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.
