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58-557: In the decades following the new facility for AMNH, the structure was formalized wherein New York City would provide funds for security and maintenance of the museum's physical property, while a private (generally non profit) organization would develop and maintain the museum's content and programs. By 1900, the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Children's Museum, the Met, New York Botanical Garden and

116-532: A race riot against African-Americans by Irish rioters. The official death toll was listed at either 119 or 120 individuals. Conditions in the city were such that Major General John E. Wool , commander of the Department of the East , said on July 16 that " Martial law ought to be proclaimed, but I have not a sufficient force to enforce it." The military did not reach the city until the second day of rioting, by which time

174-457: A " civil war " within the city's Irish community, in that "mostly Irish American rioters confronted police, [while] soldiers, and pro-war politicians ... were also to a considerable extent from the local Irish immigrant community." President Abraham Lincoln diverted several regiments of militia and volunteer troops after the Battle of Gettysburg to control the city. The protests turned into

232-509: A Pratt Neighborhood College workshop on Brooklyn and New York City neighborhoods led by James Hurley. Dolores McCullough and Patricia Johnson, two students in the workshop, became active and important contributors to the Weeksville Project. Hurley first read about Weeksville in the book, Brooklyn's Eastern District , by local historian, Eugene Armbruster. Hurley, a local resident, researcher, and former aerial photographer, and Joseph Haynes,

290-405: A knife. He had been beaten to a mass of bruises and blood all over his body. Physicians later counted over 70 knife wounds alone. He would never fully recover. Police drew their clubs and revolvers and charged the crowd but were overpowered. The police were badly outnumbered and unable to quell the riots, but they kept the rioting out of Lower Manhattan below Union Square . Inhabitants of

348-629: A professional engineer, pilot, and long-term resident of Bedford–Stuyvesant , later reconnoitered and photographed the historic houses on Hunterfly Road during an airplane flight over the area. Hurley and Haynes had originally met at the Brooklyn Children's Museum . They had collaborated on creating a walking tour of the area that was sponsored by the Museum of the City of New York . The old lane, located off Bergen Street between Buffalo and Rochester avenues,

406-592: A result of the violence against them, hundreds of black people left New York, including physician James McCune Smith and his family, moving to Williamsburg, Brooklyn , or New Jersey . The white elite in New York organized to provide relief to black riot victims, helping them find new work and homes. The Union League Club and the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People provided nearly $ 40,000 to 2,500 victims of

464-523: A road dating to American Indian tenure of the area; it led to shellfish beds at the Jamaica Bay end of Fresh Kill/Creek. The city began to close sections of Hunterfly Road after 1835. The houses are one and one half to 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story wood-frame dwellings. In 1970 the houses were declared New York City Landmarks , and in 1972 they were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as

522-607: A school, an orphanage, a cemetery, an old age home, an African-American benevolent society, and one of the first African-American newspapers, the Freedman's Torchlight . During the violent New York Draft Riots of 1863, during the Civil War, the community served as a refuge for many African Americans who fled from Manhattan ; many resettled in Brooklyn. Weeksville was rediscovered in 1968. The search for Historic Weeksville began in 1968 in

580-655: A white prostitute who catered to black men. Governor Horatio Seymour arrived on Tuesday and spoke at City Hall , where he attempted to assuage the crowd by proclaiming that the Conscription Act was unconstitutional. General John E. Wool , commander of the Eastern District, brought approximately 800 soldiers and Marines in from forts in New York Harbor , West Point , and the Brooklyn Navy Yard . He ordered

638-732: Is a historic settlement of national significance and one of the few remaining historical sites of pre- Civil War African-American communities. Founding members of the preservation group were James Hurley, Dewey Harley, Dolores McCullough, Joan Maynard , and Patricia Johnson. It was founded as the Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford Stuyvesant in 1970, and then the Weeksville Heritage Center. The Heritage Center focuses on tours, arts and crafts, literacy and historical preservation programs for public-school students. The site

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696-462: Is a historic site on Buffalo Avenue between St. Marks Avenue and Bergen Street in Crown Heights , Brooklyn , New York City . It is dedicated to the preservation of Weeksville , one of America's first free black communities during the 19th century. Within this community, the residents established schools, churches and benevolent associations and were active in the abolitionist movement . Weeksville

