Cambridge riot of 1967

The Cambridge riot of 1967 was one of 159 race riots that swept cities in the United States during the "Long Hot Summer of 1967". This riot occurred on July 24, 1967 in Cambridge, Maryland, a county seat on the Eastern Shore. For years racial tension had been high in Cambridge, where black people had been limited to second-class status. Activists had conducted protests since 1961, and there was a riot in June 1963 after the governor imposed martial law. "The Treaty of Cambridge" was negotiated among federal, state, and local leaders in July 1963, initiating integration in the city prior to passage of federal civil rights laws.

After H. Rap Brown gave a speech on the evening of July 24, black residents began to confront police while trying to have a protest march. Brown was wounded and rushed out of Cambridge by supporters. About an hour later, unrest broke out in the black community. An elementary school was set on fire. Because the fire department did not respond for two hours, the fire spread and destroyed seventeen other buildings on Pine Street, the center of African-American life in the city. Governor Spiro Agnew sought to have Brown charged with inciting a riot. The FBI helped track down the activist, who was arrested within two days.^[1]