By nightfall all Harlem had heard the news brayed by Communist loudspeakers: the eleven convicted bosses of the party were out on bail. Hundreds of Harlem's Negroes crowded into the streets to watch the triumphal homecoming of big, brassy Communist Ben Davis, their representative on the New York City Council.
Ben was smiling and cocky. Federal Judge Harold R. Medina had denied the Commies bail, but the court of appeals had released them (their bail: $260,000). In the glare of flaming red torches, Ben Davis crowed to a crowd on Harlem's Lenox Avenue near 111th Street. "I am out on...
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