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Title: The Negro in Chicago: A Study of Race Relations and a Race
Riot

Author: Chicago Commission on Race Relations

Release date: June 17, 2018 [eBook #57343]

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEGRO IN
CHICAGO: A STUDY OF RACE RELATIONS AND A RACE RIOT ***

Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document
have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been
corrected.
The following variant spellings are noted, but were left
unchanged:

instalment and installment
whisky and whiskey
instal and install
pretense and pretence

The footnotes for markers 41 and 73 are missing.
Several table totals are incorrect. Two numbers were corrected,

Table XIV: Late Entering, Doolittle, Negro corrected to
190.
Total white students, Smyth: 57

All other numbers were left as in the original.

THE NEGRO IN CHICAGO

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY
NEW YORK

THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON

THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
TOKYO, OSAKA, KYOTO, FUKUOKA, SENDAI

THE MISSION BOOK COMPANY SHANGHAI

CHICAGO RACE RIOT—BEGINNING OF THE RIOT
WHITES AND NEGROES LEAVING TWENTY-NINTH STREET BEACH
AFTER THE DROWNING OF EUGENE WILLIAMS

THE NEGRO IN CHICAGO

A STUDY OF RACE RELATIONS
AND A RACE RIOT

BY
THE CHICAGO COMMISSION ON
RACE RELATIONS

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
CHICAGO ILLINOIS

Copyright 1922 By
The University of Chicago

All Rights Reserved

Published September 1922
Second Impression January 1923
Third Impression March 1923

Composed and Printed By
The University of Chicago Press
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
List of Illustrations ix
List of Maps x
Foreword by Honorable Frank O. Lowden xiii
Introduction xv
The Problem xxiii

Chapter I. The Chicago Riot, July 27-August 2, 1919 1-52
Background of the Riot 2
The Beginning of the Riot 4
Chronological Story of the Riot 5
Factors Influencing Growth of the Riot 9
Gangs and "Athletic Clubs" 11
Types of Clashes 17
Crowds and Mobs 22
Rumor 25
Police 33
Militia 40
Deputy Sheriffs 43
Restoration of Order 43
Aftermath of the Riot 46
Outstanding Features of the Riot 48

Chapter II. Other Outbreaks in Illinois 53-78
Clashes in Chicago preceding the Riot of 1919 53
Racial Outbreaks in Waukegan, May 31 and June 2, 1920 57
The "Abyssinian" Affair, June 20, 1920 59
The Barrett Murder, September 20, 1920 64
The Springfield Riot, August 14-15, 1908 67
East St. Louis Riots, May 28, and July 2, 1917 71

Chapter III. The Migration of Negroes from the South 79-105
Economic Causes of the Migration 80
Sentimental Causes of the Migration 84
Beginning and Spread of Migration 86

The Arrival in Chicago 93
Adjustments to Chicago Life 94
Migrants in Chicago 97
Efforts to Check Migration 103

Chapter IV. The Negro Population of Chicago 106-151
Distribution and Density 106
Neighborhoods of Negro Residence 108
Adjusted Neighborhoods 108
Non-adjusted Neighborhoods 113
Neighborhoods of Organized Opposition 115
Bombings 122
Trend of the Negro Population 135
Outlying Neighborhoods 136
The Negro Community 139
Commercial and Industrial Enterprises 140
Organizations for Social Intercourse 141
Religious Organizations 142
Social and Civic Agencies 146
Medical Institutions 150

Chapter V. The Negro Housing Problem 152-230
General Living Conditions 152
Why Negroes Move 154
Room Crowding 156
Rents and Lodgers 162
How Negro Families Live 165
A Group of Family Histories 170
Physical Aspects of Negro Housing 184
Neighborhood Improvement Associations 192
Efforts of Social Agencies 193
Negroes and Property Depreciation 194
Financial Aspects of Negro Housing 215
Negroes as Home Owners 216
Financial Resources of Negroes 227

