Apr 28, 2015

The Baltimore riot of April 1968 was a long Palm Sunday weekend of contrasts from Saturday through Tuesday, and it wiped out much of the downtown business district.

People went to church and people looted. People were curious or scared to death. They went outside looking for adventure or to calm things down.

The skies were a sunny blue in one direction and black with smoke in another. Hundreds of city and state police officers were deployed to limit destruction in East and West Baltimore. Many merchants decried the lack of police protection for businesses. The sky was blackened with the smoke of 800 fires in 72 hours.

: Baltimore riots

: 1969: Rioting started near this rubble-strewn area in the 800 block of N. Gay street a year ago. many of the signs of that period of burning and destruction remain in the area.

: A fire at Harford and Federal. Baltimore Sun

: Fire gutted buildings remain in 1969. Baltimore Sun

: Spectators gathered on the steps of the Court House as police and guardsmen marshaled persons arrested during rioting in the city last April to stand trial. More than 5,000 persons were arrested during the rioting.

: Maj. Gen. George M. Gelston, the State adjutant general, chats with his staff officers yesterday after the Governor released the National Guard from riot duty.

: Baltimore riots

: A looter caught in W. Baltimore. Clarence B. Garrett, Baltimore Sun

: Looters at Greenmount Ave. and Biddle St. William L. LaForce, Baltimore Sun

: Baltimore riots

: Baltimore riots

: A fire burns at Harford and Federal. Walter M. McCardell

: Children entering the school off Fayette. George H. Cook

: A National Guardsman stands atop the City Hail, where many of the people arrested during the riots have been incarcerated. Weyman Swagger, Baltimore Sun

: Tired troopers relax with coffee at Gay and Aisquith streets during 1968 riots as burning and looting declines.

: 1968 riots. Prisoners marched into courthouse. Weyman Swagger

: Along Pennsylvania Avenue, stores were boarded or burnt for Easter. 1968 riots. Weyman Swagger.

: 1968 riots. North Avenue and Chester streets. Weyman Swagger

: July 15, 1968 – BURNING ATTEMPT FAILS — The windows of this tropical fish store at twenty-first and St. Paul Streets were smashed early today by a disorderly crowd after policeman shot a 14-year old burglary suspect a few blocks away. A can containing what appeared to be gasoline was thrown into the store but failed to ignite. Seven fires were reported nearby. Photo by Clarence B. Garrett.

: February 29, 1968 – JUST IN CASE — Irwin R. Barr, vice president of the AAI Corporation, stands on top of the police riot vehicle which the company manufactures near Cockeysville, Md. Photo by William L. LaForce.

: April 9, 1968 – OBLIVIOUS — Under the watchful eye of troops, this young man pedaled his tricycle at Twenty-fifth and Guilford. Photo by Paul Hutchins

: Edison Highway, Paul Hutchins

: May 20, 1968 – SAWMILL DESTROYED — Fire set by arsonis is destroyed G. T. Phipps lumber bill last night. Phoot by Richard W. Childress.

: October 28, 1968 – PROTOTYPE MARKET — A gutted supermarket at the corner of Dolphin Street and Fremont Avenue, closed since last April’s riots, has leaped into focus since a proposal by Dr. Daniel Cappon that it be reopened and run by area residents. shown above at the market site are Ross Ford, social worker; Doctor Cappon, University of Maryland, clinical professor of psychiatry and director of the inner-city community health program, and Bob Johnson, director of the Dolphin Street Community Action center. They now seek backing funds. Photo by Ralph L. Robinson.

: National Guard soldiers asleep on the hoods of jeeps in Druid Hill Park.

: Upset couple on truck at Gay and Forrest Streets.

: These aren’t looters. They’re Baltimore policemen recovering loot from a vacant house in the 1500 Block of Richland street. A patrol removed a cache of furniture.

: National Guard lines Preston Street 1968. William Holtz, Sun

: Prisoners are marched into the Court House. George H. Cook, Sun

: Residents affected by the disorders line up at food depot in the 1900 block of North Bond street.

: Photo by William H. Mortimer

: May 20, 1968 – EVERYBODY STOPS — State Police are shown stopping all cars yesterday on the roads leading to Salisbury, Md. Photo by Richard W. Childress.

: A private dozes in his jeep, his buddy reads the newspaper and a young man nearby looks over a book as he waits for a ride. This scene at Patterson Park and North avenues may be a sign the city is relaxing. William Holtz, Sun

: Curfew violation suspects sleep in a parked bus awaiting their trials in the morning. Lloyd Pearson, Sun

: Riots along Gay Street. WIlliam Hotz

: A wife pleads for a young man who has been arrested for interfering with police off W. Pratt

: Edison Highway, Paul Hutchins

: A press conference. William L. LaForce, Sun

: May 20, 1968 – SAWMILL DESTROYED — Fire set by arsonis is destroyed G. T. Phipps lumber bill last night. Phoot by Richard W. Childress.

The toll was steep: six people were killed, 700 were injured, 1,000 small businesses were looted or burned out and 5,800 people were arrested. Nearly 3,500 cases were tried in city courts.

Tulips had replaced the daffodils in back yards and federal troops patrolled streets with bayonets on their guns.

The mayor said the riot was well-planned and others thought there was no evidence of that. Many agreed the trouble started in East Baltimore.

On the streets were Martin Luther King Jr. remembrance signs, an all-out curfew, no traffic, no liquor sales and no more mom-and-pop stores on corner lots.

Reporting from The Sun archives

From the vault: Remembering Baltimore’s 1968 riots

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