One summer nearly 60 years ago, racial tensions in Harrisburg erupted in violence.
One day in June 1969, about 200 people protested outside the Goodyear Pharmacy at 13th and Market streets. The demonstration was organized by a Black woman who had been denied service at the pharmacy and was then charged with disorderly conduct.
Police arrived at the protest with shotguns and riot helmets. Things fell apart. For a week, fires, vandalism, disorder and more than 100 arrests scourged Allison Hill and uptown. A white police officer, Raymond Kertulis, killed Charles Scott, a Black 18-year-old John Harris High School student. A coroner’s jury later cleared Kertulis…