AVL: "The Negro In Chicago"
History.com: "The Chicago Race Riot of 1919"
Yale.edu; The Gilder Lehrman Center For The Study Of Slavery, Resistance, & Abolition
Chicago Gangs UIC.edu
Northwestern.edu; University of Law "Homicide in Chicago 1870-1930"
University of Michigan; "Student Project"
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
The Chicago Race Riots of 1919
On July 27, 1919 a boy by the name of Eugene Williams went to Lake Michigan to enjoy a day at the beach. What he did not know was that the beach was unofficially segregated, which meant Eugene Williams was not supposed to be on the beach in the minds of most white people. When a group of white males walked by and saw Eugene in the segregated beach they took it upon themselves to do something about it. They threw rocks at Eugene while he was swimming in the lake and some of the rocks struck Eugene and sent him drowning down to the bottom of Lake Michigan. Many African American people were outraged by this incident, they called the police and fought back against the white extremists. When the police arrived on the scene they found a man that was reportedly seen by eye witnesses to have thrown the rock at Eugene Williams, this mans name was Ges Stauber. The police at first refused to arrest Stauber but finally they arrested him and took him to jail.
According to Yale University some of the most probably causes could have been: Race Prejudice, Economic Competition, Political Corruption and Exploitation of Negro Voters, Police Inefficiency, Newspaper lies about Negro Crimes, Unpunished crimes against Negroes, Housing, and Reaction of whites and Negroes after coming home from war. But before 1915, the city of Chicago was well known for the well treatment of Negroes. But when the white men left for the war someone had to work in the railroad hub of the country. From 1916 to 1919 the black population in the city increased by over 148%.
All of this pent up aggression sparked riots and fights in the south side of Chicago. During these riots 15 white people died, 23 black people died, 500 people total were injured, and more than 1,000 black families were left homeless due to their houses being torched by angry white men. At one period of time there were 6,000 state militia roaming the streets fighting against the riots. At one riot there were 1,500 angry black men trying to fight against 100 armed policemen.
The president at the time Woodrow Wilson blamed the whites for instigating the riots. One suggestion to stop these riots presented was to create a Chicago Commission on Race Relations which would include, 6 white men and 6 black men, and would help solve issues on the topics of competition for jobs, inadequate housing, and inconsistent law enforcement. Some people even suggested zoning laws but everyone in Chicago knew that different zoning was not going to stop the tension that was created between these two groups of people.
One man described these riots in a statement, "Five days of terrible hate and passion let loose, cost the people of Chicago 38 lives, wounded and maimed several hundred, destroyed property of untold value, filled thousands with fear, blemished the city and left in it's wake fear and apprehension for the future." The riots finally ended on August 3, 1919.
Chicago was not the only city struck down by these race riots, in the Summer of 1919 there were riots of racial tension in Washington D.C.; Knoxville, Tennessee; Longview, Texas; Detroit, Michigan; and Phillips County, Arkansas. The KKK (Ku Klux Klan) had a resurgence during this time period where there were 64 lynchings and 83 lynchings in 1919. This may have had something to do with the causes of these race riots.
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