Chapter VI. Racial Contacts 231-326
Legal Status of Negroes in Illinois 232
Discrimination in Public Schools 234
Contacts in Chicago Public Schools 238
Physical Equipment of Schools 241
Retardation in Elementary Schools 256
Contacts in Recreation 271
Contacts in Transportation 297
Contacts in Other Relations 309
"Black and Tan" Resorts 323

Cultural Contacts 325
Contacts in Co-operative Efforts for Race Betterment 326

Chapter VII. Crime and Vicious Environment 327-356
Criminal Statistics 328
The Negro in the Courts 332
Bureau of Identification 335
Probation and Parole 335
Institutional Inquiry 338
Negro Crime and Environment 341
Views of Authorities on Crime among Negroes 345

Chapter VIII. The Negro in Industry 357-435
Employment Opportunities and Conditions 357
Increase in Negro Labor since 1915 362
Classification of Negro Workers 364
Wages of Negro Workers 365
Women Employees in Industrial Establishments 367
Railroad Workers 369
Domestic Workers 370
Employers' Experience with Negro Labor 372
Negro Women in Industry 378
Industries Excluding the Negro 391
Relations of White and Colored Workers 393
Future of the Negro in Chicago Industries 400
Organized Labor and the Negro Worker 403
Policy of the American Federation of Labor and Other Federations 405
Unions Admitting Negroes to White Locals 412
Unions Admitting Negroes to Separate Co-ordinate Locals 417
Unions Excluding Negroes from Membership 420
The Negro and Strikes 430
Attitude and Opinions of Labor Leaders 432

Chapter IX. Public Opinion in Race Relations 436-519
A. OPINIONS OF WHITES AND NEGROES
Beliefs Concerning Negroes 437
Primary Beliefs 438
Secondary Beliefs 443
Background of Prevailing Beliefs Concerning Negroes 445
Types of Sentiments and Attitudes 451
The Emotional Background 451
Abstract Justice 454
Traditional Southern Background 456
Group Sentiments 456
Attitudes Determined by Contacts 457
Self-Analysis by Fifteen White Citizens 459

Public Opinion as Expressed by Negroes 475
Race Problems 478
Abyssinians 480
A Negro and a Mob 481
Defensive Policies 484
Race Consciousness 487
Opinions of Fifteen Negroes on Definite Racial Problems 493
Are Race Relations Improving? 494
Opinions on Solution 495
Social Adjustments 502
Negro Problems 505
Defensive Philosophy 508
Segregation and Racial Solidarity 509
Opinion-making 514

Chapter X. Public Opinion in Race Relations 520-594
B. INSTRUMENTS OF OPINION-MAKING
The Press 520
General Survey of Chicago Newspapers 523
Intensive Study of Chicago Newspapers 531
Newspaper Policy Regarding Negro News 547
The Negro Press 556
Classification of Articles 557
Negro Newspaper Policy 563
Rumor 568
Myths 577
Propaganda 587
Conclusions 594

Chapter XI. Summary of the Report and Recommendations of the Commission 595-651
The Chicago Riot 595
The Migration of Negroes from the South 602
The Negro Population of Chicago 605
Racial Contacts 613
Crime and Vicious Environment 621
The Negro in Chicago Industries 623
Public Opinion in Race Relations 629
Opinions of Whites and Negroes 629
Factors in the Making of Public Opinion 634
The Recommendations of the Commission 640

Appendix 652
Biographical Data of Members of the Commission 652
The Staff of the Commission 653
Epitome of Facts in Riot Deaths 655

