Mar 31, 2016 - Sale 2408

Sale 2408 - Lot 221

Price Realized: $ 281
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(CIVIL RIGHTS--HARLEM RIOTS.) PROGRESSIVE LABOR PARTY. Group of 4 items related to the 1964 Harlem Riots. Hear Bill Epton; The Frame-Up (It is Happening Here); A Harlem Mother's Nightmare; and broadsheet, announcing the formation of CERGE (Committee to Defend Residence to Ghetto Life. Various paginations. should be seen. New York City, 1965

Additional Details

On a hot July day in Harlem in 1964, James Powell, a 15-year-old unarmed black teenager, was shot by an NYPD patrolman. Witnesses testified that even after the unarmed teenager had fallen to the ground, officer Gilligan shot him twice more in the back. An internal investigation found Thomas Gilligan innocent of any wrongdoing. Harlem rose up with one voice, and demanded justice. And when none came, anger and resentment, festering for decades of police excess exploded into one of the worst riots in the city's history. These four items are contemporaneous to the killing and the resulting riot. Bill Epton was the nominal head of the Progressive Labor Party, representing the teenager's family and the entire neighborhood.