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These Insane Viral Trends and Fads Overtook History Long Before the Internet

Khalid Elhassan July 13, 2022 37 min

Viral - Marathon dancers in 1923 — Marathon dancers in 1923. Library of Congress

18. People Were Literally Murdered for Wearing Straw Hats

Viral - Contemporary headline about New York City's 1922 Straw Hat Riot — Contemporary headline about New York City’s 1922 Straw Hat Riot. The New York Times

Straw hat wearers who crossed the rowdy NYC kids during the 1922 Straw Hat Riot were lucky if they only lost their hats. The unlucky ones lost their hats and got beaten to a pulp. Police were helpless, as the riot went on for days, and spread from the East Side to the rest of Manhattan. The Upper West Side became particularly dangerous for the straw-lidded, as a mob of more than 1000 hooligans snatched straw hats on Amsterdam Avenue. Many were injured during the riot, and many were arrested. However, since many culprits were underage, they did not stay in lockup for long, before they were released to their parents.

In the East 104^th Street Precinct, the police lieutenant in charge insisted that the parents spank their kids then and there, as a condition for their release. The viral straw hat destruction fad continued. Although there was no recurrence of widespread rioting on the scale of 1922’s mayhem, the end of straw hat season continued to be attended by violence. In 1924, for example, a man was murdered for wearing a straw hat after September 15^th. The violent tradition finally came to an end when straw hats went out of fashion during the Great Depression.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.