Chicago race riot of 1919

The Chicago race riot of 1919 was a violent racial conflict between white Americans and Black Americans that began on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, on July 27 and ended on August 3, 1919. During the riot, 38 people died (23 Black and 15 white). Over the week, injuries attributed to the episodic confrontations stood at 537, two thirds Black and one third white; and between 1,000 and 2,000 residents, most of them Black, lost their homes. Due to its sustained violence and widespread economic impact, it is considered the worst of the scores of riots and civil disturbances across the United States during the "Red Summer" of 1919, so named because of its racial and labor violence. It was also one of the worst riots in the history of Illinois. In early 1919, the sociopolitical atmosphere of Chicago around its rapidly-growing Black community was one of ethnic tension caused by long-standing racism, competition among new groups, an economic slump, and the social changes engendered by World War I. With the Great Migration, thousands of African Americans from the American South had settled next to neighborhoods of European immigrants on Chicago's South Side near jobs in the stockyards, meatpacking plants, and industry. Meanwhile, the long-established Irish fiercely defended their neighborhoods and political power against all newcomers. Post-World War I racism and social tensions built up in the competitive labor and housing markets. Overcrowding and increased African American resistance against racism, especially by war veterans, contributed to the racial tension, as well as white ethnic gangs unrestrained by police. The turmoil came to a boil during a summer heat wave with the murder of the 17-year-old Eugene Williams, an African American teenager who had inadvertently drifted into a white swimming area at an informally-segregated beach near 29th Street. A group of African-American youths were diving from a 14 foot by 9 foot raft that they had constructed.