This was also a larger issue in general, as we could only map using existing map data-recreating the street grid of 1968 would have taken a little more time than we had for this project. We came across several intersections that didn’t seem to exist anymore. We had to try and re-geocode those.Īnother quirk was that in 50 years, streets and addresses can change. Then we mapped and did an intersect query to find reports that did specify a quadrant but had coordinates that fell outside of that quadrant. We grouped the reports by quadrant, and discarded any that did not have a quadrant specified. Using Jupyter is great because you’re essentially building a data workflow that you can revisit at any time (like writing this piece.) We analyzed the reports using a Jupyter notebook and geopandas. To ensure that we were representing the data as accurately as possible, we had to discard these, since many possible addresses could overlap. Unfortunately the quadrant wasn’t specified in about 500 Secret Service reports. So without a quadrant, you don’t necessarily know where an address is. in DC for example-one each in NW, NE, SW and SE. is divided into four quadrants, and the same street address can exist in multiple quadrants. While the reports were geocoded, the first thing we needed to do was confirm that the geocoding was in fact accurate.ĭ.C. At first glance the data seemed pretty good-times and addresses were present in just about all reports, and they were even geocoded! Meanwhile, we also had some 3,000 Secret Service reports to go through. We tracked down that damage report at the DC Historical Society and found that the publication not only had maps with point locations of citywide damage, but it also had footprints of buildings that were damaged or destroyed in three neighborhoods that were at the center of the riots. This led us to track down the publication the image was from-a damage assessment performed by the National Capital Planning Commission shortly after the riots. While researching to see what assets were available, we came across an image on Flickr that appeared to point out damaged buildings across the city. However, we also wanted to give a sense of the actual damage in the wake of the riots. The idea for the story began with a set of declassified Secret Service logs, which detailed calls made during the riots.These were obtained and compiled by Daniel Kryder of Brandeis University, and showed in real-time how the chaos spread throughout the city. This was part of a larger newsroom-wide initiative, looking at 1968 as a transformative year in American history. Many of the mostly black areas that were destroyed took decades to recover.įor the 50th anniversary of the riots, The Washington Post mapped the extent of the rioting throughout the city, plotting data compiled from declassified Secret Service reports and archival city planning documents, and mixing in archival photo and video along with modern-day interviews of people who experienced those four days in 1968 firsthand. Four days later, 13 people were dead and more than 900 businesses were damaged. Martin Luther King Jr.s’ assassination on April 4, 1968, long-simmering racial tensions exploded throughout Washington, D.C.
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