Harlem riot
March 19, 1935
Harlem, New York City, NY
On this day in 1935, a Black Puerto Rican teen is caught stealing a 10¢ pen knife by an employee of the S.H. Kress Five-and-Dime, in Harlem, NYC. Attempting to escape, the boy bites the man’s hand. The police and an ambulance are called and the boy is let go, but a gathering crowd begins spreading rumors that he had been beaten to death. By nightfall, the surrounding blocks are engulfed in a riot targeting white businesses. It takes the police until early morning to find the boy, take a photo with him, and distribute copies, but not before three black people are killed, 125 people injured, and 125 arrested. The mayor commissions a report that identifies discrimination, segregation, and aggressive policing as conditions that led to the riot. He shelves it.
Sixteen-year-old Lino Rivera stands alongside Police Lieutenant Samuel J. Battle, the NYPD’s first Black officer, as they speak with reporters in the aftermath of the Harlem race riot.