The Buffalo Riots, 1967

By 1900, Buffalo was the 8th largest city in the United States, and the Black American population of Buffalo had risen to 100,000, yet only two hundred units of new housing had been built. They were essentially stuffed into the small east side area.

The disturbances began on the West Side on the evening of Monday, June 26, when a police attempt to break up a fight, escalated into a confrontation between a crowd of hundred increasingly agitated onlookers and the police.

The next afternoon, riots rocked the East side of Buffalo. Groups of angry residents took to the streets. They stopped traffic, set fires, stoned cars, broke store windows, looted neighborhood establishments, assaulted local merchants, and pelted responding police officers.

In one night (June 28th) of violence over 40 people were hurt and 14 suffered gunshot wounds. Buffalo police made 21 arrests. For the rest of the week, arson, vandalism, looting, and violence erupted intermittently. Police made 300 additional arrests.

A meeting between the mayor and a group of more than 100 young East Side residents eventually helped soothe the public mood, and by late Friday calm prevailed.

But many merchants either refused to reopen their stores or soon after abandoned the neighborhood.

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