Examines how urban race riots that took place in the Jim Crow era impacted the African-American community and influenced the development of the civil rights movement.

A history of violence -- Wilmington, 1898: a democracy overthrown -- Atlanta, 1906: politics in a powder keg -- Springfield, 1908: murder in the City of Lincoln -- East St. Louis, 1917: worker against worker -- Chicago, 1919: the invisible line of color -- Tulsa, 1921: blood on "Black Wall Street" -- Detroit, 1943: wrecking America's arsenal -- Civil rights and the long summer.