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Pittsburgh skirted '60s violence
Tuesday, February 20, 2001
The 1960s were a time of challenges and changes for African-Americans. Unemployment, poor housing and inadequate schooling, plus the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X contributed to the violence that erupted in more than 30 cities. Riots began in the Roxbury section of Boston in the summer of 1967, spreading to Newark, N.J.; Detroit; Milwaukee; and other areas.
Though the same conditions existed here, Pittsburgh was one of the few major cities that escaped the "summer holocaust."
The city was experiencing the "black awareness" or black pride movement. That year, the Rev. James J. Robinson and William "Bouie" Haden led a call for a rent strike against slum landlords. In 1965, Marguerite Hofer had organized a march on Harrisburg to promote passage of the Pennsylvania Fair Housing Practices law.
But in April 1968, firebombing, looting and riots broke out in the Hill District, North Side, Homewood, Herron Hill, Oakland and Lawrenceville after King's assassination. Over a five-day period, 415 fires were set and more than 150 people arrested. Damage was estimated to be $1 million.
Many people, including the Black United Front, youths calling themselves "The Militant Non-Violents" in the Hill, and volunteers in Beltzhoover and Knoxville came forward to clean up after the riots, help victims and maintain peace. They asked that the police presence -- more than 6,000 National Guardsmen and state and city police -- be removed from their neighborhoods.
Then, once again, civil rights demonstrations to the tune of "We Shall Overcome" replaced the violence. And African-American youth began discovering the "dignity in being black," said the New Pittsburgh Courier.
-- Based on the "We Shall Overcome" exhibit's Civil Rights Timeline by Margaret Albert.
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