Long Time Coming: Miami\u27s Liberty City Riot of 1968

In 1898, Josiah Strong predicted that “the problem of the twentieth century will be the city.” Five years later, W. E. B. Du Bois declared that “the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.“1 The turbulent 1960s proved both men prophetic: from Newark to Los Angeles, the nation’s black communities erupted in violence and destruction. For much of the decade, Dade County, Florida escaped this pattern of violence. But in August 1968, as the Republican national convention took place in Miami Beach, the Miami ghetto community of Liberty City erupted into several days of rioting