After the Fire: NewsHour Coverage of Civil Unrest in America, 1991-2021

¹ Judy Woodruff, interview with Kate Mitchell, Alyssa Knapp, and Alan Gevinson (American Archive of Public Broadcasting), July 21, 2021.

² Haynes Johnson, Divided We Fall: Gambling with History in the Nineties (New York: W. W. Norton, 1994), 168; Houston A. Baker, “Scene… Not Heard,” in Robert Gooding-Williams, ed., Reading Rodney King/Reading Urban Uprising (New York: Routledge, 1993), 42.

³ For more analysis of the tape, see “Trying Questions,” https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-507-7940r9mv9z?start=2148.93&end=2996.77.

⁴ Associated Press, “Grocer Given Probation in Shooting of Girl,” New York Times, November 17, 1991, https://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/17/us/grocer-given-probation-in-shooting-of-girl.html; Erika D. Smith, “The Killing of Latasha Harlins Was 30 Years Ago. Not Enough Has Changed,” Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2021, https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-17/latasha-harlins-memorial-playground-black-lives-matter-south-los-angeles. Watch Anna Deavere Smith’s take on the shooting of Latasha Harlins in her play Twilight: Los Angeles here.

⁵ Associated Press, “Rodney King Riot: Timeline of Key Events,” AP News, April 26, 2017, https://apnews.com/article/fa4d04d8281443fc8db0e27d6be52081.

⁶ “Los Angeles Riots,” History.com, updated April 20, 2021, https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/the-los-angeles-riots.

⁷ James A. Henretta, et al., America's History, 3rd ed. (New York: Worth Publishers, 1997), 1035.

⁸ John Thornton Caldwell, Televisuality: Style, Crisis, and Authority in American Television (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1995), 303.

⁹ Caldwell, Televisuality, 309-11.

¹⁰ Charlayne Hunter-Gault, interview with Kate Mitchell, Alyssa Knapp, and Alan Gevinson (American Archive of Public Broadcasting), July 15, 2021.

¹¹ Alexis Okeowo, “Crown Heights, Twenty Years after the Riots,” New Yorker, August 19, 2011, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/crown-heights-twenty-years-after-the-riots.

¹² “WTO Protests in Seattle 20 Years Ago Helped Change Progressive Politics,” Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2019, https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-11-29/wto-protests-in-seattle-20-years-ago.

¹³ David Childs and Ryan Spence, “The Cincinnati Race Riots of 2001,” Oxford African American Studies Center, May 31, 2018, https://oxfordaasc.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.001.0001/acref-9780195301731-e-78142.

¹⁴ Jennifer Steinhauer and Julia Preston, “Action by Police at Rally Troubles Los Angeles Chief,” New York Times, May 4, 2007, https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/us/04immig.html.

¹⁵ Rebecca Greenfield, “How Did the Wisconsin Capitol Occupation Begin, Anyway?” The Atlantic, February 25, 2011, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/02/how-did-the-wisconsin-capitol-occupation-begin-anyway/71696/.

¹⁶ Ray Sanchez, “Occupy Wall Street: 5 Years Later,” CNN, September 16, 2016, https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/16/us/occupy-wall-street-protest-movements/index.html.

¹⁷ “Ferguson Unrest: From Shooting to Nationwide Protests,” BBC News, August 10, 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30193354.

¹⁸ Moni Basu, Holly Yan, and Dana Ford, “Fires, Chaos Erupt in Ferguson after Grand Jury Doesn't Indict in Michael Brown Case,” CNN, November 25, 2014, https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/24/justice/ferguson-grand-jury/.

¹⁹ Justin Wm. Moyer, Abby Ohlheiser, and Elahe Izadi, “Protests in Support of Eric Garner Erupt in New York and Elsewhere,” Washington Post, December 4, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/04/after-grand-jury-doesnt-indict-police-officer-who-choked-eric-garner-protests-erupt-in-new-york-and-elsewhere/.

²⁰ “Baltimore Riots: Troops Deployed as Cleanup Begins,” BBC News, April 28, 2015, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32499116.

²¹ Jasmine C. Lee, et al., “Scenes and Voices from the Protests in Charlotte,” New York Times, September 22, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/22/us/charlotte-police-shooting-protest.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=28ABE746F9CE7AE32A4F184CCECFA325&gwt=regi&assetType=REGIWALL.

²² Rebecca Hersher, “Key Moments in the Dakota Access Pipeline Fight,” NPR, February 22, 2017, https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/02/22/514988040/key-moments-in-the-dakota-access-pipeline-fight.

²³ Gregory Krieg, “Police Injured, More Than 200 Arrested at Trump Inauguration Protests in DC,” CNN, January 21, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/19/politics/trump-inauguration-protests-womens-march/index.html.

²⁴ Jason Hanna, et al., “Virginia Governor to White Nationalists: 'Go Home ... Shame on You',” CNN, August 13, 2017, https://www.cnn.com/2017/08/12/us/charlottesville-white-nationalists-rally/index.html.

²⁵ Alan Taylor, “A Weekend of Protest in St. Louis,” The Atlantic, September 18, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/09/a-weekend-of-protest-in-st-louis/540189/.

²⁶ Melina Delkic, “Did St. Louis Use Excessive Force against Protesters? The ACLU Is Suing,” Newsweek, September 22, 2017, https://www.newsweek.com/aclu-sues-st-louis-missouri-lawsuit-stockley-verdict-669762.

²⁷ Alex Altman, “Why the Killing of George Floyd Sparked an American Uprising,” Time, June 4, 2020, https://time.com/5847967/george-floyd-protests-trump/.

²⁸ Jill Cowan, “Making Sense of the Capitol Attack,” New York Times, January 13, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/us/capitol-attack-california.html?searchResultPosition=18; Bill Chappell, “Architect of the Capitol Outlines $30 Million in Damages from Pro-Trump Riot,” February 24, 2021, NPR, https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/02/24/970977612/architect-of-the-capitol-outlines-30-million-in-damages-from-pro-trump-riot.

²⁹ Luke Broadwater, “House Opens Jan. 6 Investigation over Republican Opposition,” New York Times, June 30, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/30/us/house-jan-6-capitol-riot.html.