YEAR: 1965Watts Rebellion
The Watts rebellion was a six-day uprising in the predominantly Black Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. The rebellion began August 11, 1965, when police pulled over Marquette Frye for alleged drunk driving and beat him, his brother, and their mother during the arrest, drawing an angry crowd that quickly grew into mass unrest. The underlying causes ran deeper than the arrest itself: Watts residents faced severe poverty, poor schools, and high unemployment, conditions a state commission had already warned could trigger major unrest.
As protests escalated, city officials rejected community demands and the LAPD called in the National Guard, leading to mass arrests and violent suppression that left 34 people dead and over a thousand injured.
