Over the course of three days and two nights in July 1964, thousands of Rochester’s African American residents rioted in the streets of the city’s low-income neighborhoods. In the stifling summer heat, rioters smashed storefront windows, looted neighborhood merchants and clashed with police, exposing the city’s long-simmering racial tensions. In the seven years following the Rochester riots, more than 750 race riots erupted in numerous American cities, leaving over 200 dead, injuring nearly 13,000 and leaving many African American urban neighborhoods in ruins.
Read the timeline below to trace key moments in the Rochester
Riots and other race riots that erupted in African American neighborhoods
during the 1960s.
Click on the images to get a larger view.
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Signing in the East Room of the
White House
Photo: L.B.J. Library
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President Lyndon Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination of all kinds based on race, color, religion or national origin. The Act also provides the federal government with the powers to enforce desegregation.
Riots erupt in Harlem, New York after the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old African American male by a white police officer. One person is killed, more than 100 are injured and hundreds more are arrested.
Police arrest a 19-year-old male for public intoxication at a block party of about 200 people, on Nassau Street near Joseph Avenue in Rochester’s Seventh Ward. Rumors spread, such as: a child attacked by a police dog and a pregnant woman slapped by an officer, leading the crowd to become violent.
About 400 people riot on Joseph Avenue; all available police officers are called to the scene. Bricks are thrown at police cars.
Police Chief William Lombard urges crowd to disperse. Rioters throw stones, spit on Lombard and overturn his car.
Police Chief William Lombard instructs officers on use of riot weapons.
Crowd swells to more than 2,000; looting spreads down Joseph and Clinton Avenues; city police, state troopers and sheriff's deputies are called in.
State of emergency declared.
City Manager Porter Homer orders 8:00 PM curfew in the city of Rochester; closes the downtown and all liquor stores in Rochester and adjoining towns.
African American leaders go to the Public Safety Building, and volunteer to help quell disturbances planned in the Third Ward.
Violence breaks out in the Third Ward; angry mobs swarm the streets; rioters toss Molotov cocktails, rocks and bottles from rooftops and store windows.
A white man is attacked and killed on Clarissa and Atkinson Streets.
Helicopter surveying riot damage crashes into a Clarissa Street home, killing three.
National Guard called in to help “weary local and state police” control riot, marking the first time the National Guard is called out in a northern city.
The Rochester riots end. Nearly 1,000 people are arrested; the majority, between 20 and 40 years old, employed, with no prior record. Fifteen percent are white.
Allegations of police brutality spark Columbia Avenue race riots in a predominantly African American neighborhood in North Philadelphia: 341 injured, 774 arrested, 225 stores damaged or destroyed.
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Troops patrol L.A.
Courtesy: National Archives
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Approximately 35,000 African Americans riot in Watts, a black section of Los Angeles, after the arrest of a 21-year-old black male. 34 reported dead, 1,100 injured and 4,000 arrested. Estimated damage: $100 million.
Racial tensions between the black community and a mostly white police force lead to riots in Newark, New Jersey. 26 dead, 1,100 wounded, more than $10 million in damage.
Riots begin in Detroit after police raid an illegal drinking establishment and attempt to arrest patrons. 43 killed, 1,189 injured, more than 7,000 arrested; estimated damage $45 million.
Find out about the city of Rochester, before and after the riots >>
Rochester Riot photos courtesy of the University of Rochester Rare Books and Special Collections
and the Democrat & Chronicle
Rochester Riot photos for July 25: 3:30 a.m. and Nightfall, courtesy of the City of Rochester, New York
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