Background:
In the summer of 1943, racial tensions were running high in cities across the United States. In order to head off the kind of violence that left some 30 dead in Detroit, New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia reached out to his city's African American community by denouncing a union that had barred an African American from its war plant and launching a citywide campaign for unity. In Harlem, however, unemployment was running rampant at the time, and high wartime prices on food and other necessities left many residents of the African American area hungry and frustrated. On the hot night of August 2, 1943, tensions reached their breaking point when a young black soldier, attempting to intervene in an arrest, was shot in the shoulder by a white policeman. Rumors circulated that he had been killed, and thousands took to the streets, rioting, looting, and clashing with police. At 10:30 p.m., a curfew was declared by Mayor LaGuardia, and Army troops were posted on street corners in Harlem. Here, LaGuardia discusses the curfew and conveys an appeal for calm from the African American dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. After a day or so, the riot came to an end, and the curfew was lifted. Four looters had been shot dead by police, another attempted robber had been killed by a black barkeep, and 495 civilians had been injured along with 40 policemen. Five hundred people had been arrested. In the aftermath of the riot, the federal Office of Price Administration agreed to pay closer attention to price gouging in Harlem by greedy merchants. Little official attention was given to addressing the racial issues that were the real root of the violence.