- In the 1940s a lot of black people (or African Americans) moved to California and other West Coast states. They went there to escape racism and unfair laws.
- They found a better life in California, but unfortunately there was still racism. First many African Americans were segregated (they were forced to live in separate places from white people). When that became illegal, the city governments found other ways to separate them.
- There was also racism in the police force. Black people were arrested more quickly and the police would use violence against them.
- In 1965 in Watts, California, a man was pulled over for drunk driving. Instead of giving him a ticket, they arrested him. A friend told his mother. When the mother came to yell at her son, the police beat him and threatened them with shotguns. More and more people came out onto the street to watch the arrest. They were angry at the way the police acted. Soon a riot started.
- The Watts Riots lasted six days. Afterwards the Watts Writers Workshop began as a way for people to deal with the pain they had experienced.
- They started writing a new kind of poetry, which included rhythm and sometimes music. They wrote about life in segregated neighborhoods, violence, racism and other things from their every day experience.