754-596: Is managed by the Weeksville Society, a historical society that maintains the 12,400-square-foot (1,150 m ) site comprising the historic Hunterfly Houses and an open grassy area. The museum's main exhibit is the Hunterfly Road Historic District , a national historic district . It consists of four contributing residential buildings, erected no earlier than the 1860s, within the 19th-century free Black community of Weeksville. They were built along

812-597: The 152nd New York Volunteers , the 26th Michigan Volunteers , the 27th Indiana Volunteers and the 7th Regiment New York State Militia from Frederick, Maryland , after a forced march. In addition, the governor sent in the 74th and 65th regiments of the New York State Militia, which had not been in federal service, and a section of the 20th Independent Battery, New York Volunteer Artillery from Fort Schuyler in Throggs Neck . The New York State Militia units were

870-564: The Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week , were violent disturbances in Lower Manhattan , widely regarded as the culmination of working-class discontent with new laws passed by Congress that year to draft men to fight in the ongoing American Civil War . The riots remain the largest civil urban disturbance in American history . According to Toby Joyce, the riot represented

928-567: The New York Age , recalling the earlier period, said that James Weeks, a stevedore and a respected member of the community, "owned a handsome dwelling at Schenectady and Atlantic Avenues." Weeksville became home to ministers, teachers and other professionals, including the first female African-American physician in New York state, and the first African-American police officer in New York City. The black community in Weeksville developed its own churches,

986-554: The "Bloody Sixth" Ward, around the South Street Seaport and Five Points areas, refrained from involvement in the rioting. The 19th Company/1st Battalion US Army Invalid Corps which was part of the Provost Guard tried to disperse the mob with a volley of gunfire but were overwhelmed and suffered over 14 injured with 1 soldier missing (believed killed). The Bull's Head hotel on 44th Street, which refused to provide alcohol to

1044-603: The Hunterfly Road Historic District. In 1838, James Weeks, an African American, bought a plot of land from Henry C. Thompson (another free African American) in the Ninth Ward of central Brooklyn. This was 11 years after the final abolition of slavery in New York State, which had followed a gradual program from early in the nineteenth century. This site was called Weeksville after him. A 1906 article in

1102-513: The Seaport Museum a notable exception as of 2000. The relationship with the city is predominantly through the Department of Cultural Affairs. While the designation does not give the city a say over the museum's content, friction sometimes does arise such as with the Brooklyn Museum's 1999 show, Sensation which led to then mayor Rudy Giuliani threatening the museum's funding and location. Among

1160-509: The Union League Club. New York's support for the Union cause continued, however grudgingly, and gradually Southern sympathies declined in the city. New York banks eventually financed the Civil War, and the state's industries were more productive than those of the entire Confederacy. By the end of the war, more than 450,000 soldiers, sailors, and militia had enlisted from New York State, which

1218-435: The Weeksville Heritage Center. Each house showcases a different era of Weeksville history. The Heritage Center was completed in 2013 and features a $ 14 million 19,000-square-foot (1,800 m ) performance and educational program space, including a café and library. It was almost entirely financed with city money, and extends Weeksville's offering to a broader spectrum of the community. The Heritage Center aspires to increase

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1276-465: The Weeksville Project as a legally incorporated entity, The Society for the Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History, generally known as The Weeksville Society. The Society purchased the Hunterfly Road houses in 1973. The houses were rehabilitated in the 1980s, and again after vandalism in the 1990s. In 2005, following a $ 3 million restoration, the houses reopened to the public as

1334-582: The Wildlife Conservation Society had joined the CIGs. The newest addition to the group is Weeksville Heritage Center , which was added in 2019. It was the first new addition in twenty years, and Brooklyn's first Black cultural center to be designated. The organizations that comprise CIG are on city owned land and receive funding in a different manner than other cultural organizations in New York City. A city owned location does not guarantee funding, with

1392-674: The aegis of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Youth in Action anti-poverty program . Summer interns of the Neighborhood Youth Corps were employed by what was initially called the Weeksville Project to explore the block as demolition of the houses occurred. The archeological site was developed for the present-day Weeksville Gardens Houses, which belong to the New York City Housing Authority. Residents gradually developed

