The East St. Louis Race Riots

The period of 1917 – 1955 saw the positions of black Americans change. However, in this first half of the century, not drastically. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of coloured people) was most of the driving forces behind the advances black Americans in the 1930’s, 1940’s and 1950’s, experienced, with every case fought in that decade won; however, whether won or not the ultimate power remained in the hands of the Supreme court, where in some cases, policies would take from a year to a full decade to come to fruition; examples being many schools in the South that were ruled to be desegregated. In terms of general civil rights achieved on a mass scale for black Americans, progress was lacking, with the main changes occurring throughout the 1960’s.

Urban Blacks were also encounter with extreme racial violence in neighborhoods and at work. Different ethnic groups of new immigrants obtained power and used conflict as a strategy of diminishing urban Blacks power level. They began blocking Urban Black workers going to work throughout new immigrant’s neighborhoods. Race riots have played a crucial role in the social establishment of race, prejudice, and discrimination across the United States. Race riots uncovered fundamental tensions in societies experiencing swift technological and economic changes. In 1920, there were many race riots and other violence in many places, such as Red Summer Race Riots of 1919 and the St. Louis Riot of 1917 that took place during the segregation in the South and the Black urban migration to the North. These race riots were response to the reality that Urban Blacks were carrying on a powerful struggle against White supremacy. During race riots, Urban Blacks lived through a renewed flow of riots, massacres, and racial terrorism.

The Chicago Race Riots of 1919 helped to further show how African Americans are looked as inferior, not just within the citizens of the United States, but the Congress and criminal justice system. White and black beaches were separated by an invisible line; the black beach on 25th street and whites on 29th street. The story of Eugene Williams swimming on the beach worsened after a white police officer, Dan Callahan, refused to intervene or arrest the group of white men responsible for his death, in turn starting the deadliest racial violence in Chicago history. The riot lasted a week with protestors full of rage mostly on the South side with white gangs attacking isolated blacks and blacks attacking isolated whites.

The Chicago race riots of 1919 were one of the darkest moments in our nations history. But something so terrible does not just happen over night, in fact the reason for this riot began with the Great Migration around 1910. The Great Migration was the relocation of more than 6 million African-Americans from the rural south into the urban north. Of those 6 million African-Americans traveling to the north 500,000 of them went to Chicago 's South Side. The African-American population thought they were going to a better situation by escaping the apartheid practices of Jim Crow. However they were taken advantage of and seen as new competition to the northern white population. Nine years later during the summer of 1919, two years after World War I ended, the American society suffered from a racial tension that it has never seen before. The racial tension brewed from the demobilization of black and white

The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 was the culmination of racial tensions both endemic in American society as a whole in the period, and certain tensions peculiar to Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1921, Greenwood and its African American population became the outlet for these often violent tensions seething among Tulsa’s white population. The following paper seeks to shed some further understanding on what motivated and pushed the whites of Tulsa, Oklahoma to such a violent, extreme reaction during the riot.

Springfield 's history is a long and eventful one. Although there was one event that has seemed to haunt the citizens of Springfield for generations upon generations. This event is commonly referred to as the Springfield 1908 race riots. The race riots are remembered as a dark and painful part of springfield’s history.

Political advocacy organizations have historically played a big part in securing political rights for minority groups in Western Liberal Democracies. Whether we look to the now infamous Boston Tea Party to the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, we observe the importance of political organizations in their quest to ensure equitable rights for the people whom they represent. In context of the early twentieth century, the most prominent group to represent African-American’s in the United States was that of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP, as it is more commonly called, was founded on February 12, 1909 by a mixed group of individuals including but not limited to Ida B. Wells, W. E. B. DuBois and Archibald Grimké with the goal of creating a civil rights organization that would help assist in organizing for civil rights for blacks. One of its most prominent members, Charles Hamilton Houston, who became a part of the organization around the mid-twentieth century, changed the trajectory of the organization for years to come. Hence this essay

By the turn of the 20th century, African Americans who were once slave, less than 50 years ago were now full pledge citizens who can vote and exercise their rights as Americans. Reconstructive efforts were issued to aid the newly emancipated black population, more several in the south. Programs such as the Freedman’s Bureau, provided free blacks and poor white with food, housing, schooling and medical assistance in attempts for a better transition. However, freed blacks were met with challenges with discrimination and segregation among their white societals. These challenges came in forms of locally organized laws such as the Black Codes, and the Jim Crow Laws. When those barriers were challenged or wasn’t doing enough, violence is referred to in the epidemic of lyncing. African Americans endured these hardships under restrictions both socially and economically as blacks had little non economic mobility. Majority of the black population were sharecroppers, household personnel and many were also illiterate. Not only did African Americans suffered socially and economically but politically as well. Numerous cases are brought to the courts to exercise their rights as citizen but were often shut down. The 1896, Plessy v. Fergusson, voted in favor of segregation; as long as they are equal in what is being offered. But a break was in for the African Americans to move north. The industrial cities of NY and Philly have already attracted African Americans prior and in the year 1914,

There are very few situations in which violence is the proper response. However, even before this country was established Americans have been using violence to communicate their ideas when they feel that they are not being heard. A very good example of this is the race riot, which has been a very frequent occurrence in American history, especially in the past century. Whenever a riot occurs, those involved often come under heavy scrutiny, and are heavily criticized as savage or unintelligent. In Particular the Baltimore riots of 2015 were heavily scrutinized and those that were involved were often referred to a senseless thugs. However I believe that the Baltimore Riots were a necessary evil that helped the country to move closer to equality.

