Most of 14th Street Is Gone: The Washington, DC Riots of 1968

by J Samuel Walker

"Left behind were hundreds of burned-out buildings, whole blocks that looked as though they had been bombed into oblivion." These words, written by the Washington Post' s Leonard Downie Jr., do not describe a war zone but rather the nation's capital reeling in the wake of the riots of April 1968. In the devastating aftermath of Martin Luther King's assassination, a community already plagued by poor living conditions, unfair policing, and segregation broke into chaos.

These riots brought well-documented tragedy and heartbreak--not only among the families of those who lost their lives but also among those who lost their homes, possessions, jobs, and businesses. There was anger, fear, and anxiety throughout the city of Washington, DC, from the White House to the residential neighborhoods of the capital. There was an excruciating dilemma for President Lyndon Johnson. He was outraged by the violence in the streets, but he also keenly aware that African American citizens who joined the riots had legitimate grievances that his civil rights initiatives did little to address.

J. Samuel Walker's Most of 14th Street is Gone takes an in-depth look at the causes and consequences of the Washington, DC riots of 1968. It shows the conditions that existed in Washington, DC's low-income neighborhoods, setting the stage for the disorders that began after King's murder. It also traces the growing fears produced by the outbreaks of serious riots in many cities during the mid-1960s. The centerpiece of the book is a detailed account of the riots that raged in Washington, DC from the perspectives of rioters, victims, law enforcement officials, soldiers, and government leaders. The destruction was so extensive that parts of the city were described as "smoldering ruins block after block." Walker analyzes the reasons for the riots and the lessons that authorities drew from them. He also provides an overview of the struggle that the city of Washington, DC faced in recovering from the effects of the 1968 disorders. Finally, he considers why serious riots have been so rare in Washington, DC and other cities since 1968. Walker's timely and sensitive examination of a community, a city, and a country rocked by racial tension, violence, and frustration speaks not only to this nation's past but to its present.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Dc Comics

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 2, 2018

Reviews

[Yenta Knows · Rating 4 out of 5]

A competent overview of the 1968 riots. The author has organized the disparate reports and stories into a cogent day by day narrative. He discusses the police strategy in depth. And he includes lots of revealing bits. Such as:

Yes, Stokely Carmichael was being followed by the police. They lost track of him for a period, but no it wasn’t paranoia. He was being watched.

Many, chief among them J Edgar Hoover, somehow saw the riots as having been fomented by nefarious communists. Oh, the cluelessness of middle aged white men, who could see commies under every bed but couldn’t see several centuries of racism.

Several factors revivified the 14th street neighborhood. One was putting a DC government building on U Street; this demonstrates that (contrary to common opinion) Marion Barry was not a total dud.

Another was opening the Green line Metro station. And I have to wonder why this event was delayed until 1993. The very first bit of Metro, a few stations on the red line, opened in 1976. Why did 14th Street have to wait another 17 years? Wouldn’t it have made sense to build the green line much earlier and revivify 14th Street?

One unfortunate side effect of the riots was the depressing effect it had on Washington DC’s second most important industry, tourism. The riots occurred in April, just a month before the “school trip to Washington DC” season reaches its height. School trip visitors fell by 80 percent in 1968.

About 40 percent of the businesses that were looted or burned never reopened.

Although most of the rioting occurred in three areas (14th Street, 7th Street, H Street NE), there was isolated looting in SouthEast.

I could wish for a little more depth, a little more research, and a lot more consciousness. Walker is, after all, writing in 2018, and you’d think he’d notice the condescending sexism in the story about the “beautiful young government girl with a master’s degree” (page 104). Sheesh! Even in 1968, when this Washington Post story was written, “government girl” was an obsolete term.

But I end with compliments to the author on two things he gets right:

He describes the area east of the Anacostia River (SouthEast) as neglected. Yes, sad but true. Always has been like that.

And you almost have to be a native Washingtonian to understand just how exactly right this part is:

The riots delayed the opening baseball game of the Washington Senators season. As the city returned to normal, “The Washington Senators were finally able to open their major league baseball season, and, as an indicator of the trend towards normality in the capital, they lost the game.”

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fine, quick overview of events. The analysis is incomplete and questionable—not great for understanding context and aftermath. Most of what I learned here was in the first chapter’s history of housing in the District long before 1968.

[Alex Hendel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The history is informative and concise, and bookended well by the history and precedents of the 1968 riot and some of the long term results and consequences. Especially interesting is the author’s account of how local and federal leadership reacted to the events of the week.

[Sydney Young · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. The book was written before 2020, but shows quite a perspective from this side of things.

