When I prepared this document a couple of years ago, I found myself wondering if the Watts Riots are on anyone’s mind anymore. I’m old enough to remember them distinctly and I certainly remember the film Wattstax, which I badly wanted to see. At age 14, alas, I couldn’t surmount its R rating–so given, I assume, because of Richard Pryor’s hilarious “license-plate-pressing motherf*****r” routine.
Anyway, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Watts Riots. This is a half-page document with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension questions. The reading does mention the Rodney King beating, which is, I submit, an association worth making in an exercise like this.
If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.
Mark's Text Terminal 