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Hendrickson, Eric; Student Alias 2; Kotterman, Lindsay Collecting the Harlem Riots “It would have been better to have left the plate glass as it had been and the goods lying in the stores. It would have been better, but it would have also have been intolerable, for Harlem needed something to smash” This quote by James Baldwin pertains to his relevant thoughts on the Harlem Riots of 1943. A copy of Newsweek from August 9,1943 described the riot in great detail, “Within a half hour Harlem’s hoodlums were on the march. Windows of pawnshops and liquor and grocery stores were smashed and looted. The Negroes began wielding knives and the police their guns… Thousands of police reserves, many of them Negroes, were rushed to the district…All traffic was re routed around Harlem…It came down chiefly to a battle between the police and Negro looters.” Much of Baldwin’s writing came from this World War II time period full of racial tension. The Harlem Riots of 1943 were another piece in the Civil Rights movement of which Baldwin used events and experiences from in his own writings. On August 1, 1943, Harlem “Boiled over,” according to NAACP leader Walter White (NY Times, 17). The start of the event was attributed to one, “Private Robert Bandy, the 26-year-old Negro soldier…who is charged with attacking a white policeman who was arresting a Negro woman in a Harlem hotel” (New York Times, 17). Rumors soon spread that police officers had killed a black soldier who was trying to protect his mother. This caused a momentous outburst of rioting destroying much of Harlem. The statistics of the riot vary depending on the source, but around 500 persons were injured, five dead, 400-500 arrested, and property damage estimated at 500,000 to a million dollars. There were about 6,000 active police officers during the two days of riots (NY Times, 17). These police officers not only helped to quell the riot, but were also used to enforce a 10:30 P.M. curfew delivered by Mayor LaGuardia. The Mayor also halted vehicle traffic except for service vehicles until everything had calmed down about two days after the riots. Stores closed either due to damage or due to fear of repetition of damage, and they did not reopen until about two days after as well. The Mayor also enacted prohibition throughout Harlem during and immediately following the riots (NY Times 8). La Guardia also brought emergency food supplies to relieve burned out shops and houses, which gained him popularity among the black population. The amount of damage the riots entailed not only affected the people and city of Harlem, but the race relations all over the country. The Harlem Riots had a definitive start, but the build up to rioting varied among the sources used. According to an article in the NY Times on August 5, 1943, “The City Council who charged on Tuesday that Harlem had been starved of park and playground facilities…The City Council denied the charge that inadequate policing was responsible for the disorder.” This article stated that Harlem lacked the parks and recreation needs of its people and therefore caused the riot, along with the fact that police did not handle the situation correctly. Another article in the NY Times quoted Rev. Dr. Samuel Henry about the rioting in Harlem, “Heightened suggestibility due to mass living and the constant stimulation of crowd mentality by a tabloid press, and emotional microphone, stampede politics and gregarious religion…A tragic example of how human beings, like stampeding cattle, may sometime run as wild.” The reverend felt that the people acted like wild animals partially due to the media and what affect that can do to people, and disagreed that price ceilings, race prejudice, or poor housing had anything to do with the riot. A final article in the NY Time on August 7, 1943 stated, “High food costs have been regarded in some quarters as a contributory cause of the Harlem riot.” The article was about “Unusual economic pressures in Harlem” that caused these price hikes. Then the article went on to state that no new food markets weren’t needed because people all had food stores within walking distance. The same article stated that a group met to discuss the riot and some select speakers, “Attacked Congress for lack of funds for better housing and recreational facilities. They attacked the police for unnecessary use of force, the OPA for not having rolled back prices, abolished black markets and established rent control, and the armed forces for discriminating against Negroes.” Despite the many explanations behind what caused the riots, it is obvious that elevating racial tensions in the country had triggered the outbreak of these riots. The Harlem Riot exemplified a specific event of which Baldwin related the death and destruction to his own personal experiences. In “Notes of a Native Son” Baldwin wrote, “A few hours after my father’s funeral, while he lay in the state in the undertaker’s chapel, a race riot broke out in Harlem. On the morning of the 3rd of August, we drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed plate glass” (Baldwin 63). Baldwin connected the death and violence of the Harlem riots to the death of his father. Baldwin also wrote, “As we drove him to the graveyard, the spoils of injustice, anarchy, discontent, and hatred were all around us” (63). The world Baldwin’s father left him with seemed like an apocalypse. All the emotions and injustices that Baldwin used to describe the riot and the aftermath corresponded to his own feelings and emotions in dealing with his father’s death. Baldwin used the Harlem riot in order to relate his own personal experiences of him and his father during that time period. The Harlem Riot, a race riot, a civil rights act, was as much an act of rage and destruction as an act of normality. According to the book, Riots, U.S.A., “The antagonists in a race riot are usually aroused by a rumor or an incident that serves to release long-repressed hatreds and resentments; release is found in the comparative anonymity of a mob” (Heaps, 109). This was exactly what happened in accordance to the Harlem Riot. The people just needed a spark, an incident, like the soldier attacking a police officer, to expel their rage and hatred. The book also stated that some of the underlying causes behind race riots are, “Threats to the security of whites brought on by the Negroes gains in economic, political, and social status; Negro resentment of the attempts to ‘kick him back into his place” (Heaps 117). This statement explains that because African Americans increased their status in society as compared to whites they didn’t appreciate whites trying to put them back where whites thought they should be. The Harlem riot through this explanation can be considered a race riot, and some of the underlying psychological reasons why it occurred can be clearly seen. The Harlem Riot can be attributed to many different aspects depending on the source the information is coming from. Whether the cause of it was built up anger, hatred, and rage, the need for recreation places, food deprivation, race relations, or inadequate housing, the Harlem Riot is still part of history. It stirred up much controversy along with the many other riots and civil rights movements of the time. For the people living during these times, like James Baldwin, much inspiration, realization, and experience occurred. Baldwin was able to take these troubled times and incorporate them into his passion, writing. Works Cited Heaps, Willard A. Riots, U.S.A. New York: The Seabury Press, 1970. "Curfew In Harlem Relaxed to 11:30" : The New York Times. August 4, : 8. “Harlem Hoodlums” : Newsweek. August 9, 1943 "OPA Establishes Office in Harlem" New York Times. (1857-Current file) "Police Ease Curbs With Harlem Quiet" : The New York Times. August 5, 1943: 17. Proquest Historical Newspapers : The New York Times. Aug. 7, 1943: 13. ***Please note that not all of the required information is included because it was not supplied in the information. |