Historians have confirmed that following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968 angry teenagers on the city’s West Side began breaking out windows of white-owned stores.
Those outbursts were immediately followed by area residents of all ages taking advantage of the open, unprotected stores and hauled away merchandise ranging from clothes to appliances to pets. Pictured are residents pillaging stores along Madison Street near Pulaski.
The rioting lasted four days and Illinois and federal National Guard troops were called in, as fires raged throughout North Lawndale. At one point more than half of Chicago’s firefighting equipment was being used in that area.
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