Bill Epton

[1] "Even as a high school student," the obituary reads, "he demonstrated for civil rights and helped organize unions.

On July 16, 1964, NYPD officer Thomas Gilligan shot and killed a 15-year-old African-American student, James Powell.

While most of the reformist leaders went along with the ban, Epton and the Harlem branch of PL called for a peaceful rally on 125th Street for July 25.

There was talk in the papers that the riot's circumstances had been that of "a social revolution – a demand by a minority for equal rights" (N.Y. Times, July 7, 1965).

Do you think that all people in this country have been so "brain dirtied" and have been so thoroughly corrupted that they are afraid to express an independent thought – to stand up for what they believe and fight for it?

Whatever we do and whatever we believe in – we do and believe that it is in the interest of the people of this country; And yes – we are proud to have done it and to be doing it and we stand behind our actions four-square!The New York Times article notes: "A grand jury indicted Mr. Epton on charges that his speeches kept the 1964 riot going.

Meanwhile, Progressive Labor began to change its line on the national question, the developments of which Epton apparently found politically unacceptable.

The New York Times obituary article says that Leon Friedman of Hofstra University School of Law noted: "They changed the rules.