Ann Petry

+ The Harlem Riots

Author

The Harlem Neighborhood Block Association
November 21, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

In 1947, Ann Petry wrote a fictional novella that took the events of the Harlem Riot of 1943 in order to address and flesh out the racist and economic oppression of Black Harlem that led to the community's explosion.  

In this passage from the novella, Petry imagines the scene in the hotel (St. Nicholas and 126th Street) where an off-duty Black soldier (in uniform) was visiting his mother.  A White police officer roughly tries to arrest a Black woman in the hotel lobby:

Excerpt from Ann Petry's 1947 short story "In Darkness and Confusion."

He looked out toward the lobby of the hotel, attracted by the sound of voices. A white cop was arguing with a frowzy-looking girl who had obviously had too much to drink.

"I got a right in here. I'm mindin' my own business," she said with one eye on the bar.

"Aw, go chase yourself." The cop gave her a push toward the door. She stumbled against a chair.

William watched her in amusement. "Better than a movie," he told himself.

She straightened up and tugged at her girdle. "You white son of a bitch," she said.

The cop's face turned a furious red. He walked toward the woman, waving his nightstick. It was then that William saw the soldier. Tall Straight. Creases in his khaki pants. An overseas cap cocked over one eye. Looks like Sam looked that one time he was home on furlough, he thought.

The soldier grabbed the cop's arm and twisted the nightstick out of his hand. He threw it half the length of the small lobby. It ratted along the floor and came to a dead stop under a chair.

"Now what'd he want to do that for?" William said softly.

The Harlem Riot

For more on how a Black soldier, in uniform, was shot by a White police officer (and the city's response), you can listen to Mayor LaGuardia's 1943 address from 'Police Headquarters in Harlem' here:

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