Chicago Race Riot of 1919 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 11/15/2007 08:59 PM
Chicago Race Riot of 1919
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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), [3] 537 injured (342 African-Americans)[4] and approximately A map of the riot-affected
1000 homeless. areas on the South Side of
Chicago, with the Union
Stock Yards visible. North is
to the right.
Contents
1 Background
2 Notes
3 References
4 External links
Background
Unlike southern cities until the 1960s, Chicago did not
segregate most public accommodations. [3] In fact,
according to Walter Francis White, pre-1915 Chicago was
reputed for its equitable treatment of Negroes in general. [5]
However, early 20th-century Chicago beaches were
segregated. [6]
A white gang looking for blacks during the
Chicago Race Riot of 1919 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
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Chicago Race Riot of 1919 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 11/15/2007 08:59 PM
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.[7]
Early reports with details of injuries and incidences showed injuries to Chicago Police officers and a Chicago
fireman.[8] 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.[9] 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. [9]
Notes
1. ^ Essig, Steven (2005). Race Riots (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1032.html) . The Electronic
Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society.
2. ^ Chicago Race Riot of 1919 (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9023985/Chicago-Race-Riot-of-1919) .
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
3. ^ a b Sandburg, Carl (2005). The Chicago Race Riots, July 1919
(http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/11045.html) . The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago
Historical Society.
4. ^ Homicide in Chicago 1919: The Race Riot (http://homicide.northwestern.edu/crimes/raceriot/) . Northwestern
University School of Law (2004). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
5. ^ “Chicago and Its Eight Reasons”: Walter White Considers the Causes of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot
(http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4978) . Crisis. History Matters (October 1919). Retrieved on 2007-08-27.
6. ^ Race Divisions on Public Beaches (page 1) (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/300066.html) . The
Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society (2005).
7. ^ O'Brien, Ellen and Lyle Benedict (February 2006). 1919: Race Riots
(http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/disasters/riots_race.html) . Chicago Public Library. Retrieved on 2007-08-25.
8. ^ "A Crowd of Howling Negroes": The Chicago Daily Tribune Reports the Chicago Race Riot, 1919
(http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4975/) . Chicago Daily Tribune. History Matters (1919-07-28). Retrieved on
2007-08-27.
9. ^ a b Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor (2000). Richard J. Daley: A Separate World (page 7)
(http://www.chicagohistory.info/stories/daley/racism.html) . Chicago History Information. chicagohistory.info.
Retrieved on 2007-08-26.
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)
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Chicago Race Riot of 1919 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 11/15/2007 08:59 PM
The Chicago Commission on Race Relations. The Negro in Chicago (Chicago, IL; University of Chicago
Press, 1922)
External links
CPL Chicago1919 Race Riots (http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/disasters/riots_race.html)
Jazz Age Chicago-The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 (http://chicago.urban-
history.org/evt/evt01/evt0100.shtml)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Race_Riot_of_1919"
Categories: History of Chicago | Racially motivated violence in the United States | 1919 in the United States |
Riots and civil unrest in the United States
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