Fires were not uncommon in New York in the early 18th century. The city's ever-present fear of destruction by fire was heightened by the suspicion that the fires of 1741 were ignited by rebellious slaves. Arson was used by enslaved New Yorkers in…

Colonists' protests against the Stamp Act took many forms, including hanging and burning effigies of British officials, and destroying the offices and houses of Stamp Act commissioners and royal officials. The following account of an attack on Andrew…

In this editorial, published on May 2nd, 1846, Brooklyn Eagle editor and poet Walt Whitman notes the growing "war-fever" that had gripped the nation in recent months. In fact, the "lighted match" which sparked the U.S. to wage war against Mexico had…

During the Progressive era, some women believed they could improve conditions for workers through their power as consumers—how they decided what products to buy, and from which stores. At both the local and national levels, women organized…

Women, who did most of the shopping in turn-of-the-century households, used their purchasing power to push forward many Progressive reforms. They organized local and national consumers' leagues to boycott businesses that employed unfair labor…

In this 1902 editorial, the Brooklyn Eagle describes the conditions that require some children to work for wages to support their families.

In this 1902 editorial, the Brooklyn Eagle strongly criticizes parents who sent their children to work in mines, work that the newspaper saw as dangerous and unhealthy for children.

With the Compromise of 1850, the North and South avoided - or more accurately, delayed - a struggle that threatened to rip the Union apart. The Compromise included a Fugitive Slave Law, which empowered the federal government to prosecute northern…

Between 1916 and 1930, over a million African Americans living in the South migrated to cities in the North and West in what has become known as the "Great Migration." Many who were considering whether or not to leave the South sought information and…

Lands and mines cannot produce wealth without labor. Anglo-American mine owners, plantation managers and ranchers recruited Mexican and Mexican-American workers as a cheap source of labor. The western economy depended on the constant northward flow…