Question

What prompted the 1943 riots?

“The riot of 1935 demonstrated how minor incidents mask major conflicts”. What minor incident sparked the riot of 1935?

Why were the race riots of 1935 and 1943 considered “turning points” in American history?

Answer 1

Answer :

RACE RIOT OF 1943 :

Like the successive rebellion that would erupt 24 years later, the Detroit Race Riot of 1943 was deeply rooted in racism, poor living conditions and unequal access to goods and services. The apparent industrial prosperity that made Detroit the “Arsenal of Democracy” masked a deeper social unrest that erupted during the summer of 1943. The KKK was active in the region and riots had already broken out in other cities. Before and during World War II, workers migrated north to seek factory employment in such vast numbers that Detroit was incapable of adequately receiving them. Because black Detroiters were still treated as second class citizens, they suffered disproportionately from wartime rationing and the overall strains on the city. Factories offered employment but not housing, and because whites violently defended the borders of their segregated neighborhoods, black residents had little choice but to suffer in repulsive living conditions.

Detroit’s 200,000 black residents were marginalized into small, subdivided apartments that often housed multiple families. They were crammed into sixty square blocks on the city’s east side, an area ironically known as Paradise Valley. Because there was simply no space left to expand upon already existing African American neighborhoods, the city attempted to construct a black housing project in what was otherwise a white neighborhood. A mob of more than one thousand whites, some of whom were armed, lit a cross on fire and angrily picketed the arrival of their African American neighbors. Black workers faced virulent racism on the job as well. In June of 1943, white workers halted production to protest the promotion of their African American co-workers. Other factories faced habitual slowdowns by bigoted whites who refused to work alongside African Americans. Humiliation and resentment on each side spilled over into all facets of Detroiter’s wartime struggle and by the early 1940s, racially motivated street fights were common.

On June 20, 1943, more than two hundred black and white individuals engaged in racially-motivated fighting on Belle Isle. Though police quelled the violence by midnight, tensions soared and later that night, two rumors led to incendiary action on both sides. African Americans at the Forest Social Club in Paradise Valley were told that whites had thrown a black woman and her baby off of the Belle Isle Bridge. They formed a furious mob and moved near Woodward, breaking windows, looting white businesses and attacking white individuals. In a nearby area, angry whites had gathered after hearing that black men had raped a white woman near the same bridge. Around 4am, a mob of white men formed outside the Roxy Theatre on Woodward. When the movie let out, black men exiting the theatre were surrounded and beaten. As word of both incidents spread, so did the violence. Gangs of each skin color roamed the streets, with Woodward as their dividing line. White mobs overturned cars owned by blacks and set them on fire and beat black men as white policemen looked on. A white doctor was beaten to death while making a house call in a black neighborhood. African American community leaders pleaded for Mayor Edward J. Jeffries to call in help from national troops. It was not until white gangs entered Paradise Valley that the Mayor responded by seeking assistance from President Franklin Roosevelt. Violence was curbed by the arrival of 6,000 army troops in tanks armed with automatic weapons. The streets became vacant around midnight, with most residents too terrified to leave their homes. Nine whites and twenty five African Americans were killed in the Riots of 1943. No white individuals were killed by police, whereas seventeen African American died at the hands of police violence. 700 people were reportedly injured, with damages amounting to two million dollars.

False rumors of a black Puerto Rican boy's death sparks the Harlem riot of 1935 :

Harlem race riot of 1935, a riot that occurred in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Harlem on March 19–20, 1935. It was precipitated by a teenager’s theft of a penknife from a store and was fueled by economic hardship, racial injustice, and community mistrust of the police. It is sometimes considered the first modern American race riot.

The Event

On March 19 Lino Rivera, a 16-year-old Black Puerto Rican, was caught stealing a penknife from the S.H. Kress dime store at 256 West 125th Street (across from the Apollo Theater), and the owner called the police. By the time the officers arrived, a crowd had gathered outside the store. The storekeeper, afraid of what the crowd might do if the boy was arrested, asked police to let Rivera go. The officers agreed, and the boy left by the store’s backdoor. No one told the crowd what had happened, and soon rumours spread that the police had killed Rivera. More than 10,000 people took to the streets to protest the perceived police brutality. Black frustration exploded into rioting and the destruction of property. With the onset of looting, storekeepers tried to protect their property by posting such signs as “Black owned” and “We employ Black people” in their windows. When the all-white police force arrived to attempt to regain control, the rioters fought them. The riot continued through the night of March 19 and into the next day. When it ended, 125 people had been arrested, more than 100 people had been injured, and 3 individuals were dead—all of them Black. Property damage to some 200 stores was in excess of $2 million.

The race riots of 1935 and 1943 considered “turning points” in American history :

Once home to a number of New York’s prominent families, Harlem by the early 1900s had become a major centre of African American culture. It provided the backdrop against which the Harlem Renaissance was set. Indeed, the race riot of 1935 is considered the terminating event of that cultural flowering. By the 1930s African Americans had begun to make some strides toward equality—the first African American since Reconstruction had been elected to Congress; boycotts had resulted in opening up job opportunities for African Americans; and the Congress of Industrial Organizations had become the first union to admit Black people. Despite those steps, however, racial inequality was still prevalent. The Great Depression had left the national economy in a shambles. Millions of people, of all ethnicities, were out of work. Further, African Americans continued to be the victims of discriminatory practices. They were often the first to be fired and the last to be hired. As homeowners they struggled with redlining policies, unfair rents, and falling property values. Life in Harlem, as in many urban settings, was difficult during that period. The once-teeming nightclubs that had employed so many Blacks closed, and thousands of Southern Blacks, hoping to escape poverty and discrimination, settled in Harlem. To add to the residents’ frustration, the New York City government generally neglected Harlem, so its streets, playgrounds, and public facilities were often the last on the list to be repaired.

Legacy

After the riot, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, who had been in office for slightly more than a year, appointed a biracial commission to investigate the “disturbance” of May 19. When the commission issued its report later that year, La Guardia suppressed it because it painted such a grim picture of conditions among Black New Yorkers. Yet La Guardia remained popular with Black leaders and voters because he had championed Black causes and had included a small number of Blacks in city government. After the riot, the mayor worked to further expand the opportunities for Blacks in city government as well as integrate city hospitals and improve sanitation, health care, and fire and police protection. Despite such attempts to improve conditions, La Guardia could do little to alleviate the long-term problems facing Harlem’s residents.