July '64

The history of the Civil Rights movement has long focused on the South, but plenty of agitation and violence occurred north of the Mason-Dixon line. The race riots that took place in Rochester, NY in July 1964 are the subject of Carvin Eison's extraordinary documentary July '64, which looks at the socioeconomic disparity at the bottom of the fiery unrest. Although the exact spark remains murky—involving either the arrest of a drunken man at a party or the rumor of a police dog biting a woman—it was enough to unleash the anger of Rochester's African-American community, who for too long had been denied access to high-paying jobs and decent housing. The riots grew quickly over the course of a weekend—with looting and arson reigning in the streets—overwhelming local police, until National Guard troops were ordered into the city (a first for a Northern metropolis) and more than 1,000 African-Americans were arrested. The film incorporates rare news footage from 1964 together with contemporary interviews with those present at the demonstrations. Sadly, time has barely healed the wounds in Rochester: the struggle for racial equality coincided with the city's decline as a manufacturing center, so the jobs that qualified African-Americans might have enjoyed simply vanished. A moving and often harrowing look at a lesser-known event in American history, July '64 is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)