ABSTRACT
Racial violence declined sharply during the interwar years, particularly as the nation became mired in the Great Depression. There was social violence, but it occurred primarily among labor groups as working men made their assault on the accommodative structure. There was only one major urban disturbance during the Thirties, the Harlem riot of 1935. On March 19, 1935, several thousands of Harlem's citizens, after five years of the depression which had made them feel more keenly than ever the injustices of discrimination in employment, the aggressions of the police, and the racial segregation, rioted against these intolerable conditions. This spontaneous outbreak, the immediate cause of which was a mere rumor concerning the mistreatment of a Negro boy, was symptomatic of pent-up feelings of resentment and insecurity. During the late afternoon the rumor that a Negro boy had been beaten and killed in Kress' store reached the headquarters of a group comprised mainly of Negroes and known as the "Young Liberators".
