5 Race Riots In America That You Were Never Taught In School - Page 4

3. The Red Summer (1919) – Nationwide

The summer of 1919 saw a wave of race riots erupt across more than three dozen cities in the U.S., including Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Elaine, Arkansas. Tensions were high as Black soldiers returned from World War I demanding civil rights and work opportunities, prompting many white Americans to react with violence. 

According to the National World War Museum and Memorial, the carnage and violence started first in Washington, D.C. On July 19, 1919, fueled by a false rumor that a Black man had assaulted a white woman, white mobs took to the streets. Led by off-duty sailors and recently discharged soldiers, they targeted Black neighborhoods, attacking residents at random and igniting days of racial terror in the nation’s capital.

Just days later, violence erupted again — this time in Chicago. On July 27, tensions reached a breaking point when a Black teenager, Eugene Williams, drowned in Lake Michigan after being struck with rocks for accidentally crossing into a whites-only swimming area. The police refused to arrest the white perpetrator, sparking outrage and unleashing days of violence.

What followed was one of the most devastating urban race riots in U.S. history. Fighting engulfed Chicago’s South and West Sides and spilled into downtown. As fires spread and assaults mounted, the state militia was called in to restore order. By the time the violence subsided, 38 people were dead — 23 Black and 15 white — with over 500 injured. More than 1,000 Black families were left homeless as white rioters torched homes and businesses across the city.

Arkansas, saw one of the deadliest episodes, where up to 200 Black people were killed following a dispute over an alleged “insurrection” among Black sharecroppers. The deadly riot erupted in response to a white law officer being gunned down outside a Black sharecropper gathering.