A "CITYWIDE CAMPAIGN TO ERASE THE POST-EMANCIPATION PRESENCE OF THE BLACK COMMUNITY": FIRST EDITION OF THE 1863 REPORT… FOR THE RELIEF OF COLORED PEOPLE SUFFERING FROM THE LATE RIOTS, EXCEPTIONAL CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF THE DEADLY NEW YORK DRAFT RIOTS
(CIVIL WAR) (COLYER, Vincent). Report of the Committee of Merchants for the Relief of Colored People, Suffering from the Late Riots in the City of New York. New York: George A. Whitehorne, 1863. Slim octavo, disbound; pp. 48. Housed in a custom clamshell box.
First edition of the timely Report documenting the July 1863 Draft Riots that largely targeted and killed African American men, mob violence that left many "brutally murdered, by hanging on trees and lampposts" the first major outbreak "in almost a century of lynching… aimed at suppressing the civil rights of African Americans."
The infamous New York Draft Riots of July 13-18, 1863 paralyzed the city and resulted in over 100 deaths. Targeting black men, the carnage "proved to be the first outburst in… almost a century of lynching throughout the North and South aimed at suppressing the civil rights of African Americans." The rampage that also left an estimated 3,000 black families homeless was partly triggered by the Conscription Act that made "able-bodied male citizen(s)" subject to the draft (i.e. white men) and exempted those able to pay $300. "The horrifying violence also stemmed from Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect six months earlier" (Scheder, Devil's Own Work, 4-6).
This
Report, issued by civil leaders to coordinate aid for the victims, documents the violence that left so many "brutally murdered, by hanging on trees and lampposts… cruelly beaten and robbed" (7). Northern mobs had turned their rage on African Americans before, and "many Civil War-era New Yorkers could recall the attacks on black homes and churches during the eight-day anti-abolitionist riot of 1834." But the draft riots' "unprecedented scope, audacity and… horrifying slaughter of black men suggested a far more extreme, citywide campaign to erase the post-emancipation presence of the black community… what made the July riots' brand of racial attack new was its sweeping character… the crowds' desire not merely to destroy but to wipe clean the tangible evidence of a black presence" (Bernstein,
New York City Draft Riots, 6, 27).
As recounted in pages of the Report, one of the most vicious assaults came when a mob targeted a black laborer, William Jones. The crowd "set upon and beat him and after nearly killing him, hanged him to a lamp-post. His body was left suspended for several hours and was much mutilated" (16). "Not only were the draft riots a microcosm of the Civil War, but the debate over how to end the riots and dispense justice in their wake foreshadowed the national struggle that would develop over Reconstruction… The riots were also a preview of the social unrest that would afflict America well into the 20th century" (Scheder, 5-6). Sabin 54633. With "Report of the Secretary" by Vincent Colyer; August 22, 1863 "Address… Presented by Colored Ministers and Laymen"; "Reply" by the Executive Committe chairman. Rear list of "Subscriptions" including the names of prominent African American clergy and civic leaders. Early inked annotation and notations to title page verso and margins of first text leaf. Number"4" inked above title page.
A fine copy.