1450-407: The author of the 1928 book Gangs of New York , upon which the 2002 film was based, puts the figure much higher, at 2,000 killed and 8,000 wounded, a number that some dispute. Total property damage was about $ 1–5 million (equivalent to $ 19.4 million – $ 97.2 million in 2023 ). The city treasury later indemnified one-quarter of the amount. Historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote that

1508-521: The black population had fallen below 11,000 for the first time since 1820. New York's economy was tied to the South ; by 1822, nearly half of its exports were cotton shipments. In addition, upstate textile mills processed cotton in manufacturing. New York had such strong business connections to the South that on January 7, 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood , a Democrat, called on the city's Board of Aldermen to "declare

1566-642: The center would become part of the city's Cultural Institutions Group , becoming the first new addition to that group in over 20 years, and the first black cultural center in Brooklyn to be so named. The designation allows the center to receive significant capital to fund operating costs from the Department of Cultural Affairs . Weeksville Heritage Center used the funding to preserve additional artifacts. 40°40′26″N 73°55′31″W  /  40.67399°N 73.92537°W  / 40.67399; -73.92537 New York Draft Riots The New York City draft riots (July 13–16, 1863), sometimes referred to as

1624-489: The city and add further competition to the labor market. There had already been tensions between black and white workers since the 1850s, particularly at the docks, with free black people and immigrants competing for low-wage jobs in the city. In March 1863, white longshoremen refused to work with black laborers and rioted, attacking 200 black men. There were reports of rioting in Buffalo, New York , and certain other cities, but

1682-505: The city's independence from Albany and from Washington "; he said it "would have the whole and united support of the Southern States." When the Union entered the war, New York City had many sympathizers with the South. The city was also a continuing destination of immigrants . Since the 1840s, most were from Ireland and Germany. In 1860, nearly 25 percent of the New York City population

1740-445: The clothing off the white owners of these businesses. Heavy rain fell on Monday night, helping to abate the fires and sending rioters home, but the crowds returned the next day. Rioters burned down the home of Abby Gibbons , a prison reformer and the daughter of abolitionist Isaac Hopper . They also attacked white " amalgamationists ", such as Ann Derrickson and Ann Martin, two white women who were married to black men, and Mary Burke,

1798-414: The death toll as high as 1,200. Violence by longshoremen against black men was especially fierce in the docks area: West of Broadway, below Twenty-sixth, all was quiet at 9 o'clock last night. A crowd was at the corner of Seventh avenue and Twenty-seventh Street at that time. This was the scene of the hanging of a negro in the morning, and another at 6 o'clock in the evening. The body of the one hung in

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1856-504: The draft declared unconstitutional, but they helped pay the commutation fees for those who were drafted. In December 1863, the Union League Club recruited more than 2,000 black soldiers, outfitted and trained them, honoring and sending men off with a parade through the city to the Hudson River docks in March 1864. A crowd of 100,000 watched the procession, which was led by police and members of

1914-529: The draft was taking place. The crowd threw large paving stones through windows, burst through the doors, and set the building ablaze. When the fire department responded, rioters broke up their vehicles. Others killed horses that were pulling streetcars and smashed the cars. To prevent other parts of the city being notified of the riot, rioters cut telegraph lines. Since the New York State Militia had been sent to assist Union troops at Gettysburg ,

1972-660: The early stages of the riots. Of the NYPD Officers-there were four fatalities-1 killed and 3 died of injuries 1st Division : Major General Charles W. Sandford Unorganized Militia : Department of the East : Major General John E. Wool headquartered in New York Defenses of New York City: Brevet Brigadier General Harvey Brown , Brig. General Edward R. S. Canby Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton authorized five regiments from Gettysburg , mostly federalized state militia and volunteer units from

2030-468: The first drawing of draft numbers—on July 11, 1863—occurred peaceably in Manhattan. The second drawing was held on Monday, July 13, 1863, ten days after the Union victory at Gettysburg . At 10 am, a furious crowd of around 500, led by the volunteer firemen of Engine Company 33 (known as the "Black Joke"), attacked the assistant Ninth District provost marshal's office, at Third Avenue and 47th Street, where

