The Watts Riots began on Aug. 11, 1965 and ended on Aug. 16, 1965 — and that day Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown declared the riots were over. Here is a sampling of moments about the Watts Riots, or what years later would be called the Watts Revolt/Uprising by some.
— Watts was once part of a Mexican land grant, Rancho La Tajauta. The rancho was later subdivided into farms and homes. Watts was incorporated as a city in 1907 but in 1926 Watts residents voted to be annexed to the City of Los Angeles.
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— At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 11, 1965, Marquette Frye, a 21-year-old Black man, was pulled over on suspicion of driving under the influence by California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer Lee W. Minikus near the corner of Avalon Boulevard and 116th Street in L.A. The intersection was near the community of Watts, but technically not in Watts. Frye, who was with his brother Ronald in their mother’s 1955 Buick, was arrested on suspicion of DUI (he failed the CHP sobriety test), resisting arrest and battery on a police officer.
— Minikus radioed his partner, Bob Lewis, to arrange for a car to take Frye to jail, and to get a tow truck for the Buick. The two CHP officers requested assistance from LAPD as the arrest progressed and a crowd gathered to watch amid escalating hostility from onlookers. Frye’s brother was arrested on suspicion of battery on a police officer and interfering with a police officer. Their mother, who lived nearby and arrived on the scene hoping to take possession of her car, was also arrested on suspicion of interfering with a police officer.
— News reports said that the growing crowd threw rocks, bricks, bottles and large pieces of concrete at passing cars. Hearing the reports, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn went to the area with an aide and someone threw a brick at his car’s windshield, injuring Hahn.
— It was reported that 1,000 people rioted through the evening of Aug. 11.
— On Aug. 12, cars and local businesses were set on fire as the riot grew.
— Los Angeles Police Department Chief William H. Parker made a formal request at 10:50 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 13, that the California National Guard be called. The initial 1,336 troops were deployed shortly after 10 p.m.
— The first death was a Black bystander who was shot and killed on Aug. 13, caught amid gunfire between police and rioters.
— Some public events, including performances by Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus on Saturday, Aug. 14, at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, were cancelled. The Los Angeles Central Library and branch libraries in the South Los Angeles area were closed on Aug. 14.
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— A curfew was declared by California Lt. Gov. Glenn M. Anderson, beginning at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 14, for a 50-square-mile zone in South Los Angeles. Anderson was the acting governor at the time because Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown was on vacation in Greece. “Anyone found in the street in the new curfew area will be subject to immediate arrest by police,” Anderson said. “I implore everyone in Los Angeles to stay off the street tonight.”
— The total commitment of guardsmen, 13,900, was reached before midnight on Saturday, Aug. 14. The total number of LAPD officers committed was 934, while the total of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies was 719.
— Areas also affected by the riots included San Diego (three days of rioting and 81 arrested); and, on Aug. 13, Pacoima (a scattering of small fires, looting and rioting), Monrovia (small fires) and Pasadena (liquor and gun stores looted and fire bombs thrown at police cars); and also, on Aug. 15, Long Beach (rioting), and San Pedro and Wilmington (small fires).
— Brown declared on Aug. 16, 1965 that the six-day riot was over. “We must and will continue to deal forcefully with the the terrorists until Los Angeles is safe again,” the governor said.
— Brown also announced on Aug. 16 that he would appoint a commission to investigate “underlying and immediate causes and recommend means to prevent recurrence of Los Angeles riots.” The group was called the McCone Commission, led by John A. McCone, who was a former director of the CIA. Two members of the commission were Black leaders in Los Angeles: the Rev. James E. Jones, of Westminster Presbyterian Church and also a member of the Los Angeles Board of Education, and Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Earl C. Broady.
— By Tuesday, Aug. 17, Brown lifted the 8 p.m. curfew.
— The McCone Commission released its findings on Dec. 2, 1965: “Violence in the City – An End or a Beginning? A Report by the Governor’s Commission on the Los Angeles Riots.” The commission found the root causes of the riots were high unemployment; poor schools; inferior living conditions by Black residents in Watts; lack of public transportation. Read the report here: libraryarchives.metro.net/dpgtl/studies/1965-McCone-Commission-Report-Violence-in-the-City-Watts-Neighborhood.pdf
— The human toll of the riots: a total of 34 deaths and more than 1,000 people wounded by gunfire. Three people killed who were sworn personnel: a LAFD firefighter who died when a wall fell on him while fighting a fire; an LASD sheriff’s deputy who was accidentally shot by another deputy; and a Long Beach Police Department officer who was shot by another police officer whose gun was discharged during a scuffle.
— Property damaged was estimated to be at least $40 million — which is more than $400 million today, when adjusted for inflation. It was reported that 977 buildings were damaged, looted or destroyed during the riots.
— The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. discussed the Watts Riots and the “War on Poverty” with President Lyndon B. Johnson during a recorded call on Aug. 20, 1965. King Jr. had visited Los Angeles on Aug. 17. During the phone call, King Jr. told Johnson:
“Now, what is frightening about it is that you hear all of these tones of violence. The people out there in the Watts area, they’d assumed the National Guard indeed were going back in. The minute that happens there will be retaliation in the White community this time. Last time there was not, which was wonderful. But the people have bought up guns, and Chief Parker went on television the other day, they need to do an anti-riot crew, and all of that.
“So that I’m fearful that if something isn’t done to give a new sense of hope to the people in that area—and they are poverty-stricken—that a full-scale race war can develop here. And I’m concerned about it, naturally, because I know that violence—a riot at the end of the day wouldn’t—doesn’t help.”
Johnson asked: “That’s right. Now, what should we do about it? What’s your recommendation?”
King Jr: “Well, the problem is I think that poverty — if they could get, in the next few days, this poverty program going in Los Angeles, I believe that it would help a great deal.” https://prde.upress.virginia.edu/conversations/4005551/notes_open
— Marquette Frye was later convicted of DUI, battery and malicious mischief, and sentenced on Feb. 18, 1966, to 90 days in Los Angeles County jail and a three-year probation. He died at age 42 on Dec. 20, 1986.
— CHP officer Minikus died at age 79 on Oct. 19, 2013.