Local News

Lessons From July 64

It was 50 years ago that Rochester was rocked by three-days of rioting that erupted in two predominantly African American neighborhoods. A number of factors contributed to the violence, including a lack of job opportunities for African Americans, overcrowding and allegations of police brutality.This series not only looks back at the issues that led to the rioting 50 years ago, but looks forward at issues still impacting that same community and whether we could ever see something like that happen again.

Marking The 50th Anniversary Of The July '64 Riots

WXXI News | By Randy Gorbman

Published July 19, 2014 at 12:18 PM EDT

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the three-day race riots that erupted in two African-American neighborhoods in downtown Rochester.

What later came to be known as the Rochester Riots touched off 1964's “long, hot summer” of riots in small and mid-sized northern cities. WXXI and the Little Theatre pay tribute to this historically turbulent time with special programming.

It all kicks off Sunday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m. when The Little hosts a free screening of July ’64, a film that recounts these Civil Rights Era riots and questions why so many American cities remain powder kegs of racial discontent today. The film will be followed by a discussion with July ‘64’s director Carvin Eison and producer Chris Christopher. Prior to the screening, Eison and Christopher will be guests on Connections with Evan Dawson Thursday, July 17 at 12 p.m. on WXXI-AM 1370 to talk about the film and the sequel Eison is currently working on.

July '64 uses a combination of historic archive footage, contemporaneous news reports and newly collected interviews to dig deep into the causes and effects of the disturbance. The documentary also airs on WXXI-TV Monday, July 21 at 9 p.m. and again Sunday, July 27 at 11 p.m. It airs on City 12 on Thursday, July 24 at 10 p.m. To read more about the film, click here.

WXXI News will present a five-part series, Lessons from July ’64, scheduled to run on July 21-25 on WXXI-AM 1370. Revisiting some of the events surrounding the riots, the series will focus on the conditions that led to that rebellion, including housing, police-community relations, and job opportunities, and will look at whether those conditions still exist today and what is being done to address them. Listen to those features at 6:35 a.m., 8:35 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.

On Thursday, July 24 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV Need to Knowhost Hélène Biandudi Hofer is joined by WXXI’s News Team for a Reporters’ Roundtable, where they will share their findings from their Lessons from July ’64 radio features. Hélène will also speak with Rochester native Bruce Jacobs, author of Race Manners for the 21^st Century, about the Rochester Riots and she’ll present a look forward on where the community is headed. WXXI-AM 1370 and WDKX-FM 103.9 will partner that week to discuss the Rochester Riots and invite listeners to reflect and share the challenges they believe we still need to overcome.