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Speaker 1: Hello, Welcome to this day in History class, where we

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Speaker 1: flipped through the book of history and bring you a

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Speaker 1: new page every day. Today is March nineteenth nineteen. The

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Speaker 1: day was March nineteenth ninety. Early in the afternoon, a

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Speaker 1: sixteen year old black Puerto Rican boy named Leno Rivera

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Speaker 1: was seen stealing a ten cent pocket knife from an S. H.

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Speaker 1: Crests and Company store in Harlem, New York. The owner

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Speaker 1: called the police and a crowd of people gathered at

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Speaker 1: the store. Rumors began spreading that the police had killed Rivera.

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Speaker 1: Soon what started as a minor shoplifting incident turned into

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Speaker 1: a full on riot, fueled by economic upheaval, frustration with

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Speaker 1: racial discrimination, unemployment, and distrust of the police. Leno was

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Speaker 1: in the back of the s. H. Crest Nicolon Dimes

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Speaker 1: store at two fifty six West in Harlem. Leno was

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Speaker 1: spotted trying to steal a penknife from the store, so

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Speaker 1: employees tried to detain him, but Leno resisted. He grabbed

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Speaker 1: onto a column in the store and he bit the

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Speaker 1: hands of the two employees who were trying to hold

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Speaker 1: him back. Soon enough, though, he gave in and stopped struggling.

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Speaker 1: By the time police officers arrived at the store. People

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Speaker 1: in the area had noticed the scuffle and began crowding

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Speaker 1: around the store. The shopkeeper decided not to press charges

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Speaker 1: against Leno and to avoid the crowd. The officers escorted

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Speaker 1: him out of the building through the basement and out

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Speaker 1: of a back door onto one street. But at this

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Speaker 1: point the crowd had become more hostile as rumors spread

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Speaker 1: that the officers had beaten Lino up and that fire

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Speaker 1: was stoke even more when an ambulance arrived to see

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Speaker 1: to the employees bitten hands and her schedule to pick

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Speaker 1: up a body from the funeral parlor next door parked

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Speaker 1: in one of the stores parking spaces, the false word

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Speaker 1: of Leno's death spread through Harlem. Harlem was primarily black,

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Speaker 1: an African American culture thrived in the neighborhood. Though the

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Speaker 1: Harlem Renaissance was nearing its end. Still, black people in

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Speaker 1: Harlem felt the effects of legal segregation, institutional racism, and

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Speaker 1: police brutality, and Harlem was largely neglected by the New

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Speaker 1: York City government. Distrust of the government and law enforcement

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Speaker 1: was rampant and justified at the time. The country was

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Speaker 1: in the midst of the Great Depression. Harlem specifically was

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Speaker 1: plagued by rising poverty, as well as poor healthcare and education.

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Speaker 1: On top of that, black people faced racial discrimination when

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Speaker 1: it came to employ meant business ownership and housing, and

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Speaker 1: the Crest Store where the incident happened was known for

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Speaker 1: discriminating against black people in employment. All of these factors

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Speaker 1: came to a head when Lena was rumored to be dead.

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Speaker 1: Police attempted to squash the rumors that Leno was beaten

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Speaker 1: and killed by officers, but were unsuccessful. The crowds turned rowdy.

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Speaker 1: The Crest Store closed for the day as throngs of

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Speaker 1: people began setting fire to buildings, smashing windows, and stealing

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Speaker 1: and destroying property. Some people who attempted to hold a

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Speaker 1: public meeting to protest police brutality were arrested and charged

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Speaker 1: with unlawful assembly. At one point, an officer fired a

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Speaker 1: gun into a crowd of rioters and shot a man,

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Speaker 1: who died a few days later in a hospital. Several

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Speaker 1: thousand people had joined the riot to protest police brutality.

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Speaker 1: Stores put up signs that said phrases like we employed

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Speaker 1: black people in their windows to keep people from looting

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Speaker 1: and destroying their property officers who tried to disperse the

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Speaker 1: crowds only met resistance. The rioting went on through the

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Speaker 1: night and into the next day. All in all, more

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Speaker 1: than a hundred people were arrested, dozens of people were injured,

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Speaker 1: a couple hundred businesses had damaged property, and four people

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Speaker 1: died from injuries sustained during the riot. Estimates for the

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Speaker 1: property damage totaled about two million dollars. The next day,

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Speaker 1: Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia said the riot was instigated and artificially

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Speaker 1: stimulated by a few irresponsible individuals. District Attorney William C.

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Speaker 1: Dodge said that he would launch an investigation into the

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Speaker 1: communist motivations for the riot, but LaGuardia was convinced racial

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Speaker 1: tensions caused the riots, and months later created a biracial

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Speaker 1: commission to investigate the riot and the factors that led

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Speaker 1: to it. The commission and included people like sociologist E.

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Speaker 1: Franklin Fraser and writer Alan Locke. The report that came

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Speaker 1: out of that investigation was released a little over a

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Speaker 1: year later. It was called the Negro in Harlem, a

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Speaker 1: report on social and economic conditions responsible for the outbreak

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Speaker 1: of March nineteenth nineteen thirty five, and it recommended antidiscrimination

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Speaker 1: efforts and employment, housing, education, and law enforcement. Yet the

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Speaker 1: mayor suppressed the report because it revealed the true living

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Speaker 1: conditions of black New Yorkers. After the riots, the city

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Speaker 1: did work to make some social and infrastructure improvements. New

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Speaker 1: York officers began receiving racial sensitivity training, Harlem Hospital was enlarged,

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Speaker 1: and there was a push to get more black people

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Speaker 1: in city government. But discrimination did not just suddenly disappear

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Speaker 1: in Harlem, and another race riot broke out in the

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Speaker 1: neighborhood in nineteen four d three. I'm Eves Jeff Cote,

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. And I'd like to add that

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Speaker 1: the riot marked a shift in uprisings too. Sociologists Alan D.

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Speaker 1: Grimshaw later called the n incident the first manifestation of

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Speaker 1: a modern form of racial writing, since it was directed

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Speaker 1: at the whole community and its property, rather than being

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Speaker 1: a clash between certain racial groups or people. If you

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Speaker 1: have anything else interesting to say about the riot, please

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Speaker 1: leave us a note at T d i h C

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Speaker 1: Podcast on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for listening and I hope to see you again tomorrow

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Speaker 1: for more tidbits of history,