The Civil War Draft Riots

Print shows a typical Draft Riot scene in August 1863 in Manhattan. Poor whites resented being drafted to fight in the Civil War to free Blacks from slavery. Wealthy whites could be exempted from the draft. Blacks were set upon, beaten, burned and lynched. Several hundred Black families fled the city to save their lives. Weeksville was among the places where the refugees came for safety and assistance.

Courtesy of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library