The 'long, hot summer of 1967'

Fifty years ago, a wave of violent riots exposed the dark reality of America's race problem

Policemen and protesters clash in Milwaukee in September 1967.
(Image credit: The Associated Press)
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(Image credit: Policemen in riot gear enforce a citywide ban on demonstration as the NAACP Youth Council attempts to march to their burned-out "Freedom House" in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.)

(Image credit: Michigan National Guardsmen stand at the ready as firemen battle one of numerous blazes in riot-torn Detroit.)

(Image credit: A man hurls a shoe at police in Detroit.)

(Image credit: A Michigan state officer searches a young man in Detroit.)

(Image credit: National Guardsmen escort a fire truck into the riot area of Cambridge, Maryland, as debris from a fire continues to smolder.)

(Image credit: A man is taken into custody in Detroit.)

(Image credit: A Youth Patrol, created to help restore order to the riot-torn sections of Tampa, meet with a city administrator.)

(Image credit: Captured men peer from under a garage door, guarded by an Amy trooper, in Detroit.)

(Image credit: Picketers calling for the removal of National Guard troops from Newark march near City Hall.)

(Image credit: With National Guardsman standing watch, women arrested during the rioting in Detroit board a bus for transfer to a nearby detention home.)

(Image credit: A man is forced to lie on the pavement as New Jersey state police stand guard in Newark.)

(Image credit: Women and children stroll past the remains of homes caught in the path of the rioters in Detroit.)

(Image credit: A Detroit shop owner tries to keep his storefront clean.)

(Image credit: Pallbearers carry the tiny casket of Tanya Blanding, 4, a victim of riots in Detroit. The girl was killed as a hail of police and National Guard bullets swept an apartment building where she)

(Image credit: A white woman stands in protest with a Confederate flag as a group of civil rights marchers pass through Hammond, Louisiana.)

(Image credit: A Youth Patrol, created to help restore order to the riot-torn sections of Tampa, meet with a city administrator.)

Kelly Gonsalves
Kelly Gonsalves

Kelly Gonsalves is a sex and culture writer exploring love, lust, identity, and feminism. Her work has appeared at Bustle, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and more, and she previously worked as an associate editor for The Week. She's obsessed with badass ladies doing badass things, wellness movements, and very bad rom-coms.

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