Thirty-eight years ago this week, the lights went out in New York City. Chaos ensued. But the nature of the disruption was far from simple. PBS's American Experience chronicles and deconstructs that intense 1977 experience. “Blackout,” however, is no expose. It's a cautionary tale about simmering class divisions that explode from an unanticipated spark. WGBH News Senior Reporter Phillip Martin explains why a blackout in New York, or an earthquake in L.A. or an act of terror in Boston, often breaks stereotypes and makes history on its own terms.
It was a stifling, scorching, sweltering night, and predictions of rain, however brief, were welcome.
Air conditioners worked overtime and fans rotated stale hot air. Around 4 p.m. lighting struck a Consolidated Edison substation in Westchester County, and for the next 25 hours, more than 7 million people were without power, 800,000 were stuck underground in subways and thousands more stranded in elevators.
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