Chicago Race Riots 1919: How it all began

Since the beginning United States has struggled with racism and equality for African Americans. One of the events that was part of history and made a big impact on the United States was the Chicago Race Riots of 1919. Chicago was a very diverse state at the time but mostly composed of a huge African American population. Tension had already begun between African Americans and whites regarding employment, housing and other areas.

On July 27, 1919 an African American young boy named Eugene Williams was stoned and drowned by a group of white teenagers as he had passed the borderline that separated where African Americans and whites could swim at the beach on 29th Street in Chicago. After this occurred policed failed to arrest the white male who witnesses had reported as being responsible for Williams’ death. This incident then triggered violence and rioting between African American and whites, which lasted for five days resulting in many violent crimes that led to thirty-eight people dead and more than 500 people injured.

This project will look at some of the attacks endured by African Americans during the riots and the suffering they went through to see how all of this made an impact on the United States view of segregation and the fair treatment of African Americans by police. Some died either by being shot, hanged or stoned to death. The type of violence and rage that broke out during these riots was so dramatic and powerful that it opened the eyes of the American population all over the United States and provided and insight of the struggles African Americans faced every day by racism.

The MAP section will be illustrating murders that occurred during the riots of African Americans with a description of the way that they were killed. The ANALYSIS section will discuss how some newspaper articles that reported this event opened the eyes of people all over the country. The CASE DETAILS will list names of some of the victims who were murdered during the Chicago Riots which were mapped on the visualization map.