Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Harlem Riot of 1964 (New York City Race Riot ) was a racial confrontation between residents in several city boroughs and the New York City Police after an African American teenager was shot dead by an off-duty police officer on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.On July 16, 15-year-old James Powell, from Harlem was shot and killed by NYPD Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan. The teenage summer student from Robert Wagner Junior High school had been engaged in horseplay with other boys and a building superintendent in front of an apartment building at 215 East 76th Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side. When the man sprayed the boys with a hose, Powell chased him back into his building. At this point Lt Gilligan intervened firing his service revolver twice at the boy.