Hough riots
The Hough riots were riots in the predominantly African-American community of Hough in Cleveland, Ohio, United States which took place from July 18 to 23, 1966. During the riots, four African Americans were killed and 50 people were injured. There were 275 arrests and numerous incidents of arson and firebombings. City officials at first blamed black nationalist and communist organizations for the riots, but historians generally dismiss these claims today, arguing that the cause of the Hough Riots were primarily poverty and racism. The riots caused rapid population loss and economic decline in the area, which lasted at least five decades after the riots.
Beginning of the riot
Hough in 1966
During the 1950s, middle-class whites largely left the neighborhood of Hough in Cleveland, Ohio, and working-class African Americans moved in. By 1966, more than 66,000 people, nearly 90 percent of them African American, lived in Hough. Most businesses in the area remained white-owned, however. Residents of the Hough neighborhood complained extensively of inferior and racially segregated public schools, poor delivery of welfare benefits, a lack of routine garbage collection, no street cleaning, and too few housing inspections. Recreational facilities in Hough were nonexistent except for minimal equipment at a few school playgrounds. Hough was a relatively small area, but the population density in the neighborhood was one of the highest in Cleveland. Housing was often substandard in Hough, with a fifth of all housing units considered dilapidated and absentee landlords were common. The deindustrialization of Cleveland hit the African American community hard, and unemployment was over 17 percent. Median income for black residents was just 65 percent the median income of whites. Although Hough contained just 7.3 percent of Cleveland's population, it had more than 19 percent of its welfare cases. Single mothers bore one-third of the children in Hough in 1966, and infant mortality was twice as high as the rest of the city. High unemployment and the rapid deterioration of the neighborhood created extensive racial tension in Hough. Although the city had engaged in some urban renewal housing projects in Hough, these had displaced more people than they housed and those displaced had received little to no help in finding new housing. Moreover, failed urban renewal to the east of Hough had displaced several thousand poor families, most of whom moved into Hough.A racially segregated Cleveland Division of Police also led to interracial tension in the city. Twenty percent of Cleveland's major crimes were committed in Hough, even though it had just 7 percent of the city's population. Only 165 of Cleveland's 2,100 police officers were African American, the city routinely declined to promote black patrolmen, and the police had a reputation for exhibiting "crude racism" and ignoring the needs of the black community. The police were perceived as unwilling to enforce the law and slow to respond in black communities, and police harassment of African Americans was the norm. Subsequently, African Americans in Cleveland tended to strongly distrust the police. There had also been several incidents of brutality committed by the police in Cleveland in the last few years, which worsened the tension between the police and the city's African American citizens.
In 1963 and 1964, the United Freedom Movement, a coalition of African American civil rights groups, led a nine-month protest campaign against poor-quality, racially segregated schools and racial discrimination against blacks by labor unions. Cleveland Mayor Ralph S. Locher, who was white, dismissed these concerns. This was not unusual: The political culture of Cleveland had long been dominated by the mayor, city council, big business, the larger newspapers, and a few powerful white ethnicities. The city had a long history of ignoring social ills, while favoring low taxes and small government. African American protests in the past had been small and died out swiftly, and progress was generally achieved through traditional behind-the-scenes deal-making. The school protests were Cleveland's first large, lengthy racial protests, and the failure to achieve significant progress taught the black community that negotiation and legal action produced only limited results. Although 10 of the city council's 22 members were African American, black council members were seen as too conservative and out of touch with the vast majority of Cleveland's African Americans.
Start of the riot
Throughout the first half of 1966, there had been a large number of incidents indicating unrest in the neighborhood. In April 1966, the United States Commission on Civil Rights held hearings in Cleveland, during which time it gathered extensive evidence about employment discrimination, police brutality, poor housing, ongoing school segregation, and racism in the community. Televised locally, "the hearings revealed that the city's racial powder keg was about to explode".The Seventy-Niner's Café was a Jewish-owned bar located on the southeast corner of E. 79th Street and Hough Avenue, and popular with African American residents of the community. Seventy-Niner's suffered from a number of problems, including drug dealing, the sale of stolen goods, and prostitution, and the owners had begun barring certain individuals from the establishment. Local sex workers Margaret Sullivan and her friend, Louise, were among those who had been banned. Sullivan died on July 16, leaving three young children. On July 17, Louise attempted to leave a box at the bar so patrons could donate money for the care of Sullivan's children. The owners refused to permit the collection. Louise returned about 5 PM on Monday, July 18. The owners argued with her, allegedly using defamatory and racist language, and she was thrown out. A short while later, another racially charged incident occurred, although the exact details are unclear. In one account, one of the bar owners denied water to an African American man who had entered the bar, and then posted a sign on the door which read "No Water for Niggers". In another account, an African American man purchased a bottle of liquor in the bar, and then requested a cup of ice. One of the owners denied his request, and then posted a sign on the door which read "No water for niggers". In a third account, an African American man entered the bar and asked for a glass of water. One of the owners denied his request and told a waitress that there was "no water for niggers". This co-owner then posted a sign on the door which read "No Ice Water". In an interview with The Plain Dealer newspaper, the Feigenbaums denied being present at the bar during the incident, and denied that one of their employees had denied a man water.
