April 1968 Washington, D.C. Riots

by Kaitlyn Crain Enriquez, posted in Photographs, Still Pictures, United States Information Agency (USIA), Washington D.C.

In April 1968, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. traveled to Memphis, Tennessee to support sanitation workers that were on strike. It was in Memphis on April 3rd that King would give his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” The next day, on the evening of April 4th while at the Lorraine Motel, King was assassinated.

Original Caption: “Germany, Berlin — Dr. Martin Luther King at the Soviet Sector border of the Wall in Bernauer Strasse. Herr Werner Steltzer, director of the Berlin Information Center, is indicating points of interest.”
Photo by: United States Information Service Bonn
Date: September 12, 1964.
Local Photo ID: 306-BN-466-64-4880 (NAID 175539559)
Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. [Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mathew Ahmann in a crowd.]
Date: August 28, 1963
Local Photo ID: 306-SSM-4C-51-15 (NAID 542015)

Within a few hours of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, riots had broken out in several cities across the United States. In the Nation’s Capital, where four days earlier King had delivered his sermon at the National Cathedral-“Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution”-14th and U Streets became the center of civil unrest. Rioting and protests lasted in Washington, D.C. from April 4th thru April 8th. In the end, 13 people were killed, around 1000 were injured, and over 6100 individuals were arrested.

At the National Archives, records documenting the April 1968 events can be found within (but are not limited to) Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, Record Group 127: Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 207: General Records of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Record Group 306: Records of the U.S. Information Agency. The following are examples of the types of records held by the Special Media Division.

Record Group 111

Shot List: VS, broken windows at McDonald’s Drive-In. Night and day scenes, firemen hose down burning building at 7th and O streets. VS, soldiers of the 3rd Infantry, patrol streets walking past store wreckage. CUs, faces of soldiers. VS, smashed mannequins and store fronts. VS, sanitation front loader picks up debris from streets and loads it onto truck. Soldiers at jeep talk on radio. Civil police and military talk on phone. Firemen hose down burning building. Gas inspector checks street with meter. Travel shot past burned and boarded up stores. CS, gas grenade goes off. People rush away. Injured photographer is helped by soldiers. VS, people walk past soldiers. VS, burning buildings. People stand about watching the firefighters.
Production Date: April 5, 1968–April 6, 1968
Local Identifier: 111-LC-52729 (NAID 31907)
Scope & Content: Dept of Sanitation workers clean up trash from the streets. Looters coming out of Safeway store with cases of food. VS, firemen fighting fire. HS, Pan of section, camera stops on burning building and fire trucks arriving. Soldiers arrive by truck and move out toward crowd. Pan of stores and street. Soldiers on guard in street. Soldiers wearing protective masks walk along street. Ambo jeep follows behind. VS, building burning. Firefighters hose down buildings. Patrol of soldiers walk down street. Firefighters hose down burning building. Police search and apprehend looters.
Production Date: April 1968
Local Identifier: 111-LC-52730 (NAID 31908)

Record Group 127

Original Caption: “RIOT CONTROL – Rioters standing in gutted shops and on sidewalks harassing policeman and Marines.”
Date: April 8, 1968
Photographer: Cpl. R.A. Keiper
Local Photo ID: 127-N-A55974
Original Caption: “Marines stand guard while store owners try to decide on a way to repair the damage done by the looters.”
Date: April 8, 1968
Photographer: Cpl. R.A. Keiper
Local Photo ID: 127-N-A556973
Original Caption: “RIOT CONTROL – Marine guarding ransacked store in Washington, D.C.”
Date: April 8, 1968
Photographer: Cpl. R.A. Keiper
Local Photo ID: 127-N-A556976
Original Caption: “…Marines and police capture looters loading stolen furniture on a truck as a part of riot control.”
Date: April 8, 1968
Photographer: Cpl. R.A. Keiper
Local Photo ID: 127-N-A556975

Record Group 207

Original Caption: “14th between Park Rd. and Irving St.”
Date: April 1968
Local Photo ID: 207-SS-58-1-30
Original Caption: “14th at Gerard – S.W. corner Judd’s Drug Store”
Date: April 1968
Local Photo ID: 207-SS-58-1-23
Original Caption: “7th between R and S. Manhattan Auto – west side used car lot.”
Date: April 1968
Local Photo ID: 207-SS-58-2-3
Original Caption: “7th at S looking south on 7th St.”
Date: April 1968
Local Photo ID: 207-SS-58-2-1
Original Caption: “Status of project prior to demolition.”
Date: January 30, 1969
Local Photo ID: 207-R-13-23
District of Columbia – Riot of 1968
Date: February 25, 1969
Local Photo ID: 207-R-13-3
District of Columbia – Riot of 1968
Date: February 25, 1969
Local Photo ID: 207-R-13-10

Record Group 306

Original Caption: Aftermath of Rioting in Washington DC.
Photographers: King/Szaro
Date: April 10, 1968
Original Caption: Aftermath of Rioting in Washington DC.
Photographers: King/Szaro
Date: April 10, 1968
Original Caption: Aftermath of Rioting in Washington DC.
Photographers: King/Szaro
Date: April 10, 1968
Original Caption: Aftermath of Rioting in Washington DC.
Photographers: King/Szaro
Date: April 10, 1968
Original Caption: Aftermath of Rioting in Washington DC.
Photographers: King/Szaro
Date: April 10, 1968
Local Photo ID: 306-SSA-68-8342-3-15 (NAID 218517841)
Original Caption: Aftermath of Rioting in Washington DC.
Photographers: King/Szaro
Date: April 10, 1968
Local Photo ID: 306-SSA-68-8342-3-23 (NAID 218517853)
Original Caption: Aftermath of Rioting in Washington DC.
Photographers: King/Szaro
Date: April 10, 1968
Local Photo ID: 306-SSA-68-8342-3-20 (NAID 218517849)

Additional photos are available in the NARA Catalog here.

2 thoughts on “April 1968 Washington, D.C. Riots”

  1. Although there are no photos, RG 328, entry A1 14 NAID 2549871 (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2549871) “Washington Civil Disorder Survey Files, 1968–1974” documents the damage as well.
    I lived in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC and in 2000, 9th and 7th St NW still had the scars left over from the 1968 riots. There were still burned out buildings, vacant lots that once had buildings, and some residential buildings with a very faded “Soul Sister” on the brick. Those scars didn’t really start healing until say, 2008, 40 years later.

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