Riots erupted in April of 1968 as a reaction to Martin Luther King assassination.
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, just four years after the signing of the Civil Rights Act and with a country still divided by racial segregation. The African-American community in Washington DC reacted violently to the news and for three days maintained a protest that devastated part of the city.
After the news of King's murder spread across the country, residents of the neighborhoods near 14th and U streets, the center of African-American business life in Washington DC, congregated on the streets. Activists demanded that shopkeepers close the stores and at 11:00 at night the crowd lost control.
13 people died, hundreds were injured and 7,600 were arrested. It took more than 13,000 members of the Army, the Marine Corps and the National Guard to regain control of the city.
