On December 16, 1773, a group of protesters in Boston donned handkerchiefs and smeared their faces with soot, disguising themselves as Native Americans, as they hurled tea into the sea. Some of these Boston Tea Partiers were apprentices who worked for pro-government masters and worried about losing their jobs. Others feared retribution from the British crown. Most of the protesters who dumped tea into Boston Harbor still remain unknown, but the conditions making that kind of anonymity possible may be gone forever.
Protesting anonymously is as old as America itself, but Americans’ ability to do so appears to be in jeopardy as government officials across the country push mask bans