What's Behind Race Riots? Civil Rights . . . Or Anarchy? Here Are the Facts.
- Title:
- What's Behind Race Riots? Civil Rights . . . Or Anarchy? Here Are the Facts.
- Alternate Title:
- What's Behind Race Riots?
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- The Independent American
- Date:
- 1967
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2535.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2535_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1960 - Present
- Subject:
- Communism & Cold War
Politics & Government
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 4.5 x 7.5 on page 9 x 22 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This map uses black inkblots to designate the locations of race riots in America. While these riots were certainly important and troubling events, the choice of the inkblot image, and particularly the relative size of the images compared to the size of the map, serve to heighten the apparent threat to the country.
In the mid-1960s, there were a number of incidents of violent civil unrest in cities across the United States involving clashes between whites and blacks - "race riots." In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson appointed a blue-ribbon "National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders" to investigate the causes of urban riots and recommend government action. The Commission conducted an extensive investigation and issued its report in 1968, warning that "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white - separate and unequal."
Although there had been allegations that the riots were the result of concerted action by "outside agitators," the Commission "found no evidence that all or any of the disorders or the incidents that led to them were planned or directed by any organization or group, international, national, or local." Report 5. Instead, the Commission focused on a complex of issues involving Negro frustration over poor housing, lack of economic opportunity, failed government programs, and systemic discrimination, particularly in law enforcement. It found that "the most fundamental" matter at issue was "the racial attitude and behavior of white Americans toward black Americans. . . . White racism is essentially responsible for the explosive mixture which has been accumulating in our cities since the end of World War II." Ibid.
This map is the cover of a one-page folded pamphlet purporting to show "What's Behind Race Riots?" It was published by "The Independent American," a conservative anti-Communist press based in New Orleans. Under the heading "Proof of Red Direction of Riots," the pamphlet quotes a report from a Cleveland Grand Jury investigation of the riots in that city in 1966. The Grand Jury found that riots were "organized, precipitated and exploited by a relatively small group of trained and disciplined professionals at this business . . . aided and abetted, wittingly or otherwise, by misguided people of all ages and colors, many of whom are avowed believers in violence and extremism, and some of whom also are either members of or officers in the Communist Party." Read carefully, the allegation is that the "professionals" who "organized, precipitated and exploited" the riots were "aided and abetted" - perhaps unwittingly - by advocates of violence, "some of whom" are affiliated with the Communist Party. Although the pamphlet alleges that there were race riots in some 39 cities in 1966 and 1967, no other evidence of Communist involvement is provided.
This map is quite similar in concept to a Chinese map documenting the riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King, "Unprecedented Wave of Afro-American Struggle Against Violence" (1968), ID #2182. That map includes an explanation by Mao Zedung commending the rioters for their "revolutionary" acts in the struggle against American capitalism and imperialism.
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- The Independent American. What's Behind Race Riots? New Orleans: The Independent American 1967.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.