Table Showing Number of Persons Injured in Chicago Riot by Date and by 667
Race

Index 669

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING
PAGE
Whites and Negroes Leaving Twenty-ninth Street Beach iii
Crowds Armed with Bricks Searching for a Negro 12
Whites Stoning Negro to Death 12
The Arrival of the Police 12
Scenes from Fire in Immigrant Neighborhood 16, 22, 28
Negroes Leaving Wrecked House in Riot Zone 16
Wrecked House of a Negro Family in Riot Zone 28
Negroes and Whites Leaving the Stock Yards 28
Negroes Being Escorted to Safety Zone 34
Searching Negroes for Arms in Police Station 34
Negroes Buying Provisions Brought into Their Neighborhood 40
The Militia and Negroes on Friendly Terms 40
Negro Stock Yards Workers Receiving Wages 44
Buying Ice from Freight Car 44
Milk Was Distributed for the Babies 48
Provisions Supplied by the Red Cross 48
Propaganda Literature Used by "Abyssinians" 60
After the "Abyssinian Murders" 64
Typical Plantation Homes in the South 80
Negro Family Just Arrived in Chicago 92
Negro Church in the South 92
Racial Contacts among Children 108
A Savings Bank in the Negro Residence Area 112
Children at Work in a Community Garden 112
Damage Done by a Bomb 128
A Negro Choral Society 136
Olivet Baptist Church 140
St. Mark's M.E. Church 140
Trinity M.E. Church and Community House 146
South Park M.E. Church 146
Pilgrim Baptist Church 146
The Chicago Urban League Building 150
The South Side Community Service Building 150
Homes Owned by Negroes on South Park Avenue 188
An Abandoned Residence in the Prairie Avenue Block 188

Homes Occupied and in Part Owned by Negroes 194
Homes Occupied by Negroes on Forest Avenue 202
Rear View of Houses Occupied by Negroes on Federal Street 202
Moseley School 242
Farren School 248
Wendell Phillips High School 252
A Typical School Yard Playground in a White Neighborhood 276
Beutner Playground 280
Field House Equipment at Beutner Playground 280
Negro Athletic Team in City-Wide Meet 280
Friendly Rivalry 280
Armour Square Recreation Center 286
Beutner Playground 286
A Negro Amateur Baseball Team 292
Negro Women and Girls Employed in a Lamp-Shade Factory 378
Negro Women Employed on Power Machines 380
Negro Women and Girls in a Large Hat-making Concern 384
Officers of the Railway Men's Benevolent Industrial Association 410

LIST OF MAPS
FACING
PAGE
The Chicago Riot 8
Distribution of Negro Population, 1910 106
Distribution of Negro Population, 1920 110
Proportion of Negroes to Total Population, 1910 116
Proportion of Negroes to Total Population, 1920 120
Homes Bombed 124
Negro Churches 144
Social Agencies 148
Homes of White and Negro Employees 154
Types of Negro Housing 184
A Changing Neighborhood 212
Recreation Facilities 272
Transportation Contacts, Morning 7:00 to 9:00 300
Transportation Contacts, Evening 4:00 to 6:00 300
Houses of Prostitution, 1916 342
Houses of Prostitution, 1918 342
Resorts 346
Industrial Plants 360

FOREWORD

There is no domestic problem in America which has given thoughtful men
more concern than the problem of the relations between the white and the
Negro races. In earlier days the colonization of the Negro, as in Liberia,
was put forward as a solution. That idea was abandoned long ago. It is now
recognized generally that the two races are here in America to stay.
It is also certain that the problem will not be solved by methods of violence.
Every race riot, every instance in which men of either race defy legal
authority and take the law into their own hands, but postpones the day when
the two races shall live together amicably. The law must be maintained and
enforced vigorously and completely before any real progress can be made
towards better race relations.
Means must be found, therefore, whereby the two races can live together on
terms of amity. This will be possible only if the two races are brought to
understand each other better. It is believed that such understanding will
result in each having a higher degree of respect for the other, and that such
respect will form the basis for greatly improved relations between the races.
The Commission on Race Relations, composed of distinguished
representatives of both races, has made the most thorough and complete
survey of the race situation that I have seen anywhere. While its field of
study was necessarily limited to Chicago, the conditions there may be
regarded as fairly typical of conditions in other large cities where there is a
large colored population.
The report does not pretend to have discovered any new formula by which
all race trouble will disappear. The subject is too complex for any such
simple solution. It finds certain facts, however, the mere recognition of
which will go a long way towards allaying race feeling. It finds that in that
portion of Chicago in which colored persons have lived longest and in the
largest numbers relatively there has been the minimum of friction. This is a

