CHICAGO RACE RIOT OF 1919

The 'Chicago Race Riot of 1919' was a major racial conflict that began in Chicago, Illinois on July 27 1919 and ended on August 3.^[1] It is considered to be the worst of the approximately 25 riots during the Red Summer of 1919.^[2] It lasted for several days and ended only after nearly 6,000 National Guard troops were deployed to put an end to the violence on the night of July 30. Most of the rioting, murder, and arson was concentrated in the city's Black Belt, but violent conflict occurred in areas throughout the city, including the Chicago Loop. The riot left 38 people dead (23 African Americans and 15 Caucasians), The Chicago Race Riots, July 1919 Sandburg, Carl 537 injured (342 African-Americans)^[3] and approximately 1000 homeless.

Contents

Background

Notes

References

External links

Background

Unlike southern cities until the 1960s, Chicago did not segregate most public accommodations. In fact, according to Walter Francis White, pre-1915 Chicago was reputed for its equitable treatment of Negroes in general.^[4] However, early 20th-century Chicago beaches were segregated.^[5]
After an inquest on the cause of death by the Cook County Coroner's Office which took 70 day sessions, 20 night sessions and 450 witnesses examinations, their report stated the finding that on July 27 1919 Eugene Williams, a Black youth, drowned after tiring of holding onto a railroad tie during a stone throwing melee between blacks and whites on the 29th Street beach in the city's Douglas community. A witness recalled a single white male standing on a breakwater 75 feet from their raft, throwing rocks at them. Eugene was struck in the forehead; he panicked and drowned. The assailant ran toward 29th Street, but rioting had already erupted there regarding blacks who wanted to use the beach in defiance of its tacit segregation. The rioting escalated when a white police officer refused to arrest the white man who threw the stone earlier and instead arrested a black individual. Anger over this, coupled with Eugene Williams' death, led to five days of rioting.^[6]
Early reports with details of injuries and incidences showed injuries to Chicago Police officers and a Chicago fireman.^[7] Roaming gangs of Bridgeport whites perpetrated much of the violence, led by a group known as the Hamburg Athletic Club, whose members included a 17-year-old Richard J. Daley, who eventually served as the city's mayor from 1955 to 1976. Richard J. Daley: A Separate World (page 7) Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor No whites were ever indicted or prosecuted for any of the murders. Daley was soon elected leader of the Hamburg Athletic Club, and never confirmed or denied that he was involved in the violence.

Notes

1. Race Riots Essig, Steven
2. Chicago Race Riot of 1919
3. Homicide in Chicago 1919: The Race Riot
4. “Chicago and Its Eight Reasons”: Walter White Considers the Causes of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot
5. Race Divisions on Public Beaches (page 1)
6. 1919: Race Riots O'Brien, Ellen and Lyle Benedict
7. "A Crowd of Howling Negroes": The Chicago Daily Tribune Reports the Chicago Race Riot, 1919

References

★ Tuttle, William. ''Race Riot Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919'' (Urbana, IL; University of Illinois Press, 1970)

★ Spear, Allan. ''Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto 1890-1920'' (Chicago, IL; University of Chicago Press, 1967)

★ Sandburg, Carl. ''The Chicago Race Riots July 1919'' (New York; Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969)

★ The Chicago Commission on Race Relations. ''The Negro in Chicago'' (Chicago, IL; University of Chicago Press, 1922)

External links

★ CPL Chicago1919 Race Riots

★ Jazz Age Chicago-The Chicago Race Riot of 1919