Formerly known as Blackwell's Island and later Welfare Island, Roosevelt Island is a very small island in New York City's East River. It measures only .23 square miles in area. Though it is small, this island has an important history associated with it, one of mistreatment and a significant amount of pain. This small island was purchased in 1828. Just four years later, in 1832, a penitentiary was built. This created a physical barrier between the prisoners and the mainland. Strangely, this island wasn't just for criminals.

The rioting began in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York after Lieutenant Thomas Gilligan murdered an African American teenager, James Powell near his summer school.

Armstrong Browning Library Digital Collections ID: ab-letters-ltr_80149-00

On December 17, 1880, from 19, Warwick Crescent, W., Robert Browning wrote to Henry Morley to inform him he had accepted Morley’s invitation to meet with him and his “associates”—on the condition, however, that he not be asked to give a speech, which would be a “terror.” 

Notting Hill is a popular, multicultural neighborhood in London. The district is known for the Notting Hill Carnival, a popular Caribbean cultural event that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors every year. However, less than a decade ago, Notting Hill was a very different place. During the mid-20th century, Notting Hill was a neighborhood typically associated with crime and poverty.