This silent 1968 footage from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) documents civil unrest in the United States in the days following the April 4th assisination of Martin Luther King Jr., showing the deployment of the National Guard to urban centers of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. in response to the week’s mass uprisings or race riots, as they were variously described in over 100 affected cities. The events depicted are also known as the King assasination riots, or the Holy Week Uprising (TRT: 40:53).
Baltimore. April 10th. A marker reads. “Daspo Conus, Garris” (Department of the Army Special Photographic Office). Armed guards and white onlookers watch as arrested black men disembark from a yellow GMC school bus, their hands on their heads. (0:06). Elderly spectators, Baltimore City Police hold shotguns, smiling. Black elders. Military crowd control (1:45). A door for the 2nd Battalion Airborne, 325th Infantry. Soldiers in uniform review plans on a map (3:01).
Black and white airborne troops pass the time in a gymnasium, polishing boots, playing cards, basketball (3:47). The map, reviewed, in closeup (5:24). U.S. Army personnel meet, make telephone calls (6:21).
D.C. April 7th. A marker: “Lamanna.” 7th Street storefronts, a Salvation Army. A church congregation leaves after a Palm Sunday service (7:28). Armed troops, barbed wire, cooks prepare food in an outdoor kitchen (9:13). A government building. Army personnel depart in chauffeured cars (10:58). A military Jeep. A sign: “U.S. Soldier’s Home” (12:01).
Baltimore. April 8th. Storefronts: Pipe Rack Clothes, Lafayette Market, Capitol Cut-Rate Discount. Troops patrol a residential street in a black neighborhood. Police cars (12:40). Police with megaphones (13:38). The Baltimore City Police logo. Directing traffic in the rain at Laurens St. (14:19). National Guard with rain ponchos. Army trucks. Men running in the distance (15:00). A marching procession of troops (16:08). Boarding up storefronts. Smoke on the horizon (17:06). Troops point guns toward black residents. 4500 Wilson Street. Radio calls. Onlookers, rifles, a raised fist (18:00). Police in white helmets. The intersection of Wilson and Brunt St. A U.S. flag (19:05). Smoke from a building on fire. Firefighters arrive in a truck. A crowd gathers (20:20). A burned storefront (21:50). Cleanup. Looting food from a smoking Safeway grocery store (22:23). An exhausted fireman, a firefight (24:28). A flag at half mast, a rooftop panorama reveals black smoke (25:09). A sign: “Head/Start.” A truck unloads troops. Gas masks. Opening canisters (28:06). Peaceway Temple. A soul food restaurant hangs a MLK newspaper headline (30:21). A burned car (32:10). POV inside a moving vehicle near a Texaco gas station (33:26). Burned and demolished brick buildings (34:42). National Guard on patrol. Residential fires. Firemen use a ladder to enter a building. Smoke and rain (35:50).
Baltimore. April 6th “Goddard” footage begins with another firefight. Buses in service, guardsmen at a park, pedestrians are directed to cross the street. A young boy climbs out of a smashed storefront. A black man is arrested with goods in the trunk of a red car. A suspect is loaded into a patrol van (37:50).
The Baltimore riots of 1968 lasted from April 6th-14th. Governor Spiro Agney called in the National Guard and 500 Maryland State Police. Federal Troops were later requested to help quell the civil disturbances on April 7th, forming what was known as Task Force Baltimore. Over 10,900 troops were deployed. 5,800 arrests were made, 6 people died, and 1,000 small businesses were damaged.
The Washington, D.C. riots of 1968 lasted from April 4th-8th. Activist Stokely Carmichael called for stores on close in response to the King assassination, but looting followed. President Lyndon B. Johnson called in the National Guard on April 5th. Over 6,000 people were arrested and 13 died. The unrest stemmed from factors including a history of housing discrimination and racial segretation that resulted in mass ghettoization, employment and income disparities, and high tensions between a 80% majority white police force and their 67% black neighbors.
