5 Race Riots In America That You Were Never Taught In School

5 Race Riots In America That You Were Never Taught In School - Page 3

Countless riots—tragic and often ignored—have unfolded throughout American history, remaining absent from most textbooks and classrooms. Here are five you may not have learned about in school.

2. The East St. Louis Massacre (1917) – East St. Louis, Illinois

Amid growing racial tensions fueled by labor disputes and white resentment toward Black workers who had moved north during the Great Migration, violence exploded in East St. Louis.

Between 1916 and 1917, drawn by the promise of jobs in wartime industries, an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 African Americans left the South and migrated to East St. Louis, Illinois, as part of the Great Migration, per the American Experience. Their arrival transformed the city’s demographics and stirred resentment among many white residents, who viewed the growing Black workforce as a threat to their economic and social dominance.

Tensions simmered for a year until July 1, 1917, when a rumor spread that a Black man had killed a white man. The following day, July 2, that tension exploded into one of the deadliest race riots in American history. For nearly a week, East St. Louis was gripped by chaos: white mobs carried out drive-by shootings, brutal beatings, and widespread arson, all directed at the Black community.

The devastation was staggering. Official reports listed nine white deaths and claimed around 40 Black lives were lost, but many historians believe the true number of African American fatalities was in the hundreds. More than 6,000 Black residents fled the city, and damages to property approached $400,000, the equivalent of millions today.