The Democratic Party political machine at Tammany Hall had become accustomed to its lucrative trade with the slave-holding South. It had lasted over a century. Most of New York City's power brokers supported slavery and helped strictly enforce segregation laws in the name of white supremacy. They were infuriated by African American New Yorkers and their defiant demand for equal rights.

One tactic used by the pro-slavery Tammany Hall politicians to scare and manipulate their new European immigrant supporters was to warn that if Southern slaves were freed, they would flood into New York City and take immigrant jobs.

Some immigrants were frightened by this prospect. Others were outraged. This fear and anger set the stage for several anti-African American riots that occurred in the nineteenth century.

The most serious were the draft riots of 1863, during which over a thousand people were killed.

Despite crushing obstacles, African American New York continued to struggle, agitate, and grow. By the 1870s, the color barrier had been broken in New York City's transportation system and its public schools. With the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1873, all Black New Yorkers achieved equal voting rights.