© 2026 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Haymarket Riot Remembered

On May 4, 1886, a bomb went off in Chicago that ignited one of the nation's first red scares. The blast killed seven police officers and led to the hanging of four anarchists accused of plotting the attack.

Historian James Green's book Death in the Haymarket explores the tensions that led to the explosion and the panic that followed.

He talks with Debbie Elliott about a period of paranoia in American life, and the ways the violence helped to shape the modern labor movement.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
WRVO is now well into its second year without federal funding. Through it all, our mission has stayed the same: serving central and upstate New York with trusted journalism, vital local coverage, and the diverse programming that informs and connects our communities. Listeners like you are what keep journalists on the ground, asking the hard questions that matter to our region.

Stand with public media and make your gift today. You'll be supporting more than yourself. You'll be supporting everyone who depends on WRVO as a trusted resource and civic cornerstone in central and upstate New York.