Allegedly, the Seventy-Niner's Café was robbed about an hour after the water incident. A crowd of angry African Americans, some bar patrons and some residents, gathered around the bar. The Feigenbaums said they received a report that their establishment had been robbed at about 8 PM, and arrived at the Seventy-Niner at 8:20 PM. They claimed that a crowd of about 300 people had already gathered outside the bar, and began throwing rocks at the windows once the owners had gone inside. Abe Feigenbaum then said he went outside with a.44 caliber Ruger Model 44 rifle in his hands, followed by his brother Dave armed with a pistol. The rock-throwing stopped, they said, but resumed when they went back inside. After four calls to the police for help went unanswered, the Feigenbaums called the fire department in desperation and fled the café. The crowd now attempted to burn down the bar, but the attempt failed. At 9:11 PM, the Cleveland Division of Fire arrived at the Seventy-Niner's Café. Worried fire officials notified the Cleveland police of the large crowd, and the police arrived at 9:30 PM.
The riots
July 18
About 8:30 PM, the crowd—which included youth, adults, and even senior citizens—began to move down Hough Avenue, looting stores and setting fires as it went. Firefighters responding to the Seventy-Niner's Café fire claimed they came under small arms fire. When the first contingent of 75 Cleveland Police finally arrived at 9:30 PM, the crowd began throwing rocks at them.Initially, about 200 rioters roamed over a 30-square block area centered on Hough Avenue. Police first came under fire shortly before 10 PM at the intersection of E. 75th and Hough Avenue, returning fire and lobbing tear gas grenades onto building roofs to clear out gunmen. The police responded by sending more than 300 additional officers into the area. They fanned out throughout the neighborhood, but came under attack as rioters threw bricks and bottles at them. The police responded by launching tear gas grenades into any crowds they encountered. When fired upon, the police used extremely aggressive tactics to find the snipers, especially on Hough Avenue—where they broke down doors and "rampaged" through apartments to try to find and arrest their attackers. Police set up a command post in a van at E. 73rd Street and Hough Avenue, but it took heavy fire from buildings located on E. 73rd and E. 75th Streets. The police were for a time unable to control the situation, and police Captain Richard Sherry called the scene "sheer bedlam". Rioters grabbed tear gas grenades and threw them back at the police, hurled Molotov cocktails, and destroyed police vehicles. At one point, police were briefly pinned down by sniper fire at Hough and E. 75th Street. Police sealed off eight blocks around Hough Avenue in an attempt to contain the violence, and a police helicopter was used to direct the police toward suspected gunmen on top of buildings and report incidents of looting. Police initially shot out streetlights, and later were forced to bring in searchlights to illuminate dark streets and alleys, searching for rioters and gunmen.
The Cleveland Division of Fire responded to the numerous small fires set by the rioters. Shots were fired at them, Molotov cocktails were tossed at them, and a mob of about 100 people seized control of a fire pumper, and the fire department withdrew its personnel from the area. Attacks on firefighters were so numerous, many considered resigning the next day. James Higginbotham, a lieutenant with the fire department, said "we're not hired to fight a guerrilla war and this is what this is".
The rioting largely died down after a heavy thunderstorm struck the area around midnight, and gunfire ended around 1 AM. Joyce Arnett, a 26-year-old African American mother of three, was shot in the head by an unidentified gunman when she leaned out a window. African American man Alton Burks was shot in the hip and African American man Wallace Kelly was shot in the jaw by unidentified gunmen as well. A White man and wife, the Nopwaskis, were hit by rocks while riding a public bus and also suffered minor injuries. Another five civilians were shot, and three were injured by rocks or bottles, while 12 policemen were injured. Ten buildings were destroyed by fire, and 53 African Americans—most of them teenagers—were arrested.