Race Riots

19th-Century Riots: The Mechanics of Race Control

Race riots were relatively rare before the Civil War. There were, perhaps, 40 race battles in the antebellum period. Blacks were regularly subjected to mob assaults and “crackdowns” following real and rumored slave revolts. But slave codes, Black codes, and the oppressive gaze of the White community were generally effective at keeping “niggers”—both slaves and free Blacks—in their “proper place” in the economic, political, social, cultural, and legal order. Blacks were generally reluctant to respond to White assaults. Violent Black protest in the antebellum period was tantamount to suicide.

The 1863 New York City Draft Riot was, to that point, the largest race riot in American history. For many years New York City's poor and working-class Whites had been harboring resentment against Blacks, who offered competition for jobs. However, two events played a central role in sparking the riot. PresidentLincoln'sEmancipationProclamation, issued in January of 1863, implied that working-class Whites were now fighting in the Civil War to free Blacks, not preserve the Union. The passage of the Conscription Act in March of 1863 further infuriated White workers. This legislation introduced a draft for White males but not Black males; it also allowed rich Whites to hire an alternate for $300 to take their place. Simply stated, the bloody conflagration was a poor White man's war.

On July 13, 1863, the first day of formal conscription, thousands of workers, including many Irish immigrants, took to the streets carrying “No Draft” signs. Mobs of angry White men and women formed all over the city. Telegraph lines were cut, stores were broken into, and symbols of state authority were attacked. The mob burned draft offices and assaulted policemen and firemen. Mobs then began to turn their attention to Chinese peddlers, German and Jewish store owners, and other despised minorities. The greater share of the mob's rage was, however, aimed at one group: Blacks.

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