[Steven Voorhees · Rating 3 out of 5]

T.S. Eliot begins his poem "The Wasteland" with "April is the cruelest month." April 1968 was indeed brutal. It witnessed the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, which ignited widespread urban rioting (including in my hometown of Trenton, NJ). The most glaring metropolitan rebellion occurred in Washington, D.C. The run-up to the unrest, the disorder itself and its charred aftermath are agonizingly discussed in Walker's MOST OF 14TH STREET IS GONE. It's a common assumption that Dr. King's death's triggered the anarchy. The reality's more complex. King's murder was ONE cause. Others were the low quality life experienced by many of Washington's African-American residents and flagrant socioeconomic disparity, results of ".. the deficiencies of centuries," in the words of Lyndon B. Johnson. These two ingredients fed deep anger and frustration; King's death was the event that lit the societal fuse. Walker attempts to do a lot -- given granular descriptions of the 3 days of disturbance; chronicle the tension between the governments of the District of Columbia and that of the U.S., as well broadly overview the federal city's history against a backdrop of the urban turmoil of the late 1960's. He largely succeeds on all three goals. However, the narrative at times meanders and moves away from its subject. Yet the book's redeems itself with moving testimony from those who experienced AND who were victimized by the malevolent mardi gras that was the Washington riots of 1968. "I think it happened, frankly, because people saw an opportunity to get some stuff they wanted and didn't have the money to buy," observed W. Henry Greene, a Howard University-trained physician whose medical practice burned to the ground in the mayhem. Ultimately, the riots were indeed a mix of pilfering and pain; a deep wound that made April 1968 truly cruel. Walker makes this compellingly clear.

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of this book is a good description of how the riots happened on a day-by-day bias. It does not deeply analyze why they happened, relying on a few paragraphs of liberal pieties about poverty causing the problem. But since poverty declined in the 1960s, this seems like an anything-but-complete explanation.

[David Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book’s saving grace is its brevity — with minimal narrative, it reads mostly as a literature review. There are absolutely more threads worth pulling, but the writing style is almost consciously anti-stylish.

However, this provides valuable context to riots that shaped the collective memory of Washingtonians and provided a breeding ground for gentrification.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This thin volume offers a brisk overview of the infamous 1968 riots that devastated three D.C. neighborhoods in the week following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. It also contains short chapters on the prelude and aftermath of the riots, full of compelling details about D.C. history.

As a seven-year resident of the District, it's been on my list for some time now to learn more about my adopted city and my neighborhood, Columbia Heights.

Columbia Heights, not far north from the epicenter of the riots that devastated the U St. - 14th St. corridor, only started its comeback in the late 1990s, after the opening of the Green Line and decades of urban decay. This book takes me back to when U Street, along with 7th Street and H Street, were the three primary African-American commercial and cultural centers in a city racked by poverty and racial discrimination. The looting and fires of the riots lay waste to them, and the recovery took decades to begin.

I recommend this book, which can be read in one or two sittings, to anyone interested in starting the process of learning about this historic, tragic episode.

[Shrike58 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having lived in the Washington area since the 1980s, even then there was a sense that the city had not put the events of 1968 behind it, and really didn't until the 1990s. This workmanlike accounting is probably not the last word on the topic, but it was good enough for my purposes, with my main takeaway being that while one could blame the event on Martin Luther King's assassination, there was likely to have been some sort of insurrectionist event, due to the hopes of the early 1960s for racial and economic justice having evaporated, and the inhabitants of the District's slums being sick of it all. As for why there have not been more such events post-1960s, Walker suggests that how many urban police departments made an effort to improve community relations had a great deal to do with this; this is suggestive as many of the more recent insurrections seem connected with ham-handed police departments unable to balance paramilitary force with personal discipline. My actual review is more like 3.5.

[Makenzie Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

while this book offers many facts about the events in Washington in April of 1968, it is horribly written. the author provides almost zero opinions or any sort of writing between the quotes and facts presented. it is wholly a choppy book and generally difficult to stay engaged in. i have a huge interest in this subject, but this book is so boringly composed, i nearly threw it out before finishing. it’s also written from the perspective of a white male, which caused me to raise an occasional eyebrow at his tone and word choice in the book. do yourself a favor and find a better book on this topic.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned a great deal about the causes and effects of the riots of April 4-6 in Washington, D.C., following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis. Growing up a mile outside the city, I saw the effects of the riots in places like 14th Street, N.W., and 7th Street, N.W.

[Dan Winston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable, informative introduction to an important moment in DC's history. To gain a more complete understanding, I'd recommend also reading other sources about DC, and 14th/U specifically.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember that is the year my sixth grade class went to Valley Forge for class field trip instead of Washington DC (no explanations at the time even though less than 2 hours away by car)--

[Mark Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

An academic/scholarly review of the April 1968 riots in D.C.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read

[Jonathan Gurvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent book, but it reads more like an academic analysis than an engrossing novel. I learned a bit about DC but found many of the later pages to be a slog.

[DW Rowlands · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a quite good and relatively in-depth coverage of the 1968 DC Riots. The main reason it got four rather than five stars is that I'm not sure it covered much I hadn't read in other sources, including Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital, but for someone interested in and not familiar with the topic, it definitely is something worth reading.