Among the copious amounts of race riots arising in many parts of the United States, the Chicago race riot is the most recognizable. On July 27, 1919, a black boy named Eugene Williams was stoned by whites and drowned in the 29th street beach after accidentally swimming into white claimed territory. While this angered African Americans, the refusal by police to arrest the offenders of the attack infuriated them even more. The incident caused a full blown race riot, leaving 23 blacks and 15 whites dead, 537 people injured, and 1,000 black families homeless over a 13 period. In Washington D.C., four whites were killed along with two blacks, however, in Phillips County, Arkansas, 25 African Americans and 5 whites were declared officially dead,

On July 27, 1919, a young African-American man named Eugene Williams unknowingly swam past an invisible line of segregation at a public beach on Lake Michigan. He was then stoned by white bystanders, knocked unconscious and drowned. The death of Eugene Williams set off one of the deadliest and bloodiest riots Chicago has ever seen. I also believe that the labor conflict was another major reason as to why these riots took place. While there were several other factors that contribute to the Chicago race riot, I believe that these particular events are what sparked all the madness.

In 1901 an Article about the reconstruction of state I the south contributed to the rise of Jim Crow laws and white supremacy. There was also an increase of segregation which was enforced by Woodrow Wilson and his administration, during his presidency he allowed federal departments to be segregated. Lewis states that “Segregation became the operative method of dealing with Black workers” (273). Wilson created an “ Anti-Black Legislation”(Lewis 273), the policies that his administration created were devastating for almost 100,000 blacks across the nation. Before Wilsons administration Blacks believed that with skills and education they would be able to advance, now blacks could not even receive jobs as clerks or assistants and when they applied to jobs they were forced to send in pictures. The enforcement of segregation and Jim Crow laws and the showing of Birth of a Nation at the White House allowed for the Ku Klux Klan to gain power and violent attacks against black and other “un-Americans” (Lewis 312) became

Following the Second World War, the United States experienced a period of activism for the sake of providing basic human rights to whites and people of color alike until the early 1970s. This period was recognized as the Second Reconstruction, which primarily paved the way to end discrimination against African Americans and give them the freedom and equal rights whites had become entitled to as the country’s citizens. Due to the growing tension and unrest triggered by the segregation of people of color from white establishments, blacks and other minorities were cornered into a state where they had little choice but to seek ways to improve the treatment they receive. Daniel Martinez HoSang defined racial liberalism as the idea that the government would play an active role in ensuring the end of racial discrimination because it defied the “American Dream” of disregarding “religion, race, ethnicity, and national origin” when discussing the people’s rights (13). Therefore, the existence of racial liberalism arguably served as the catalyst that brought discriminatory and unequal issues on black people to the forefront of society. Racial liberalism essentially led to the Civil Rights Movement which advocated for the end of segregation and the subsequent Black Power movement which empowered blacks to take matters into their own hands in an act of self-determination. Despite the varying successes that marked the period, however, the consequences of the unpopular decisions of a

Civil Rights is an issue brought to the frontlines in the 20th Century, fought by nearly everyone regardless of sex, age, or race. Within the Civil Rights movements were antiwar movements, which protested the Vietnam war and called for a complete withdrawal of military involvement. These anti-war movements alongside the Civil Rights movements were successful in ending the Vietnam war. In this paper, the antiwar movements will be compared to the Loving’s story and their rebellion. The Loving’s story will be discussed in detail about the injustice and discriminatory laws that were in Virginia and in other parts of the United States. Additionally, Jim Crow laws and the story of college students in Birmingham who stood up against inequality will be discussed to give further insight of the issue of Civil Rights in America.

The Tulsa Race Riot impacted so many people and all it gets is a paragraph or one page in an Oklahoma history textbook. This event put Tulsa on the map and it barely gets any recognition. How are people supposed to change the world if information is constantly hidden? The riot didn’t completely leave a negative impact. Don’t be fooled, it was terrible and extremely destructive, but some good came out of it. For example, in my case I swell with pride when I hear about how successful and booming the black community was in Tulsa. It makes me appreciate my hometown and what it has to offer. The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 impacted the Greenwood District by creating more roots in Tulsa, destroying the lives and homes of families, and hiding the significance of Greenwood and how prosperous it was.