On This Day
1863 – New York City draft riots: In New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.
The New York City draft riots (July 13–16, 1863), sometimes referred to as the Manhattan draft riots and known at the time as Draft Week,[3] 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 and most racially charged urban disturbance in American history.[4]
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln diverted several regiments of militia and volunteer troops after the Battle of Gettysburg to control the city. The rioters were overwhelmingly white working-class men who feared free black people competing for work and resented that wealthier men, who could afford to pay a $300 (equivalent to $6,300 in 2020[5]) commutation fee to hire a substitute, were spared from the draft.[6][7]
Initially intended to express anger at the draft, the protests turned into a race riot, with white rioters, many of them Irish immigrants,[4] attacking black people, in violence throughout the city. 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.”[8]
The military did not reach the city until the second day of rioting, by which time 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.[9] The area’s demographics changed as a result of the riot. Many black residents left Manhattan permanently with many moving to Brooklyn. By 1865, the black population had fallen below 11,000 for the first time since 1820.[9]
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Born On This Day
1889 – Emma Asson, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1965)
Emma Asson (13 July 1889 – 1 January 1965),[1] was an Estonian politician (Social Democrat). She was the first woman to be elected to the Estonian parliament. Asson participated in the creation of the first constitution of the independent Estonia, particularly within the fields of education and gender equality. She also wrote the some of first history textbook in the Estonian language in 1912.
Biography
Emma Asson was born in Vaabina Parish, Võru County, Governorate of Livonia, part of the Russian Empire, as the daughter of a teacher. She studied at the A. S. Pushkin Girls’ School in Tartu and graduated in history at the Bestuzhev Courses in Saint Petersburg in Russia in 1910. She was then employed as a history teacher at a girls’ college in Tartu.
Emma Asson was active in different women’s organisations for social and education issues. In 1919, she was elected to the Tallinn city council as well as to the first national parliament of the independent Estonia for the social democrats. She was the first woman. In 1920 the women of Estonia were given full political rights under a new constitution. Two women were consulted over this constitution and they were Minni Kurs-Olesk and Asson.[2] She was a member of the Education Ministry in 1919–21, secretary for the Estonian Women’s Association and Head of the Education Department in 1925–1940.
She was married to the politician Ferdinand Petersen from 1921 to 1941.
FYI
11 Alive: WWE Hall of Famer ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff dies at 71
Paul Parlette Orndorff Jr. (October 29, 1949 – July 12, 2021)[4] was an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), nicknamed Mr. Wonderful.
After seven years working around the National Wrestling Alliance, Orndorff became a star in the 1980s WWF wrestling boom, and featured with manager Bobby Heenan and champion Hulk Hogan extensively, including in the main events of the first WrestleMania and Survivor Series. With an untreated neck injury, he left the WWF for WCW in early 1988, where he won the WCW World Television Championship and the WCW World Tag Team Championship with Paul Roma (as a team called Pretty Wonderful).
Arm atrophy from his nagging injury led him to retire in 2000. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 and the National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame in 2009. After retiring from wrestling, he trained others and survived cancer in 2011.
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By Josh Jones, Open Culture: Hear Louis Armstrong’s Last Reel-to-Reel Tape, Made Hours Before His Death (1971)
By Simon Shuster/Kyiv, Time: Exclusive: Documents Reveal Erik Prince’s $10 Billion Plan to Make Weapons and Create a Private Army in Ukraine
The Editors, Outside Online: The Best Campground in Every State We found the best places to pitch your tent in all 50 states, so you don’t have to.
By Graham Averill, Outside: My Kids Navigated Our Road Trip—It Was an Adventure I gave my 12-year-olds the Rand McNally on our 300-mile drive from Atlanta to the South Carolina coast to impart the joys of reading an old-school physical map
By Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine: Why Bats Are One of Evolution’s Greatest Puzzles Paleontologists seek the ancestors that could explain how bats became the only flying mammals.
Gastro Obscura: Capturing the wonder of the Cosmo, and the Cosmos, in jelly cake and more ->
CBN News: Anchorage Tries Again to Force Christian Women’s Shelter to Make Female Victims of Abuse Sleep Next to Trans Males
By Sheena L. Gilbert, Emily Wright and Tara N. Richards, Ms.: Federal Policy Has Failed To Protect Indigenous Women
By Andi Ahne, KXNET: ‘There’s not going to be anyone there to do it for you’: Self-defense taught to Indigenous women in Bismarck
The Passive Voice, From The New York Public Library: Summer Book Kit Giveaway at The New York Public Library
The Passive Voice, From Writer Unboxed: Should Authors Review Books?
As argument for not fighting online, PG would ask,
“Is it your job to make sure that everything on the internet is true?”
“Does your muse ever become distracted when you’re in a nasty fight?”
“Has anyone contacted you and begged you to share your completely candid view about this book/author online?”
Recipes
By UrbanGriller: Korean Hotdog
By Cookizane: Campfire Cinnamon Buns on a Stick
By Science and Crumb, Food Talk Daily: Gluten-Free Cinnamon Sugar Cupcake
By In The Kitchen With Matt: Ice Cream Bars
I Wash You Dry: Super Easy Caramel Corn Recipe
RecipeTinEats
- Bruschetta summer pasta salad January 7, 2025This summer pasta salad is everything you want when it’s too hot to cook! Quick, nearly no cook (just boil pasta) and full of bright, fresh, bruschetta-inspired tomato flavours. Also – a useful tip for how to store basil that actually really, truly works! Bruschetta summer pasta salad Every Christmas break, I have intentions of... […]Nagi
- How to store basil January 7, 2025After trying every which way to store basil so it doesn’t turn brown within a day of buying it, I’ve finally learnt how to store basil so it stays perky, green and fresh for over a week. Just stick it in a jar of water and keep it on the counter. That’s right – not... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for January 9 January 9, 2025Picture of the day Art installation “Himmelsleiter” (Billi Thanner) on the tower of St. Lambert's Church in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyThe artwork came from St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna to St. Lambert's Church in Münster in September 2022. It remained there until March 2024 and has been on display at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris since […]
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for January 8 January 8, 2025Picture of the day The view of Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View in Yosemite National Park, California, United States
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Stump the Bookseller is a service offered by Loganberry Books to reconnect people to the books they love but can’t quite remember. In brief (for more detailed information see our About page), people can post their memories here, and the hivemind goes to work. After all, the collective mind of bibliophiles, readers, parents and librarians around the world is much better than just a few of us thinking. Together with these wonderful Stumper Magicians, we have a nearly 50% success rate in finding these long lost but treasured books. The more concrete the book description, the better the success rate, of course. It is a labor of love to keep it going, and there is a modest fee. Please see the How To page to find price information and details on how to submit your Book Stumper and payment.
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