During this time, there were several incidents of violence committed by Irish Americans against black people, such as in the 1834 Philadelphia race riot.
On the morning of August 4, after hearing rumors of some sort of confrontation that was being planned, the foreman at one of the factories, operated by the Lorillard Tobacco Company, sent home all of his black workers.
After congregating outside of the Lorillard plant, the mob rallied outside of the Watson factory, breaking the windows and attacking the workers inside.
The black workers were able to barricade themselves on the second floor while the white mob engaged in a violent confrontation with the police and attempted to burn the building down.
[1] In their contemporary coverage of the event, several local newspapers, such as The New York Times and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, called the riot one of the worst in the city's history up to that point and were largely sympathetic towards the victims.
[6] According to historians Glenn C. Altschuler and Stuart M. Blumin, Irish workers were conflicted about working alongside African Americans, as many feared the competition for employment that increased black involvement in the labor force would bring.
[7] In Brooklyn, these fears were inflamed by Copperhead newspapers and politicians who alleged that the emancipation of black slaves in the Southern United States and subsequent migration northwards would hurt the Irish workers economically.
[4][9] According to academic Carla Peterson, contemporary newspapers in the area, including the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the Brooklyn Daily Times, The New York Times, and the New-York Tribune cite other factors as contributing to this increased hostility, including rumors that some African Americans were planning to move into the neighborhood or had offered to work for wages less than what the Irish workers were being paid.
[2] At about 8 a.m. on Monday, August 4, William Egner, a foreman at Lorillard's plant, said that he saw some young man hanging around the street corner and had heard rumors that some sort of confrontation was planned for the day related to Friday's fight.
[9] One of the foremen at Lorillard's factory had sent home all of the black employees for the day,[3] additionally barricading the door and locking the windows.
[15] According to Peterson, newspapers covering the event were largely sympathetic towards the victims and criticized the mob,[16] with The New York Times accusing the rioters of working in the services of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America.
[13] Following the riot, legal proceedings commenced against the arrested rioters, which included Richard Baylis, Thomas Clark, Joseph Flood, Patrick Keenan, John Long, Michael Meagher, William Morris, and Elias P.
[10] Keenan, who owned a liquor store in Brooklyn and had been a candidate for alderman in a previous election, was identified as the leader of the rioters, and it was he who had ordered the factory to be burned.
[18] Over the next several weeks, the case was delayed and rescheduled numerous times, and according to Peterson, newspaper coverage of the trial largely tapered off by August 19.
[20] In his analysis of the riot, Tchen views it as one of several related to the economic competition between Irish Americans and other minorities in the United States.
[21] According to historian John Strausbaugh, the riot was the first in a series of race-based incidents of violence in the New York metropolitan area.