Harlem, New York, March 19, 1935: Riot: Rioting broke out in the Harlem section of New York City on March 19, 1935 after an African-American youth was alleged to have stolen a knife from a store on 125th Street. The young suspect was not apprehended but rumors spread in the black community that he had been beaten and killed by police. These rumors coupled with charges of police brutality and merchant employment discrimination triggered rioting by African Americans in Harlem. At least 600 store windows were shattered and looting was rampant. The riot resulted in the deaths of three blacks and caused over $200,000,000 worth of property damage. Police arrested 75 people, mostly blacks, and nearly 60 citizens were seriously injured. The riot reflected the deep resentment felt by black New Yorkers during the depression. They were far more unemployed than whites, lived in horrible housing, experienced higher mortality rates and sickness than whites, and had few public or private services available to them. Most blacks believed that police brutality towards blacks was an accepted practice among the white police force, and felt helpless to stop it.

Harlem, New York, August 1943: Riot: In August 1943, rioting broke out in the Harlem section of New York City after a black soldier was shot and wounded by a white policeman. The soldier had objected to the language used by the white officer toward a black woman he was arguing with. The soldier knocked the policeman down and the officer shot him.

When the woman who had been arguing with the law officer began shouting that the soldier had been killed, this rumor spread throughout the black community. Rumors of the soldier's demise sparked rioting and looking. It required a force of 6,600, composed of city police, military police and civil patrolmen, as well as 8,000 State Guardsmen and 1,500 civilian volunteers to end the violence. Hundreds of white owned businesses were destroyed and looted with the property damage approaching $225,000. The riot resulted in six deaths and 185 injured. Five hundred blacks were arrested in connection with the riot, 100 of these black women. There were no arrests of whites. Like other riots during the war in Mobile, Alabama, Beaumont, Texas, Los Angeles, California, and elsewhere, the Harlem riot reflected the tensions of race conflict over job discrimination, impoverished living conditions, and embittered police-community relations. It was also noteworthy as one of the new so-called commodity riots in that much of the destruction of property involved white-owned business in the black community.