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Newark protesters and National Guard

A Warning Ignored

America did exactly what the Kerner Commission on the urban riots of the mid-1960s advised against, and fifty years later reaped the consequences it predicted.
by Jelani Cobb via New York Review of Books on July 29, 2021
photo of Otto Kerner with quote: "freedom for every citizen to live and work according to his capacities and not his color"

We Were Warned About a Divided America 50 Years Ago. We Ignored the Signs

As in the 1960s, the nation today stands at a turning point.
by Elizabeth Hinton via Washington Post on March 16, 2021
Black and white photo of black child with his hands up, with police wielding weapons behind him
partner

The 1968 Kerner Commission Report Still Echoes Across America

Anger over policing and inequality boiled over more than 50 years ago, and a landmark report warned that it could happen again.
by Clyde Haberman via Retro Report on June 23, 2020

The History of the “Riot” Report

How government commissions became alibis for inaction.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on June 15, 2020

The Missed Opportunity of the Kerner Report

A new history recovers the forgotten legacy and radical implications of the Kerner Commission.
by William P. Jones via The Nation on April 5, 2018

The Kerner Omission

How a landmark report on the 1960s race riots fell short on police reform.
by Nicole Lewis via The Marshall Project on March 1, 2018
Cover of Newsweek with African American fist and hand reaching up, with the title "The Negro in America: What Must Be Done."

The 1968 Kerner Commission Got It Right, But Nobody Listened

Released 50 years ago, the report concluded that poverty and institutional racism were driving inner-city violence.
by Alice George via Smithsonian on March 1, 2018
Aerial view of burning buildings in Detroit riots, 1967.
partner

How the Kerner Commission Unmade American Liberalism

Instead of revitalizing the Democratic coalition, the commission's report exposed the fractures in American society.
by Steven M. Gillon via Made By History on March 1, 2018
President Lyndon B. Johnson with members of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, including Otto Kerner.

The 1968 Kerner Report was a Watershed Document on Race in America—and it Did Very Little

After the urban unrest of the Long Hot Summer, a commission was formed.
by Jamil Smith via Timeline on August 18, 2017
Policemen with nightsticks dragging Black man down the street.
partner

The Reason in the Riot

Senator Fred Harris describes his experience on the Kerner Commission, tasked with explaining the causes of urban riots in 1967.
via BackStory on August 18, 2016

From "War on Crime" to War on the Black Community

The enduring impact of President Johnson’s Crime Commission.
by Elizabeth Hinton via Boston Review on June 21, 2016
Policemen with nightsticks dragging Black man down the street.

What the Kerner Report Got Wrong about Policing

The Kerner report neglected that police were not simply careless with black lives; they deliberately sought to punish black lives.
by Daniel Geary via Boston Review on May 19, 2016
Demonstrators at a Black Lives Matter rally.

Fifty Years Ago, the Government Said Black Lives Matter

The conclusions of the 1968 Kerner Report portrayed race relations like no other report in history.
by Julian E. Zelizer via Boston Review on May 5, 2016
Man interviewing a group of people on the street.
partner

James Baldwin Comments on the Kerner Commission

The Kerner Commission was credited with exposing systemic racism that inspired resistance in Black communities. James Baldwin argued that it stated the obvious.
by Public Broadcast Laboratory via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on March 3, 1968
Militarized National Guard confronts peaceful protesters in Los Angeles, 2025.

What History Tells Us to Expect From Trump’s Escalation in Los Angeles Protests

Since the 1960s, studies have shown that heavy-handed policing and militarized responses tend to make protests more volatile — not less.
by Jamiles Lartey via The Marshall Project on June 9, 2025
Line drawings of related is school desegregation activism.

How Brown Came North and Failed

Half a century ago the civil rights movement’s effort to carry the campaign for school desegregation from the South to the urban North ended in failure.
by Linda Greenhouse via New York Review of Books on May 8, 2025
Black and white photo of Civil Rights protests with crowds picketing.

The Ambitions of the Civil Rights Movement Went Far Beyond Affirmative Action

We should find inspiration in their goals today.
by Jerome B. Karabel via TIME on June 29, 2023
Stack of papers with an image of the Capitol building printed on the side.

What the January 6th Report Is Missing

The investigative committee singles out Trump for his role in the attack. As prosecution, the report is thorough. But as historical explanation it’s a mess.
by Jill Lepore via The New Yorker on January 9, 2023
Roi Ottley and other African American panelists on radio quiz program.

How African Americans Entered Mainstream Radio

For nearly 50 years, commercial radio companies only employed white broadcasters to target information and entertainment to mainstream America.
by Bala James Baptiste via Black Perspectives on December 6, 2022
Book covers of America on Fire and In Defense of Looting

The Ballot or the Brick

Two books trace anti-police uprisings to the urban riots of the Civil Rights era. But as people took to the streets in 2020, why did so few pick up a brick?
by David Helps via MR Online on August 10, 2021
African American man leaning on his car, by a wall spray painted with the words "let's remember McDuffie"

The Long, Painful History of Racial Unrest

A lethal incident of police brutality in Miami in 1979 offers just one of countless examples of the reality generations of African Americans have faced.
by Ashley Howard via Smithsonian on August 28, 2020
A young boy peers out from a hole in a fence as his friends play basketball in a court where police officers are gathering for a patrol.

How White-Collar Criminals Plundered a Brooklyn Neighborhood

How East New York was ransacked by the real estate industry and abandoned by the city in the process.
by Kristen Martin via The Nation on March 20, 2025
Brown Berets protesting white supremacy in San Diego in 2017.

The CIA Illegally Spied on Puerto Rican and Mexican American Activists for Decades

And is probably still at it. As newly released classified documents confirm activists’ long-held suspicions, the disclosures should also alert us to current dangers.
by Roberto Lovato via The Nation on January 16, 2025
George Floyd protest

Reflections of the 60th Anniversary of Urban Uprisings in America

The media narrative used to discredit urban rebellions as violent betrayals of the civil rights movement has been attached to protests ever since.
by Heather Ann Thompson via Black Perspectives on October 17, 2024
Large public pool

Why America Stopped Building Public Pools

“If the public pool isn’t available and open, you don’t swim.”
by Nathaniel Meyersohn via CNN on July 22, 2023
A collage shows a white hand segregating Black Americans.

No Breakthrough in Sight

More than fifty years after the Fair Housing Act, inequality and segregation persists. What went wrong?
by Kaila Philo via The Baffler on May 9, 2023
Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol hears from citizens at a board meeting in November. The attendees were demanding more affordable housing in Arlington, Va.
partner

The Battle of the Suburbs is Back. Will It End Differently?

The lessons of the past for suburban affordable housing advocates.
by Lily Geismer via Made By History on April 25, 2023
An NYPD police car on the parade route on 59th Street during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York in 2016.
partner

Police Cars Are a Form of PR — and the Message Is Always the Same

Police champions have long wielded new technology as a tool to project authority and legitimacy, while deflecting criticism.
by Jeffrey Lamson via Made By History on March 20, 2023

How Lloyd Morrisett Built Sesame Street, From the Foundation Up

Sesame Street's most famous origin story centers on a 1966 dinner party. But the program was actually the culmination of a career that began much earlier.
by Kathryn Ostrofsky via HistPhil on February 15, 2023
Image of army soldiers and weapons facing crowd of protestors holding signs

A Theater of State Panic

Beginning in 1967, the Army built fake towns to train police and military officers in counterinsurgency.
by Bench Ansfield via New York Review of Books on September 16, 2022
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