In 1824, several hundred white people tore down about 20 homes occupied by black people in a mixed neighborhood called Hardscrabble in the Town of Providence, R.I.
What triggered the riot will probably never be known.
The underlying cause, though, was the industrialization that pushed artisans like weavers and shoemakers into factory jobs. They resented it, and they took their resentment out on poor African Americans. Click to Read the Whole Story.