fact of the first importance. For it tends to show that the presence of
Negroes in large numbers in our great cities is not a menace in itself.
There is one recommendation (No. 31) to which I desire to call special
attention: that a permanent local commission on race relations be created.
When as Governor of Illinois I withdrew troops from Chicago after the
riots, I was not at all persuaded that all danger of their recurrence was past.
I kept observers from the Adjutant General's office on the ground to watch
for any signs of fresh trouble. The Commission on Race Relations was
appointed, and conditions at once began to improve. The activities of this
Commission, composed of the best representatives of both races, were, as I
believe, the principal cause for this improved condition.
Causes of friction, insignificant in themselves, but capable of leading to
serious results, were discovered by the Commission and by its suggestion
were removed in time to avoid grave consequences. Gross exaggerations of
some fancied grievance by either the one race or the other were examined
into and were found to rest upon nothing else than idle rumor or prejudice.
In the light of truth which the Commission was able to throw upon the
subject, these grievances disappeared. In other words, misunderstanding,
which had been so prolific a source of trouble between the races, was
greatly reduced.
The report contains recommendations, which, if acted upon, will make
impossible, in my opinion, a repetition of the appalling tragedy which
brought disgrace to Chicago in July of 1919.
Men may differ as to some of the conclusions reached, but all fair-minded
men must admit, I think, that the report of the Commission on Race
Relations is a most important contribution to this important subject.

Frank O. Lowden

INTRODUCTION

On Sunday, July 27, 1919, there was a clash of white people and Negroes at
a bathing-beach in Chicago, which resulted in the drowning of a Negro boy.
This led to a race riot in which thirty-eight lives were lost—twenty-three
Negroes and fifteen whites—and 537 persons were injured. After three days
of mob violence, affecting several sections of the city, the state militia was
called out to assist the police in restoring order. It was not until August 6
that danger of further clashes was regarded as past.
To discuss this serious situation and means of preventing its recurrence, a
group of eighty-one citizens, representing forty-eight social, civic,
commercial, and professional organizations of Chicago, met on August 1,
1919, at the Union League Club. Mr. Charles W. Folds, president of the
Club, presided. Brief addresses were made by Mr. H. H. Merrick, president
of the Chicago Association of Commerce, Dr. Graham Taylor, Miss Harriet
Vittum, Major John S. Bonner, Mr. Charles J. Boyd, and Rev. William C.
Covert.
Resolutions were passed and given to the press, and the following letter to
the Governor of Illinois was authorized:
To His Excellency, Frank O. Lowden
Governor of Illinois

Dear Sir: A meeting was held today at the Union League Club to take up
the matter of the present race riots.
This meeting was attended by 81 representatives of 48 prominent civic,
professional and commercial organizations, such as Chicago Medical
Association, Chicago Bar Association, Federation of Churches, Association
of Commerce, Packing House Industries, Urban League, Woman's City
Club, Chicago Woman's Club, Foreign Language Division, representing
foreign-born population, etc.

A resolution was adopted unanimously, appointing the undersigned as a
committee to wait upon you and ask that you appoint at your earliest
convenience an emergency state committee to study the psychological,
social and economic causes underlying the conditions resulting in the
present race riot and to make such recommendations as will tend to prevent
a recurrence of such conditions in the future.
The committee would welcome an opportunity to meet you at any time
convenient to yourself and to talk over with you details and give you such
information as has been gathered through these various organizations.
Respectfully,

Charles W. Folds
Graham Taylor
William C. Graves
Harriet E. Vittum
T. Arnold Hill
Felix J. Streyckmans

