Harlem Riot of 1964

Harlem Riot of 1964, an urban rebellion resulting from African American protest of police brutality.

At 9:30 pm on July 18, 1964, demonstrators rioted in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City to protest the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old African American, James Powell, by a white police officer.

The protest, sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), began peacefully, but later mayhem broke out and looting occurred after some protesters became violent and clashed with police. The rioting in Harlem continued for two nights before spreading to Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. In all, one person was killed, more than 100 people were injured, and hundreds were arrested. Although smaller than the uprisings in urban African American communities later in the decade (Watts, Detroit), the Harlem Riot anticipated these uprisings.