A year after southern California's catastrophic Watts Riots in August 1965, LIFE magazine revisited the scene of the devastation through remarkable color pictures by photographer Bill Ray.

Four years later, post-riot mandates helped him get a job as a Safeway truck driver. “I was the token black for 23 1/2 years,” he said. Some of the employees didn’t want to work with a Negro.

It was here, on Aug. 11, 1965, that a California Highway Patrol officer pulled Frye over for drunk driving, sparking a heated argument that exploded into one of the worst race riots in American ...

Summer is to riots as autumn is to financial meltdowns. On this day in 1965, the Watts section of Los Angeles convulsed with one of most damaging riots in American history.

Tim Watkins, president of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, talks about the lingering effects of the 1965 unrest on the South-Central area of Los Angeles. Watkins' father founded the ...