In response to this and other urgent requests by various citizens and
organizations, and pursuant to his personal knowledge of the situation
derived from investigations made by him in Chicago during the period of
the riot, Governor Lowden announced on August 20, 1919, the appointment
of a Commission on Race Relations, consisting of twelve members, six
from each race, as follows—Mr. Bancroft being designated by him as
chairman:
Representing the white people: Edgar A. Bancroft, William Scott Bond,
Edward Osgood Brown, Harry Eugene Kelly, Victor F. Lawson, Julius
Rosenwald.
Representing the Negro people: Robert S. Abbott, George Cleveland Hall,
George H. Jackson, Edward H. Morris, Adelbert H. Roberts, Lacey Kirk
Williams.[1]
In announcing the appointment of this Commission, Governor Lowden
made public the following statement:

I have been requested by many citizens and by many civic organizations in Chicago to
appoint a Commission to study and report upon the broad question of the relations
between the two races. These riots were the work of the worst element of both races.
They did not represent the great overwhelming majority of either race. The two are
here and will remain here. The great majority of each realizes the necessity of their
living upon terms of cordial good will and respect, each for the other. That condition
must be brought about.
To say that we cannot solve this problem is to confess the failure of self-government. I
offer no solution of the problem. I do know, however, that the question cannot be
answered by mob violence. I do know that every time men, white or colored, take the
law into their own hands, instead of helping they only postpone the settlement of the
question. When we admit the existence of a problem and courageously face it, we
have gone half-way toward its solution.
I have with the utmost care, in response to the requests above set forth, appointed a
Commission to undertake this great work. I have sought only the most representative
men of the two races. I have not even asked them whether they had views as to how
the question could be met. I have asked them only to approach the difficult subject
with an open mind, and in a spirit of fairness and justice to all. This is a tribunal that
has been constituted to get the facts and interpret them and to find a way out. I believe
that great good can come out of the work of this Commission.
I ask that our people, white and colored, give their fullest co-operation to the
Commission. I ask, too, as I have a right to ask, that both races exercise that patience
and self-restraint which are indispensable to self-government while we are working
out this problem.

During an absence of the chairman, due to ill health, Governor Lowden
requested Dr. Francis W. Shepardson, director of the State Department of
Registration and Education, to serve as acting chairman. On Mr. Bancroft's
return and at the Commission's request, the Governor appointed Dr.
Shepardson a member and vice-chairman of the Commission.
The Commission's first meeting was held on October 9, 1919. Nine other
meetings were held during the remainder of that year to canvass the
possible fields of inquiry, and to provide for the organization of studies and
investigations.
The Commission was seriously handicapped at the outset by a complete
lack of funds. The legislative session of 1919 had ended before the riot, and
the next regular session was not to convene until January, 1921. The
Commission felt that it could not with propriety seek to raise funds on its
own appeal. To meet this situation a group of citizens offered to serve as a
co-operating committee to finance the Commission's inquiry and the
preparation and publication of its report. This Committee, consisting of

Messrs. James B. Forgan, chairman, Abel Davis, treasurer, Arthur Meeker,
John J. Mitchell, and John G. Shedd, gave effective aid, being most actively
assisted by Messrs. R. B. Beach and John F. Bowman, of the staff of the
Chicago Association of Commerce. Without the co-operation of these
gentlemen and the resulting financial assistance of many generous
contributors the Commission could not have carried on its work. It here
expresses its most grateful appreciation.
The Commission organized its staff, inviting Mr. Graham Romeyn Taylor,
as executive secretary, and Mr. Charles S. Johnson, as associate executive
secretary, to assume charge of the inquiries and investigations under its
direction. They began their work on December 7, 1919.
While the Commission recognized the importance of studying the facts of
the riot, it felt that even greater emphasis should be placed on the study and
interpretation of the conditions of Negro life in Chicago and of the relations
between the two races. Therefore, after a brief survey of the data already
collected and of the broad field for its inquiries, it organized into six
committees, as follows: Committee on Racial Clashes, Committee on
Housing, Committee on Industry, Committee on Crime, Committee on
Racial Contacts, Committee on Public Opinion.
Along all these lines of inquiry information was sought in two general
ways: through a series of conferences or informal hearings, and through
research and field work carried on by a staff of trained investigators, white
and Negro. Thus both races were represented in the membership of the
Commission, in its executive secretaries, and in the field and office staff
organized by the executive secretaries.
It is not without significance that in securing office quarters the
Commission found several agents of buildings who declined to make a
lease when they learned that Negroes as well as whites were among the
prospective tenants. They stated their objections as based, not upon their
own prejudices, but upon the fear that other tenants would resent the
presence of Negroes. Office space at 118 North La Salle Street was leased
to the Commission by the L. J. McCormick estate, beginning February 1,
1920. When these offices were vacated, May 1, 1921, the agents of the

