Pennsylvania Hall Burned by Anti-Abolitionist Mob

Pennsylvania Hall, built by abolitionists at a cost of $40,000 as a free-speech venue, is burned to the ground by a mob of 10,000 on May 17, 1838 — three days after it opened. The mob was enraged by an interracial anti-slavery meeting. Philadelphia's mayor disperses police rather than protect the building. The attack embodies Northern white hostility to both abolition and racial equality.