2088-547: The first to arrive. There were several thousand militia and Federal troops in the city. A final confrontation occurred in the evening near Gramercy Park . According to Adrian Cook, twelve people died on this last day of the riots in skirmishes between rioters, the police, and the Army. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Plug Uglies and Blood Tubs gang members from Baltimore, as well as "Scuykill Rangers [sic] and other rowdies of Philadelphia", had come to New York during

2146-486: The gauntlet as the rioters viciously attacked them. Many did not manage the escape. 4,000 federal troops had to be pulled out of the Gettysburg Campaign to suppress the riots, troops that could have aided in pursuing the battered Army of Northern Virginia as it retreated out of Union territory. During the riots, landlords, fearing that the mob would destroy their buildings, drove black residents from their homes. As

2204-532: The initiatives of the group are the Culture at 3 call, launched in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and NYC ID, which launched in 2014 to provide free and discounted access to the museums for NYC residents. In 2019, the Museum of the City of New York was home to an exhibit about the CIGs on occasion of the 150th anniversary of the coalition. Source: Weeksville Heritage Center The Weeksville Heritage Center

2262-467: The local New York Metropolitan Police Department was the only force on hand to try to suppress the riots. Police Superintendent John Kennedy arrived at the site on Monday to check on the situation. An Irish-American himself, Kennedy was a steadfast unionist. Although he was not in uniform, people in the mob recognized him and attacked him. Kennedy was left nearly unconscious, his face bruised and cut, his eye injured, his lips swollen, and his hand cut with

2320-516: The mayor, were historically held by Democrats before the war, but the election of Abraham Lincoln as president had demonstrated the rise in Republican political power nationally. Newly elected New York City Republican Mayor George Opdyke was mired in profiteering scandals in the months leading up to the riots. The Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863 alarmed much of the white working class in New York, who feared that freed slaves would migrate to

2378-472: The mid-1850s boiled over. As recently as March 1863, white employers had hired black longshoremen, with whom many White men refused to work. Rioters went into the streets in search of "all the negro porters, cartmen and laborers" to attempt to remove all evidence of a black and interracial social life from the area near the docks. White dockworkers attacked and destroyed brothels, dance halls, boarding houses, and tenements that catered to black people. Mobs stripped

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2436-558: The militias to return to New York. The situation improved July 15 when assistant provost-marshal-general Robert Nugent received word from his superior officer, Colonel James Barnet Fry , to postpone the draft. As this news appeared in newspapers, some rioters stayed home. But some of the militias began to return and used harsh measures against the remaining rioters. The rioting spread to Brooklyn and Staten Island. Order began to be restored on July 16. The New York State Militia and some federal troops were returned to New York, including

2494-466: The mobs had ransacked or destroyed numerous public buildings, two Protestant churches, the homes of various abolitionists or sympathizers, many black homes, and the Colored Orphan Asylum at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue, which was burned to the ground. The area's demographics changed as a result of the riot. Many black residents left Manhattan permanently with many moving to Brooklyn . By 1865,

2552-541: The morning presented a shocking appearance at the Station-House. His fingers and toes had been sliced off, and there was scarcely an inch of his flesh which was not gashed. Late in the afternoon, a negro was dragged out of his house in West Twenty-seventh street, beaten down on the sidewalk, pounded in a horrible manner, and then hanged to a tree. In all, eleven black men and boys were hanged over five days. Among

2610-662: The murdered black people was the seven-year-old nephew of Bermudian First Sergeant Robert John Simmons of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment , whose account of fighting in South Carolina, written on the approach to Fort Wagner July 18, 1863, was to be published in the New York Tribune on December 23, 1863 (Simmons having died in August of wounds received in the attack on Fort Wagner). The most reliable estimates indicate at least 2,000 people were injured. Herbert Asbury ,

2668-413: The number of visitors from the roughly 7,500 who visit annually to about 50,000. Caples Jefferson Architects designed a new museum building that opened in 2014. In 2019, the center launched an emergency crowdfunding campaign due to budget shortfalls. The Center asked that donors give at least $ 200,000 until the city could allot funds; it ultimately received $ 350,000. That June, the city announced that

2726-491: The police were able to secure the orphanage for enough time to allow the orphans to escape before the building burned down. Throughout the areas of rioting, mobs attacked and killed numerous black civilians and destroyed their known homes and businesses, such as James McCune Smith 's pharmacy at 93 West Broadway, believed to be the first owned by a black man in the United States. Near the midtown docks, tensions brewing since

