DC marks 50 years since riots that followed MLK assassination

WASHINGTON - The wave of riots that struck cities across the nation following the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not spare Washington, D.C.

The destruction lasted several days but it took decades for some parts of the District to recover from the damage caused.

In the midst of the chaos, that saw businesses shuttered by curfew and destroyed by fire, stood Ben's Chili Bowl. Allowed to stay open during the riots to accommodate both protesters and police, Ben's Chili Bowl withstood the destruction and became one of the only businesses to survive.

The new book, Most Of 14th Street Is Gone, was published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the upheaval. It takes a look at what led up to the riots and explores their legacy.

"There are lessons to be learned from what happened in 1968 that we still need to learn," said the book's author, J. Samuel Walker. The spark that ignited the riots was King's assassination, he said, but issues like poverty, joblessness and poor housing led up to the destruction.