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The Red Summers Of 1919 And The Tulsa Massacre Of 1921

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"The Red Summers of 1917-1921", have you ever wondered how it got its name? Well, it earned its bad reputation from the red blood-stained streets that smothered cities as racial violence erupted across America. In the aftermath of World War I, African Americans across the country faced the same, and a wave of lynchings, race riots, and other acts of violence at the hands of white supremacists. These horrible events triggered a newfound spirit of determination amongst African Americans, who used their anger to fuel their fight for racial justice against white Americans. The Red Summers was a time of racial conflict between African Americans and white supremacists that significantly impacted African Americans' lives in the past and present. …show more content…

These historical events have had a lasting impact on the present, and the Black Lives Matter movement has directly responded to this legacy of oppression. The Black Lives Matter movement began in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. It has since become a global movement, calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism against Black people ( Garza, Cullors, Tometi). The movement gained renewed momentum following the murder of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis in 2020. The officer, Derek Chauvin, was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and manslaughter in 2021 (Onion, Sullivan, Mullen). The death of George Floyd caused a chain of BLM protests and riots that raised even more awareness of the movement across the country. As time passes, we are making steady progress in conquering equality for each race in America. Despite our progress, the fight for racial justice in America is far from over. Many incidents of police brutality against black people continue to occur, and systemic racism remains deeply ingrained in many areas of American society. For example, a study by the Brookings Institution found that the median wealth of white families is ten times that of black families ( McIntosh, Moss, Nunn, Shambaugh). The tremendous difference in wealth between the two races results from a long history of discriminatory policies and practices, such as redlining and unequal access to education and employment opportunities. Nevertheless, recent progress has been made in dismantling racism in all areas of society—for example, the passing of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act in the U.S. The House of Representatives is one step in the right direction. However, the continued prevalence

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George Floyd's murder and Derek Chauvin’s trial(2020) Following the death of African American man George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the hands of white police officer Derek Chauvin, there were large-scale protests against racism and police brutality. Chauvin faces charges of third-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, and second-degree unintentional murder. The trial sparked discussions about racial inequality in the criminal justice system and law enforcement on a global scale. In the end, Chauvin was found guilty on all charges, which is a rare example of police accountability for a black person's death.

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The deadliest race riot in the United States occurred between May 30 and June 1, 1921. The city of Tulsa grew from 10,000 to 100,000 in just 11 years (3.) Down town Tulsa offered all white residents anything from furniture stores to speakeasies (3.) Segregation forced African Americans to create their own community. This community was known as Greenwood or "The Black Wall Street" (2.)

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Following the war, the United States faced a period of racial unrest and chaos as race riots erupted across the nation—most occurring during the summer of 1919, which has been penned the Red Summer. The race riots brought a substantial amount of attention to the discrepancies between the whites and the blacks across the country as well as showcasing the unfair legal system of the United States. Several of these riots, like the ones in Chicago and Washington D.C., are remembered and taught in schools, yet the Elaine Race Riot in Arkansas of 1919 has been forgotten. The Elaine Race Riot are an essential part of the Red Summer and the history of the United States as it exemplifies the race relations across the country post the Great War, the effects of the press on the interpretation of the riot, the attitude of the government (local and national) towards blacks, and the corrupt justice system of

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The Race Riot caused economic turmoil for the Black community which played a part in the formation of the NAACP. Moreover, the white mob of Springfield specifically targeted Black homes and businesses with Black workers, avoiding any building with white handkerchiefs, symbolizing white ownership of property (Crouthamel, 172). This destruction caused economic struggle in the Black community as the white mob destroyed “[p]roperty valued at more than $150,000 [...] as the mob wrecked almost every building on Washington, Jefferson, and Madison” (Crouthamel, 172), this would be almost 5 million USD in damage today. The Black community suffered the economic loss of homes and jobs after the attempt of the white mob to drive all Black people out of Springfield. The reason for this economic destruction is often pinned on the idea that “whites believed blacks were taking jobs away from them or were driving down wages by taking lower pay”, however, “little interracial job competition existed in Springfield'' (Senechal).

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The Tulsa Massacre of 1921 was a tragic event in American history in which a white mob attacked and destroyed the thriving Greenwood District, also known as “Black Wall Street”, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The event resulted in the deaths of hundreds of African American residents and the displacement of thousands more. This massacre was a direct result of tensions breaking after the Great Migration, a movement of approximately six million African Americans from the southern to Midwest and Northeastern states. Effects of the Great Migration led to an enormous cultural and social change in the midwest and northeastern states, as the African American population increased by over 40% the culture in states like Oklahoma changed drastically. However, this increase in the population caused competition in the job market to increase, and as tensions rose, anger from the racist white community was directed toward people of color.

