Cambridge riot of 1967

The Cambridge riot of 1967 was an urban riot which took place in Cambridge, Maryland on July 24, 1967. Cambridge, a segregated and economically depressed town, had been the site of high racial tensions since the arrival of Freedom Riders in 1961. Although black activists, lead by Gloria Richardson, and the white city officials reached a Justice Department-brokered deal to end official segregation in Cambridge in 1963, the town quickly walked back on many of its commitments, and black residents remained segregated in the town's Second Ward.

Gloria Richardson would leave for New York in 1964, where she met H. Rap Brown. At Richardson's encouragement, Brown visited Cambridge in 1967 and gave a rousing speech on the evening of July 24. Riots began after Brown was wounded by police shotgun fire while leaving the speech. A black elementary school was set on fire, and the refusal of Cambridge's white fire company to respond lead to the blaze destroying two blocks in the Second Ward. At least two people were wounded in the unrest. Local officials and law enforcement blamed Brown's speech for the unrest, and he was arrested. Governor Spiro Agnew, previously known as a moderate on race, emerged as a fierce opponent of black radicalism following the riot.

While author Peter Levy disputes the characterization of the events as a "riot", it was classified as such by the Kerner Commission and most contemporary observers.