
Blurring the Color Line | The 1970 Augusta Riot
Clip: Season 11 Episode 4 | 1mVideo has Closed Captions
The death of a Black teenager led to the largest uprising of Black Americans in the South.
In 1970, the Georgia city of Augusta erupted into a riot that became the largest uprising of Black Americans in the South. Sixteen-year-old Black teenager, Charles Oatman, was arrested and then died in a county jail; his brutal death turned a protest into a riot that led to the killings of six Black men by white police officers...this piece of American history has been largely forgotten.
Major funding for America ReFramed provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding provided by Open Society Foundations,...

Blurring the Color Line | The 1970 Augusta Riot
Clip: Season 11 Episode 4 | 1mVideo has Closed Captions
In 1970, the Georgia city of Augusta erupted into a riot that became the largest uprising of Black Americans in the South. Sixteen-year-old Black teenager, Charles Oatman, was arrested and then died in a county jail; his brutal death turned a protest into a riot that led to the killings of six Black men by white police officers...this piece of American history has been largely forgotten.
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Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- One of the most integral parts of Augusta's modern history, the Augusta Riot, which was the largest urban riot in Georgia during the civil rights movement.
It sort of re-accelerated the civil rights movement, which had gone from a more non-violent approach in the early '60s to a more militant or a more aggressive approach in the late '60s, early '70s.
(glass shattering) - It triggered because they killed the individual in jail, a young boy, and that's what triggered the riot.
- Charles Oatman was a teenage boy with mental disability who ended up in jail for accidentally killing his niece.
He was beaten to death while in prison, and his body was found with cigarette burns all over, burns that would be felt by the entire African American community of Augusta.
Blurring the Color Line | A Black and Chinese Neighborhood
Video has Closed Captions
In Augusta, Georgia's Black neighborhood, Chinese grocery stores once lined the streets. (1m)
Blurring the Color Line | Acceptance?
Video has Closed Captions
Members of the First Baptist Church of Augusta talk about shared but separate histories. (1m 14s)
Blurring the Color Line | A Community Together
Video has Closed Captions
Residents relive the aftermath of the three days of the 1970 Augusta Riot. (1m 7s)
Blurring the Color Line | James Brown
Video has Closed Captions
Deanna Brown talks with filmmaker Crystal Kwok about her father, James Brown. (53s)
Blurring the Color Line | Jim Crow Laws
Video has Closed Captions
Why were Augusta's Chinese afforded certain privileges that Black residents did not have? (16s)
Blurring the Color Line | Mixed Race: Being Black & Chinese
Video has Closed Captions
A mother and daughter share memories of growing up mixed race within their Chinese family. (2m 56s)
Blurring the Color Line | Preview
Video has Closed Captions
How do Chinese grocers in the Jim Crow South complicate America’s binary paradigm of race? (30s)
Blurring the Color Line | Trailer
Video has Closed Captions
How do Chinese grocers in the Jim Crow South complicate America’s binary paradigm of race? (1m 12s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipMajor funding for America ReFramed provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding provided by Open Society Foundations,...