List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States

Last updated

Listed are major episodes of civil unrest in the United States. This list does not include the numerous incidents of destruction and violence associated with various sporting events. [1]

Contents

18th century

19th century

1800–1849

1850–1859

1860–1869

1870–1879

The New York Orange Riot of 1871, between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants. Orange Riot 1871 crop.jpg
The New York Orange Riot of 1871, between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants.

1880–1889

1890–1899

20th century

1900–1909

1910–1919

1920–1929

1930–1939

1940–1949

1950–1959

1960–1969

1968 Washington, D.C., riots Leffler - 1968 Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King, Jr. riots.jpg
1968 Washington, D.C., riots

1970–1979

1980–1989

The disturbance lasted for an hour with 150 youths participating. A grocery store was looted and set on fire. Four police officers, including one involved in the initial arrest, were injured. [47] [48]

1990–1999

21st century

2000–2009

2010–2019

2020–2024

Protesters surround a police precinct in Minneapolis during the George Floyd protests, part of a larger wave of civil unrest in 2020 and 2021. 5-27-2020 (32 of 61) (49944139137).jpg
Protesters surround a police precinct in Minneapolis during the George Floyd protests, part of a larger wave of civil unrest in 2020 and 2021.

See also

Related Research Articles

In the broader context of racism in the United States, mass racial violence in the United States consists of ethnic conflicts and race riots, along with such events as:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Police riot</span> Violent confrontation that police are responsible for instigating, escalating or sustaining

A police riot is a riot carried out by the police; more specifically, it is a riot that police are responsible for instigating, escalating or sustaining as a violent confrontation. Police riots are often characterized by widespread police brutality, and they may be done for the purpose of political repression.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Red Scare</span> Early 20th-century American historical event

The first Red Scare was a period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left movements, including Bolshevism and anarchism, due to real and imagined events; real events included the Russian 1917 October Revolution, German Revolution of 1918–1919, and anarchist bombings in the U.S. At its height in 1919–1920, concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and the alleged spread of socialism, communism, and anarchism in the American labor movement fueled a general sense of concern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Summer</span> 1919 period of white supremacist terrorism and racial riots in many U.S. cities

Red Summer was a period in mid-1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots occurred in more than three dozen cities across the United States, and in one rural county in Arkansas. The term "Red Summer" was coined by civil rights activist and author James Weldon Johnson, who had been employed as a field secretary by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1916. In 1919, he organized peaceful protests against the racial violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East St. Louis massacre</span> 1917 massacre of Black Americans by white mob in East St. Louis, Illinois

The East St. Louis massacre was a series of violent attacks on African Americans by white Americans in East St. Louis, Illinois, between late May and early July of 1917. These attacks also displaced 6,000 African Americans and led to the destruction of approximately $400,000 worth of property. They occurred in East St. Louis, an industrial city on the east bank of the Mississippi River, directly opposite the city of St. Louis, Missouri. The July 1917 episode in particular was marked by white-led violence throughout the city. The multi-day rioting has been described as the "worst case of labor-related violence in 20th-century American history", and among the worst racial riots in U.S. history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1937 Memorial Day massacre</span> 1937 police shooting in Chicago, Illinois, US

In the Memorial Day massacre of 1937, the Chicago Police Department shot and killed ten unarmed demonstrators in Chicago, on May 30, 1937. The incident took place during the Little Steel strike in the United States.

The following is a timeline of labor history, organizing & conflicts, from the early 1600s to present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Railroad Strike of 1877</span> Widespread US rail-worker strike

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was the first strike that spread across multiple states in the U.S. The strike finally ended 52 days later, after it was put down by unofficial militias, the National Guard, and federal troops. Because of economic problems and pressure on wages by the railroads, workers in numerous other states, from New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, into Illinois and Missouri, also went out on strike. An estimated 100 people were killed in the unrest across the country. In Martinsburg, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and other cities, workers burned down and destroyed both physical facilities and the rolling stock of the railroads—engines and railroad cars. Some locals feared that workers were rising in revolution, similar to the Paris Commune of 1871, while others joined their efforts against the railroads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago race riot of 1919</span> August 1919 racial tensions in Chicago, Illinois, US

The Chicago race riot of 1919 was a violent racial conflict between white Americans and black Americans that began on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, on July 27 and ended on August 3, 1919. During the riot, 38 people died. Over the week, injuries attributed to the episodic confrontations stood at 537, two-thirds black and one-third white; and between 1,000 and 2,000 residents, most of them black, lost their homes. Due to its sustained violence and widespread economic impact, it is considered the worst of the scores of riots and civil disturbances across the United States during the "Red Summer" of 1919, so named because of its racial and labor violence. It was also one of the worst riots in the history of Illinois.

Riots often occur in reaction to a perceived grievance or out of dissent. Riots may be the outcome of a sporting event, although many riots have occurred due to poor working or living conditions, government oppression, conflicts between races or religions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 Democratic National Convention protests</span> Anti-Vietnam War protests and resulting police brutality in Chicago

The 1968 Democratic National Convention protests were a series of protests against the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War that took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The protests lasted approximately seven days, from August 23 to August 29, 1968, and drew an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 anti-war protesters in total.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-union violence</span> Physical force intended to harm union members

Anti-union violence is physical force intended to harm union officials, union organizers, union members, union sympathizers, or their families. It is most commonly used either during union organizing efforts, or during strikes. The aim most often is to prevent a union from forming, to destroy an existing union, or to reduce the effectiveness of a union or a particular strike action. If strikers prevent people or goods to enter or leave a workplace, violence may be used to allow people and goods to pass the picket line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Steel strike</span> 1937 labor strike throughout the American steel industry

The Little Steel strike was a 1937 labor strike by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and its branch the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), against a number of smaller steel producing companies, principally Republic Steel, Inland Steel, and Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company. The strike affected a total of thirty different mills belonging to the three companies, which employed 80,000 workers. The strike, which was one of the most violent labor disputes of the 1930s, ended without the strikers achieving their principal goal, recognition by the companies of the union as the bargaining agent for the workers.

Union violence in the United States is physical force intended to harm employers, managers, replacement workers, union abstainers, sympathizers of the prior groups, or their families. On various occasions violence has been committed by unions or union members during labor disputes in the United States. When union violence has occurred, it has frequently been in the context of industrial unrest. Violence has ranged from isolated acts by individuals to wider campaigns of organised violence aimed at furthering union goals within an industrial dispute.

References

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Further reading