Causes

Watts is a neighborhood in Los Angeles county that during the 1960s housed a heavily impoverished predominantly black population. Between 1940 and 1965 Los Angeles County’s black population had grown from 75,000 to 650,000, much of these new residents moving into the Watts community. Many of these blacks came from the deep South and did not know how to read or write, the only skill they possessed was the ability to perform hard labor. Unfortunately there were little jobs of this type to go around as LA needed educated workers and not just laborers. Over two thirds of the population in Watts had less than a high school education, one in eight were illiterate, and the high school drop out rate was double the city average. To make things worse the schools in the Watts community were failing and were nowhere near the standard of other schools within the city.

Affordable and safe housing was also a staggering issue. Nine in ten homes were built before 1939 and one out of every five was deteriorating, many lived in homes that had already been condemned. Watts had the lowest income rate in Los Angeles county and over 60% of families received some form of government welfare for food or housing. The community faced serious trouble and became especially angered when the Rumford Fair Housing Act was repealed.This act protected minorities against housing discrimination making it illegal for a property owner to deny renting or selling based off of race. This law was so important in fact that even Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. came to LA to attempt to prevent its repeal, now not only did they have trouble affording a home but they also had to find one that would accept them. In the years leading up to the riot there would be over 250 demonstrations against the living conditions in Watts. To add insult to injury, the federally funded poverty programs were not being utilized in the neighborhood and instead were being used in less impoverished parts of the city.