The 1963 Cambridge Riot occurred in Cambridge, Maryland, due to the racial tensions between African Americans and white residents. The Civic Interest Group (CIG) in Baltimore led demonstrations to desegregate Maryland's Eastern Shore, and this sparked protests in Cambridge. The Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) was founded in 1962 to continue the protests, and demonstrations were rekindled in March 1963. The focus was on a local movie theater that forced blacks to sit in the back rows of the balcony. Leaders from CNAC and CIG met with city officials, but their demands went unheard, and a protest led by Gloria Richardson resulted in arrests for disorderly conduct. Two 15-year-old high school students, Dwight Cromwell and Dinez White, who had taken over leadership after Richardson's arrest, were arrested in May and held without bail. This led to the repudiation of non-violent tactics by some in the African American community who declared they would embrace armed self-defense.
On June 11 and 12, large marches were organized to protest the harsh sentencing of Cromwell and White, and protesters were met by white mobs. Witnesses say Maryland State Troopers were present but protected the mobs. On June 13, 1963, the CNAC organized another protest in downtown Cambridge, but this time, armed African American men circled the demonstrators to protect them. The following night, fights broke out between African Americans and whites, and violence escalated to exchanges of gunfire, leaving multiple people wounded. White businesses within the Second Ward, a predominantly African American area of town, were set on fire. Police attempted to respond but were driven back as protesters hurled rocks at their vehicles and fired weapons into the air.
Governor Milliard J. Tawes offered a plan of gradual desegregation in Cambridge, but the CNAC declined the offer, and martial law was declared, deploying the National Guard to Cambridge for 25 days. The violence continued throughout the summer of 1963, and Gov. Tawes sent the National Guard back for two years, the longest occupation of any American community since the Civil War. Activists responsible for protests during the occupation were sent to the Pikesville, Maryland Armory for "protective custody."
Resources: Cambridge, Maryland Riot (1963) • (blackpast.org)
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