A Riot Started Over Socially Unacceptable Straw Hats
Many of you have probably heard of the statement that you shouldn’t wear white after Labor Day. But back in 1922, there was an unwritten rule that men should stop wearing straw hats by September 15, known as “Felt Hat Day”. If you continued wearing straw hats past the deadline, it opened yourself up to insults from strangers. Teenagers also enjoyed knocking straw hats off men’s heads and stomping them on the ground.
Two days before, on the 13th, a group of teenagers decided to get an early start knocking hats off dock worker’s heads and stomping them on the ground. This led to fighting, and the teenagers were arrested. After this event, this inspired over 1,000 teenagers to riot in the streets of New York for eight days straight, hitting men in straw hats with large sticks. Several people were arrested, and some were injured.