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“The Red Summer’ is a story of destruction, but it is also a story of the beginning of a freedom movement.” -Cameron McWhirter. Throughout American history, the nation has struggled to become one of social justice, being the idea that everyone should be treated equally, fairly, and justly within a society. However, it is events such as the Red Summer of 1919 that bring the United States closer to achieving the goal of social justice. An event named after the bloodshed of both whites and African Americans, the Red Summer of 1919 was a violent affair stemming from the tension between the two races.

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“Long, hot summers” of rioting arose and many supporters of the African American movement were assassinated. However, these movements that mused stay ingrained in America’s history and pave way for an issue that continues to be the center of

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Thesis From the mid 1910s to the early 1960s there were many riots that occured, because of racial tensions built up between the the whites and the blacks world wide. Coming from Will Brown being accused of rapping a young white girl, and to Eugene Williams having rocks thrown at him causing him to drown. Segregation at this time was unjustified due to racism still being heavily considered as the right thing to do. These riots caused the United States to be even more segregated, due to unequal rights and no laws being created at the time to help and protect African Americans. During these riots there were cases of police brutality and whites being able to do whatever they choose to do, because they felt as if it was a justified reason to stop the African Americans from rioting.

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Is Black Lives Matter movement anti-white? “This is Not a Moment, but a Movement. ”-Alicia Garza. On February 26, 2012, seventeen year old Trayvon Martin was brutally murdered by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, in Stanford, Florida. Shortly after George Zimmerman was acquitted for his crime, which caused an up roar not only with African Americans but everyone across the globe.

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African American history is often dampened in order to protect the sensitivity of surrounding individuals, yet one instance that cannot physically be dampened due to its long-lasting effects would be the Tulsa Race Massacre. Today, African Americans make up the 25% poorest group in the United States while simultaneously being only 13% of the U.S population (Census), yet there was a time when even Black people had their own “Wall Street” utopia. After this devastating annihilation of human beings, the Tulsa Race Massacre revealed a generational indignant mindset towards Black people, a failure of intergenerational wealth, and severe decline in home ownership. Early 1921 was a significant time for the Tulsa population; while there was still

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She states that African American activists and white liberals openly challenged the hypocrisy of American Democracy. To instill the values of freedom and ethic, but to marginalize the African American community and segregate people based on color at the same time contradicted what America was fighting for during the war. Wolcott states that this advocacy challenged society so much that even when Civil Rights organizations tried to open recreation spaces for African Americans, they were faced with physical and violent aggression from racist whites. Many of the recreation spaces that African American communities were in the middle of building were destroyed. Wolcott focuses on the heavy prevalence of violence that not only occurred in the 1940s but also in the campaigns for desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Only 75 percent of blacks have received post-high school education, compared to 85 percent of whites. Not surprisingly, blacks on average also make less money than whites” (Philip M. Deutsch). It’s unjust that people of color are treated as inferior to white people, and it is that kind of social issue that interferes with the liberties of all Americans of

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The Tulsa Race Riot was the destruction of Black Wall Street in 1921, which was caused by an allegation of a white woman accusing a black man of rape. It lasted from May 31st to June 1st. The Tulsa Race Riot caused plenty of damage from “dozens of deaths [and] hundreds of injuries” to the destruction of Black Wall Street leading to unemployment of the black community (Hoberock n. pag.). An estimated property loss was over $2.3 million. This was an important event in our Nation’s history because “it teaches how far hatred [and violence] can go” (Hoberock n. pag.).

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The Red Summer refers to the summer and fall of 1919, in which race riots exploded in a number of cities in both the North and South (Wormser 1). All of this first began in Chicago on July 27, 1919, when a fight broke out between blacks and whites. As a result, one black youth drowned while another was unfairly arrested, which caused the racial tensions to rapidly rise. Then as time went by several fights occurred between the gangs and mobs of both races and this resulted in four dozen deaths and over five hundred casualties. The fights created a chain reaction that went across the United States and caused a racial frenzy that resulted in countless clashes, massacres, and lynching.

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Racial inequality has plagued our society for centuries and has been described as a “black eye” on American history. It wasn’t until the passing of The Civil Rights Act of 1965 that minorities were given equal protection under the law. This was a crucial step on our society’s road to reconciling this injustice. However, the effects of past racial inequality are still visible to this day, and our society still wrestles with how to solve this issue. In 1965, President Lyndon B Johnson said: “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say you are free to compete with all the others, and still just believe that you have been completely fair.

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