Chicago Race Riots Essay - 2861 Words

A Look Into the Chicago Race Riots The Civil War was fought over the â€Å"race problem,† to determine the place of African-Americans in America. The Union won the war and freed the slaves. However, when President Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation, a hopeful promise for freedom from oppression and slavery for African-Americans, he refrained from announcing the decades of hardship that would follow to obtaining the new won â€Å"freedom†. Over the course of nearly a century, African-Americans would be deprived and face adversity to their rights. They faced something perhaps worse than slavery; plagued with the threat of being lynched or beat for walking at the wrong place at the wrong time. Despite the addition of the 14th and†¦show more content†¦Many left to the North because it was a place â€Å"†¦where there are no lynchings† (Sandburg 15), a place where they could be safe. The black population in Chicago lived in an area known as the â€Å"black belt.† The Negro Migration caused the population in the Chicago â€Å"black belt† to more than double from 50,000 to 125,000 making Chicago have the third or fourth largest black population next to New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington (7). A large influx of colored people created many problems. First, there was a major problem in the availability in housing, of which was responded to with racism. This is the root for the hatred between the black and white communities. There wasn’t enough housing in the â€Å"black belt† community, so Negroes began to spill into white neighborhoods. The very existence of a colored person in a neighborhood would lower the property values. When a house was sold to a colored person, the rent for the house would be higher than the previous, white owner’s rent. Real Estate companies believed that â€Å"it is a matter of common knowledge that house after house†¦whether under white or black agents, comes to the Negro at an increased rental† (Sandburg 46). They sold housing despite the fact that â€Å"the Negro in Chicago, paid a lower wage than the white workman† (47), and that black people would haveShow MoreRelatedChicago Race Riots Of 19191197 Words   |  5 PagesChicago Race of Riots of 1919 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 whiteRead MoreThe Chicago Race Riots Of 19191291 Words   |  6 PagesAmerica; the land of the free. 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-AmericanRead MoreRacism : A Racially Segregated Chicago1550 Words   |  7 PagesA racially segregated Chicago had experienced few race riots prior to 1919. However, between April 1919 and October 1919, race riots spanned the nation; this became known as the Red Summer. On July 27, 1919, Chicagoans started to express their emotions on racial issues, which turned into violence, lasting several days and resulting in the deaths, injuries, and displacement of hundreds of people. During this time, Chicagoans opinions regarding raci sm led to extreme chaos, leaving African AmericansRead MoreThe Red Summer Of 19191038 Words   |  5 Pageskilled than the amount of people being killed in the Chicago race riots. Fighting was happening all over our country. We were killing one another because of the hatred towards racism. â€Å"The Red Summer of 1919 refers to a series of race riots that took place between May and October of that year. Although riots occurred in more than thirty cities throughout the United States, the bloodiest events were in Chicago, Washington D.C. and Elaine, Ark.† (Retreived from the About Education website : http://afroamhistoryRead MoreThe Great Crusade And The Postwar Depression1352 Words   |  6 Pagesstarted to build, it became clear there would be an outbreak sooner than later. The migration of 1916, who were black Southerners traveling in large populations; that were poor, unskilled,uneducated and many other things. They came in thousands and Chicago was the main area that the y all went to. This increased the percentage of black people all over the north. With this came as a rush of emotions to the white Chicagoans; who were not prepared for the enormous invasion that took place in the city. AsRead MoreNot Like Us : Immigrants And Minorities853 Words   |  4 Pages Daniels, Roger. Not like Us: Immigrants and Minorities in America, 1890-1924. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1997. In his book, Not Like Us: Immigrants and Minorities in America, 1890-1924, Roger Daniels explores the true history of American nativism in a time period where immigrants entered the country in greater numbers than ever before, or since. Instead of focusing on politics or economic growth at the turn of the twentieth century, Daniels instead discusses the social context of the time and the treatmentRead MoreThe Journal Of The Elaine Race Riots980 Words   |  4 PagesIn the Journal of the Elaine Race Riots, I got to know the basic criticism that was for almost all the Race Riots that had taken place. However, the sophisticated social, economic and racial analysis of the Racial Riots was relatively new on the scholarly scene. It was, therefore, not surprising comparatively to work that was been undertaken. The problems the poor Negroes faced during the 1919’s. The Negroes had worked hard to raise the cotton crops but there was some trouble regarding the settlementsRead MoreRacia l Tension During The Great Migration Essay1699 Words   |  7 Pagesrural south to the urban cities in the north during â€Å"one of the most demographic phenomena of the twentieth century† (Tolnay 456). Between 1910 and 1920, the African American population increased in major cities such as New York by sixty-six percent, Chicago by one hundred and forty-eight percent, Philadelphia by five hundred percent, and Detroit by six hundred and eleven percent (Great Migration). In 1920, over one million African Americans lived in the cities; six-point-eleven percent of the populationRead MoreFor Years, The United States Has Stood As A Role Model1181 Words   |  5 Pagesbiggest mistake the United States has made because after the slaves were â€Å"freed†, segregation still kept them imprisoned. Segregation separated the two races and created an ongoing, one sided battle. Whites fought with the black because they felt superior. The whites felt that their entire race was above the black race. Schools had been separated by race, blacks had to use different bathrooms, shop in different stores, live in different towns, and even take different modes of transportation if whitesRead MoreRacial Violence, By Jacob Lawrence s Migration Series1203 Words   |  5 PagesMississippi. His attackers took him out of his family’s home in the middle of the night, and tortured him and then eventually disposed of his body in the Tallahatchie River. After his body was discovered, his mother insisted that his body be sent home to Chicago in order for the family to bury him. At his funeral, his mother had an open casket so everyone could see what had happened to her poor boy. Racial violence, as expressed through music, imaging, and poems, is a problem that continues even today and