Major 20th Century American Riots Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What is the only American city that had to bring in the US Army, not once, but twice in the 20th century to quell a major riot ? (The years were 1943 and 1967).

Answer: Detroit

In 1943, the US Army was called in and put an immediate stop to the racial rioting. Detroit at the time was the "Arsenal of Democracy" and the riot brought war material production to a halt. In 1967, once again the army was called in as the level of violence had reached a point where martial law was seriously considered. Of all the urban riots that occurred in the 60's, the 1967 Detroit riot was unique in that it was not a true race riot; blacks and whites rioted side by side.

It was also 'number one' for the level of sniper incidents.

At times, entire sections of the city were pinned down by snipers, and at one point, 400 National Guardsman were pinned down at Henry Ford Hospital. It has been estimated that over one million bullets were fired over the course of the riot by all sides.

Incidentally, the US Army was never called in any other 20th century riot.

2. Which 20th century riot saw the highest death toll?

Answer: Tulsa 1921

Though the exact death toll is unknown, the estimates for the Tulsa riot of 1921 range from 300 to 3,000, and the actual number is probably in the middle somewhere. For most riots, there is an "official count" of deaths, but in many instances, the number killed is believed to be higher than the "official count".

3. Los Angeles is well known for the Watts Riots of 1965 and the Rodney King riot of 1992. What much lesser known riot occurred in LA in 1943 ?

Answer: Zoot Suit Riots

The Zoot Suit Riots was caused by extreme friction between primarily Caucasian sailors and Mexicans moving into LA looking for work. It was called the Zoot Suit Riots because the suits were popular with the Mexicans. This is one riot where officially no one died, but many were severely beaten and many Zoot Suits destroyed, and the city of Los Angeles was paralyzed for several days.

4. Which riot caused a US Mayor to utter the famous quote, "Well, even rioters have to eat sometime"?

Answer: Detroit 1967

Up to the end of the second day of the Detroit 1967 riot, the violence had been non-stop. President Johnson sent Cyrus Vance to assess the situation and to see if the US Army should be brought in. He arrived around 5PM on the second day and took a helicopter tour of the city with mayor Jerome Cavanagh and right at that instant a sudden calm descended on the city, with no major rioting occuring except for a few fires. Vance thought the riot over, but Cavanagh disagreed and made his famous remark. Cavanagh was proved right. Several hours later the city exploded into an orgy of violence and Vance recommended to LBJ that the US Army be brought in. Later that night at midnight, LBJ went on national live TV announcing he was sending in the US Army.

His famous quote that night was "Law enforcement is normally a local matter, but the fact is that law and order have broken down in Detroit, Michigan" - and indeed it had.

5. Whose assassination caused the most urban riots?

Answer: Martin Luther King

The assassination of Martin Luther King caused racial rioting in over 100 cities. Most were not serious, but the most violent were in Chicago, Detroit and Boston.

6. What riot had its genesis outside a bar called the "79ers Bar"?

Answer: Cleveland Hough 1966 Riot

The white owners of this bar put up several inflammatory racist signs on the outside of their bar, causing a riot to start that lasted six days. While the loss of life was not high at four, the property damage was immense and the area suffered for many years.

7. What city had a major riot on its hands when it hosted the Democratic National Convention?

Answer: Chicago 1968

While the delegates where nominating Hubert Humphrey the 1968 Democratic nominee for the the presidency, chaos reigned outside as the Chicago police roughed up many young demonstrators. This did not go unoticed inside as Senator Abraham Ribicoff denounced Mayor Daley's "gestapo tatics" outside.

The riot was later called "a police riot" by many. In other words, it was said that the real rioters were the police.

8. Which riot was escalated tremendously by the Police Chief William Parker publically labeling people involved in the rioting as "monkeys in the zoo"?

Answer: Watts (LA) 1965

Obviously the comment was not well received by many and resulted in a bad riot becoming worse before ending.

9. Which riot started at the Belle Isle Bridge ?

Answer: Detroit 1943

The Detroit riot of 1943 started with a meele between blacks and whites at the Belle Isle Bridge. False rumors spread about blacks killing a white baby and vice versa. This only caused the riot to reach a level of violence seldom seen. Whereas the Detroit 1967 was not a true race riot, the 1943 riot was, and the death count was about the same in both.

10. What event is the most common "trigger event" in urban riots?

Answer: all of these

All these "trigger events" seem to occur in most urban riots, either singly or in some combination, especially the hot humid weather. Not many, if any at all, have occurred in the winter.

Source: Author sirfrank

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

American history has no lack of violence. The 20th century had its share of urban riots. In this quiz, I will stick to the 20th century, but if it is well received, I'll do others.

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