In the nineteenth century, New York City underwent a tremendous demographic transformation driven by European immigration, the growth of a native-born population, and the expansion of one of the largest African American communities in the North. New York's free blacks were extremely politically active, lobbying for equal rights at home and an end to Southern slavery. As their activism increased, so did discrimination against them, most brutally illustrated by bloody attacks during the 1863 New York City Draft Riots.
The struggle for civil rights did not extend to equal gender roles,...
In the nineteenth century, New York City underwent a tremendous demographic transformation driven by European immigration, the growth of a native-b...
