Watts riots

Cultural  

1. A group of violent disturbances in Watts, a largely black section of Los Angeles, in 1965. Over thirty people died in the Watts riots, which were the first of several serious clashes between black people and police in the late 1960s.

---

Discover More

Los Angeles was the scene of another riot in 1992, triggered by the acquittal of white police officers accused of beating an African-American man named Rodney King.

Example Sentences

During the Watts riots in 1965, he had the band play in the middle of the road on a flatbed truck.

From New York Times • Jun. 15, 2023

Still, decades after the deadly 1965 Watts riots spurred construction of the original hospital — which was supposed to bring high-quality health care to poor neighborhoods in South Los Angeles — many disparities persist.

From Salon • Nov. 9, 2022

“The mouth that Hurd has painted is firm, even capable of meanness,” and the Vietnam War and Watts riots are reflected “in the furrows of the brow and eyes.”

From Washington Post • Sep. 7, 2022

Otis had helped to save, for L.A.’s Black and Brown drag-racers, the dragstrip that Big Willie had helped to put together after the Watts riots and keep it together after the Rodney King one.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 21, 2022

He was a sheriff in L.A.; he quit after the Watts riots.

From Joe Burke's Last Stand by Wetterau, John Moncure