On this day, May 30, in 1741

The British colony of New York was in the middle of executing 34 people who had been found guilty of plotting a slave uprising in the New York Conspiracy Trials. At that time, blacks made up approximately 18% of the colony’s population. New York’s white elite, haunted by memories of a slave uprising almost 30 years before, feared losing control of the slave population. When a fire broke out at Fort George, followed by a series of other fires, rumors of a massive slave rebellion led to widespread panic. The hysteria, fueled by racist fears, resulted in the arrest of a total of 152 slaves, 30 of whom were either hanged or burned at the stake along with 4 whites.