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Race Riots: The Riot Of 1919

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The Riot of 1919 Race riots were always going on. After years of racial tension had built up, African Americans began moving to the North hoping to have better living situations and better job opportunities. The more Blacks that came the more crowded their living area became. So they started moving in the white communities. This is when tensions got high. The Ku Klux Klan reunited and began lynching blacks. In 1919 a young black boy drowned in Lake Michigan. He was swimming and drifted into the white section, he was stoned and eventually died in the water. This was the last straw for African Americans, which is when the Riot of 1919. In the time periods of 1916-1919 African Americans felt neglected, causing The Riot of 1919, and ending …show more content…

Blacks were promised better jobs which meant more money. On the Southside the black community lived in ran down duplicate apartment like buildings. The water was not up to standards. The environment was in critical conditions, very unhealthy, and unsanitary. From 1916-1918 the black communities population went from 44,000-100,000, which made the living situation very overcrowded. When they realized, the promises made to them as far as them working and their living situations improving was not happening like promised, they began moving into the white communities. Which would intelled more competition in the workforce. This outraged the whites and they reunited the Klu Klux Klan to begin violent acts towards the blacks. In 1918 there were a total of 64 lynchings and in 1919 there were a total of 83 lynchings.(www.history.com and …show more content…

In 1916-1918 blacks were manipulated in being offered better living arrangements and job opportunities which never happened. In efforts to try and make a change some blacks began moving into the white areas. This triggered the whites, and they showed out unleashing a lot of violent and malicious behavior. In July of 1919 Eugene Williams a young black teenager floated into the whites area of of Lake Michigan, Williams was stoned and drowned. After this event African Americans finally stood their grounds for equality in the Riot of 1919. They just like the whites formed gangs and began full on attacks with one another. After the riots had finally been seized things began changing. After the riot lawmakers began trying to enforce laws that were supposed to be equally based no matter the

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