8 Facts You May Not Know About The Harlem Riot of 1943

Hell in Harlem During the 1940s and '50s, Black people across the U.S. were hopeful that their economic prospects would improve with the ending of World War II. However, many, including those living in Harlem, found that the end of the war effort failed to improve their financial and social fortune. The social inequality was particularly hard to bear for African-Americans in 1943, and was the root cause of the Detroit Riots that same year. They had hoped that their service during World War II would gain them respect from white Americans, however, they were continuously harassed because of their skin color. Many returning veterans faced Jim Crow laws and these inequalities, along with the economic hardships endured by Black communities, were instrumental in the inducement of rioting throughout America. The Harlem riot was incited by a rumor of police brutality against an African-American man, Robert Bandy, a World War II veteran, who inquired about the arrest of a Black woman, Margie Polite, for disorderly conduct at Hotel Braddock. Bandy sought to have Polite released, but it was incorrectly rumored that he had been killed in a confrontation with police. The ensuing riots flared from Aug. 1 to Aug. 2 at three different locations. Crowds initially gathered in front of hotel and expanded to two other locations- Sydenham Hospital, where it was believed Bandy was taken for treatment, and Manhattan's 28th Precinct stationhouse. The underlying cause of the riot stemmed from the poor conditions Black people were forced to live in. At the beginning of the 1940s, 485,000 African-Americans lived in New York City and approximately 300,000 of them resided in Harlem. Overcrowded living conditions and unequal employment opportunities plagued the residents, making Harlem a hotbed of racial tension. On Aug. 1, 1943, Langston Hughes penciled a poem called The Ballad of Margie Polite, which was published in the New York Amsterdam News to describe the racism that was the impetus of the riot: “If Margie Polite Had of been white She might not’ve cussed Out the cop that night… She started the riots! Harlemites say August 1st is MARGIE’S DAY.” Harlem was no stranger to race riots based on rumors. The Harlem Riot of 1935 was sparked by rumors that a white shop manager beat a teenage shoplifter. During that riot, three people died, hundreds were wounded and an estimated $2 million in damages were sustained to property throughout the district. It took 6,600 city, military, and civil police officers; 8,000 state guardsmen; and 1,500 civilian volunteers to finally halt the 1943 Harlem riot. By the end of it, six Black people were dead (five shot by police) and 185 were injured, according to the NYPD. The total damage was estimated at between $250,000–$5 million, which included 1,485 stores that were burglarized and 4,495 broken windows. In the aftermath of the 1943 riot, the federal Office of Price Administration opened an investigation into complaints of price gouging in Harlem. Previously, landlords would violate voluntary price restraints when lease renewals were due. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia increased pressure on the city agencies involved, which forced the landlords to comply with cost controls, a circumstance that may have prevented another riot. Culturally, the riot inspired Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, winner of the 1953 National Book Award, and artist William H. Johnson's representation of the "oppressed and debased community" in Moon Over Harlem.

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