home | many pasts | evidence | www.history | blackboard | reference
talking history | syllabi | students | teachers | puzzle | about us
search: go!
advanced search - go!

Illustrating News

In the 19th century, drawings were the public’s only visual representations of news events, since the technology to print photographs in newspapers was not yet available. Newspapers and magazine illustrations thus possessed great power to shape public opinion. This puzzle asks you to decide—without the assistance of captions or accompanying articles—what event is being depicted in three examples of such news illustrations.

Match the image to the event it is portraying.

  1. The observance of St. Patrick’s Day in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City.
  2. Scenes of responses to passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law in New York City.
  3. The New York City draft riot of 1863.
  4. The Astor Place riot of 1849.

  1. The observance of St. Patrick’s Day in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City.
  2. Scenes of responses to passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law in New York City.
  3. The New York City draft riot of 1863.
  4. The Astor Place riot of 1849.

  1. The observance of St. Patrick’s Day in the Five Points neighborhood of New York City.
  2. Scenes of responses to passage of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law in New York City.
  3. The New York City draft riot of 1863.
  4. The Astor Place riot of 1849.

Solution to this Puzzle

Return to Puzzle Archive