One hundred and fifty-eight years ago this summer, a massacre occurred in New York City.

From history books to Hollywood, it has long been told as a violent uprising by poor, Irish men against conscription into the Union Army during the Civil War. But the so-called Draft Riots were more about economic insecurity and white supremacy than draft dodging. As wealthier white people were buying their way out of fighting in the war, the white working-class was fighting the war itself, stating they did not want to fight on behalf of the freedom of Black people.