneous outbursts of hostility toward ghetto conditions and toward those who perpetuated the environment. A high level of support, demonstrated in both attitude and action, prevailed during the revolts. Significantly, the two institutions which represented the white establishment, the police and businesses, were singled out for attack. Largely ignored were libraries, schools, and civic buildings. The riots were thus the result of an ecological malaise in American soci ety which had prevailed for decades prior to the assaults of the ghettos in the 1960's.