estate informed the Commission that no tenant of the building had
complained of the presence of Negroes.
By March 1, 1920, the staff of investigators had been organized and was at
work. The personnel was recruited as far as possible from social workers of
both races whose training and experience had fitted them for intelligent and
sympathetic handling of research and field work along the lines mapped out
by the Commission.[2]
The period of investigations and conferences or informal hearings lasted
until November, 1920. The work of compiling material and writing the
various sections of the report had begun in October, 1920. Including its
business meetings and thirty conferences the Commission held more than
seventy-five meetings; forty of these were devoted to the consideration of
the text of the report.
The executive secretaries with their staff collected the materials during
1920, and soon after presented the first draft of a report. This was
considered and discussed by the Commission in numerous sessions, and the
general outlines of the report were decided upon. Then a second draft, in
accordance with its directions, was prepared by subjects, and a copy was
submitted to each member of the Commission for suggestions and
criticisms. Afterward the Commission met and discussed the questions
raised by the different members, and determined upon the changes to be
made in substance and form. After the entire report had been thus revised,
the Commission in many conferences decided what recommendations to
make. These recommendations, with a summary of the report, were then
prepared, and were reviewed by the Commission after they had been sent to
each member. After full consideration they were further revised and then
adopted by the Commission. In all these conferences upon the report, all of
the Commissioners, with one exception, conferred frequently and agreed
unanimously. Mr. Morris, on account of his duties as a member of the
Constitutional Convention, did not attend any of these conferences upon the
report, summary, or recommendations, and does not concur in them.
The Commission received the cordial assistance of many agencies,
organizations, and individuals. The Chicago Urban League placed at its
disposal a large amount of material from its files. It also gave a leave of

absence to the head of its Department of Research and Investigation, Mr.
Charles S. Johnson, the Commission's associate executive secretary. Many
citizens, representing widely divergent lines of interest, who were invited to
attend conferences held by the Commission, gave most generously of their
time and knowledge. The L. J. McCormick estate donated three months'
office rent. Messrs. George C. Nimmons & Company, architects,
contributed valuable services, including study and supervision by Frederick
Jehnck of their office, in preparing maps and charts designed to present
most effectively data collected by the Commission. The Federal Bureau of
the Census made available advanced data from the 1920-21 censuses.
Superintendent Peter A. Mortensen and many principals and teachers in the
Chicago public schools co-operated in the extensive studies of race
relations in the schools; and the Committee of Fifteen provided a report
showing important facts in the study of environment and crime. The various
park boards, many municipal, county, and state officials, superintendents
and others connected with industrial plants, trades-union officers, and
leaders in many civic and social agencies greatly facilitated investigations
in their respective fields. To all these the Commission returns sincere
thanks. But, perhaps, the greatest debt of gratitude is due Mr. Ernest S.
Simpson, who generously and devotedly gave his spare time for many
months to the editing of this report.
The Commission's letter to Governor Lowden summarizing its work, and
his answer follow:

