<P> Atlanta elected a black mayor, Andrew Young, as did Jackson, Mississippi, with Harvey Johnson Jr., and New Orleans, with Ernest Morial . Black politicians on the national level included Barbara Jordan, elected as a Representative from Texas in Congress, and President Jimmy Carter appointed Andrew Young as United States Ambassador to the United Nations . Julian Bond was elected to the Georgia State Legislature in 1965, although political reaction to his public Opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War prevented him from taking his seat until 1967 . John Lewis represents Georgia's 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, where he has served since 1987 . </P> <P> The new Voting Rights Act of 1965 had no immediate effect on living conditions for poor blacks . A few days after the act became law, a riot broke out in the South Central Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts . Like Harlem, Watts was an impoverished neighborhood with very high unemployment . Its residents confronted a largely white police department that had a history of abuse against blacks . </P> <P> While arresting a young man for drunk driving, police officers argued with the suspect's mother before onlookers . The spark triggered a massive destruction of property through six days of rioting . Thirty - four people were killed and property valued at about $30 million was destroyed, making the Watts Riots among the most expensive in American history . </P> <P> With black militancy on the rise, ghetto residents directed acts of anger at the police . Black residents growing tired of police brutality continued to riot . Some young people joined groups such as the Black Panthers, whose popularity was based in part on their reputation for confronting police officers . Riots among blacks occurred in 1966 and 1967 in cities such as Atlanta, San Francisco, Oakland, Baltimore, Seattle, Tacoma, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Newark, Chicago, New York City (specifically in Brooklyn, Harlem and the Bronx), and worst of all in Detroit . </P>

The civil rights movement in 1960s led to social change in the united states