Select

1. Washington, DC
Riots of 1968
Notes, History 390-003, The Digital Past, Lee Ann Cafferata, Department of History and Art
History, George Mason University

2. Points of view
History is written from different schools of thought and different subfields.
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Political history: the story of government, political leaders, electoral activities, the
making of policy, and the interaction of branches of government
Diplomatic history: the study of the relations between nations, diplomats, and
ideas of diplomacy
Social history: the study of ways and customs, of
family, education, children, demography (population change), and voluntary
institutions (churches, for example)
Cultural history: the study of language and its uses, of the arts and
literature, sport, and entertainment, in constructing cultural categories
Economic history: the study of how an entire system of production and
consumption (or of any of its parts) works, of markets, industry, credit, and
working people at all levels of the system
Intellectual history: the study of ideology and epistemology, analyzing how ideas
affect human actions and how the material world affects human ideas
What subfields can you think of?

3. April 1968
Martin Luther King is assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in
Memphis, Tennessee.

4. Washington, DC in 1968
• In April, 1968, news of the assassination of
Martin Luther King set off riots in
Washington, DC. For three days, rioters
damaged and lootd stores and other public
properties. Police and National Guard moved
to riot zones. Downtown, commuters arrived
at their jobs and the Cherry Blossom festival
continued as scheduled.

5. Aftermath Statistics
• In the end, more than 1,200 fires burned,
damages reached more than $13m.
• 1968 Riots, Washington, DC:
http://youtu.be/OMXVfDnIH-8
• “A City in Turmoil.” Washington Post Maps the
aftermath:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/metro/specials/mlk40/map/

6. 14th and U Streets, NW

7. Stokely Carmichael, SNCC
Stokely Carmichael in 1966.
Carmichael was head of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee, an architect of Black
Power, and framed the statement,
“Black is beautiful.

8. On the Mall, April 4
Yale University Lmanian Alexander Collection

9. Northeast DC, April 7, 1968
Yale University, Alexander Lmanian collection

10. Riot damage
D.C. riot. April '68. Aftermath. Forms part of: U.S. News & World Report Magazine Photograph Collection
(Library of Congress).