2784-487: The rioters because they had also been drafted on Saturday. The New York Tribune was attacked, being looted and burned; not until police arrived and extinguished the flames was the crowd dispersed. Later in the afternoon, authorities shot and killed a man as a crowd attacked the armory at Second Avenue and 21st Street. The mob broke all the windows with paving stones ripped from the street. The mob beat, tortured and/or killed numerous black civilians, including one man who

2842-652: The rioters, was burned. The mayor's residence on Fifth Avenue was spared by words of Judge George Gardner Barnard , and the crowd of about 500 turned to another location of pillage. The Eighth and Fifth District police stations, and other buildings were attacked and set on fire. Other targets included the office of the New York Times . The mob was turned back at the Times office by staff manning Gatling guns , including Times founder Henry Jarvis Raymond . Fire engine companies responded, but some firefighters were sympathetic to

2900-476: The riots were "equivalent to a Confederate victory". Fifty buildings, including two Protestant churches and the Colored Orphan Asylum, were burned to the ground. The orphans at the asylum were first put under siege, then the building was set on fire, before all those who attempted to escape were forced to walk through a "beating line" of white rioters holding clubs. To escape, they would need to run through

2958-466: The riots. By 1865 the black population in the city had dropped to under 10,000, the lowest since 1820. The white working-class riots had changed the demographics of the city, and white residents exerted their control in the workplace; they became "unequivocally divided" from the black population. On August 19, the government resumed the draft in New York. It was completed within 10 days without further incident. Fewer men were drafted than had been feared by

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3016-609: The unrest to participate in the riots alongside the Dead Rabbits and "Mackerelvillers". The Times editorialized that "the scoundrels cannot afford to miss this golden opportunity of indulging their brutal natures, and at the same time serving their colleagues the Copperheads and secesh [secessionist] sympathizers." The exact death toll during the New York draft riots is unknown, but according to historian James M. McPherson , 119 or 120 people were killed, although other estimates list

3074-494: The war continuing, Congress passed the Enrollment Act to establish a draft for the first time, as more troops were needed. In New York City and other locations, new citizens learned they were expected to register for the draft to fight for their new country. Black men were excluded from the draft as they were largely not considered citizens, and wealthier white men could pay for substitutes. New York political offices, including

3132-444: The white working class: of the 750,000 selected nationwide for conscription, only about 45,000 were sent into active duty. While the rioting mainly involved the white working class, middle and upper-class New Yorkers had split sentiments on the draft and use of federal power or martial law to enforce it. Many wealthy Democratic businessmen sought to have the draft declared unconstitutional . Tammany Democrats did not seek to have

3190-479: Was German-born, and many did not speak English. During the 1840s and 1850s, journalists had published sensational accounts, directed at the white working class, dramatizing the evils of interracial socializing, relationships, and marriages. Reformers joined the effort. The Democratic Party 's Tammany Hall political machine had been working to enroll immigrants as U.S. citizens so they could vote in local elections and had strongly recruited Irish. In March 1863, with

3248-467: Was a remnant of the colonial Hunterfly Road. Hunterfly Road was at the eastern edge of the 19th-century Weeksville settlement. After the rediscovery, Hurley learned that a block of houses bounded by Troy Avenue, Pacific Street, Schenectady Avenue, and Dean Street were about to be cleared to build new city housing under the Model Cities Program. He was able to initiate an archeological survey under

3306-445: Was attacked by a crowd of 400 with clubs and paving stones, then lynched , hanged from a tree and set alight. The Colored Orphan Asylum at 43rd Street and Fifth Avenue , a "symbol of white charity to blacks and of black upward mobility" that provided shelter for 233 children, was attacked by a mob at around 4 pm. A mob of several thousand, including many women and children, looted the building of its food and supplies. However,

3364-406: Was the most populous state at the time. A total of 46,000 military men from New York State died during the war, more from disease than wounds, as was typical of most combatants. New York Metropolitan Police Department under the command of Superintendent John A. Kennedy . Commissioners Thomas Coxon Acton and John G. Bergen took command when Kennedy was seriously injured by a mob during

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