January 1, 1921

Honorable Frank O. Lowden
Governor of Illinois
Sir: Following the race riot in Chicago in July and August, 1919, in which fifteen
white people and twenty-three Negroes were killed and very many of both races were
injured, you appointed us as a Commission on Race Relations "to study and report
upon the broad question of the relations between the two races." We have completed
the investigations planned as a basis for this study, and are now preparing a final
report of our findings, conclusions and recommendations. This report will soon be
ready.
The Commission began its work in October, 1919, and for eleven months has had a
staff of investigators assisting it in its activities. While devoting much effort to the

study of the Chicago riot as presenting many phases of the race problem, the
Commission has placed greater emphasis upon the study of the conditions of life of
the Negro group in this community, and of the broad questions of race relations. It
therefore organized itself into six committees on the following subjects: Racial
Clashes, Housing, Industry, Crime, Racial Contacts, and Public Opinion.
In these fields the Commission's work has been done along two main lines:
(a) a series of conferences, at which persons believed to have special information and
experience relating to these subjects have been invited to give the Commission the
benefit of their knowledge and opinions;
(b) research and field work by a trained staff of investigators, both white and Negro,
to determine as accurately as possible, from first-hand evidence, the actual conditions
in the above fields.
The series of conferences, numbering thirty, covered a wide range of topics, such as:
the race riot of 1919 as viewed by the police, the militia, the grand jury, and state's
attorney; race friction and its remedies; contacts of whites and Negroes in public
schools and recreation places; special educational problems of Negro children; Negro
housing, its needs, type, and financing, and its difficulties in mixed areas; Negro labor
in relation to employers, fellow-workers, and trade unions; Negro women in industry;
the Negro and social agencies; Negro health; Negroes and whites in the courts and in
correctional institutions; and the Negro and white press in relation to public opinion
on race relations.
Of two hundred and sixty-three persons invited, one hundred and seventy-five
attended these conferences and presented their information and views. They
represented both races and various groups and viewpoints; they included educators
and teachers, real estate men, bankers, managers of industrial plants, housing experts,
trades-union leaders, social workers, physicians, park and playground directors,
judges, clergymen, superintendents of correctional and other institutions, police,
militia, and other public officials, and newspaper editors.
The research and field work done by the staff of investigators covered in general the
same broad range. The character is indicated by a bare outline of the work in the six
main fields:
Racial Clashes: 1919 Chicago riot, seventeen antecedent clashes; three minor clashes
in 1920; brief comparative study of Springfield riot in 1908 and East St. Louis riot in
1917.
Racial Contacts: In schools, transportation lines, parks, and other recreation places;
contacts in mixed neighborhoods; adjustment of southern Negro families coming to
Chicago; survey of Negro agencies and institutions.
Housing: Negro areas in Chicago and their expansion 1910-1920; 274 family histories
showing housing experience, home life, and social back-ground, including families
from the South; 159 blocks covered in neighborhood survey; financing Negro
housing; depreciation in and near Negro areas; 52 house bombings, 1917-1920.
Industry: Data covering 22,448 Negroes in 192 plants; 101 plants visited; quality of
Negro labor; the widening opportunities and chance for promotion studied; special
study of trades unions and the Negro worker.

Crime: Police statistics of arrests and convictions of Negroes and selected
nationalities compared and analyzed for six years[3]; also juvenile court cases; 698
cases (one month) in three police courts studied, including detailed social data on
Negro cases; also 249 sex cases (two years) in criminal court; record of eleven penal
institutions; environmental survey of Negro areas.
Public Opinion: Files of white and Negro newspapers studied to analyze handling of
matters relating to race relations; study of rumor and its effects, and of racial
propaganda of white and Negro organizations.
We believe that the large volume of information collected will prove, when properly
set forth, of great value not only in Chicago but in other communities where public-
spirited citizens are endeavoring to establish right relations between the two races.
This end can be attained only through a more intelligent appreciation by both races of
the gravity of the problem, and by their earnest efforts toward a better mutual
understanding and a more sympathetic co-operation.
Hoping that our appreciation of the trust you have reposed in us may appear in some
measure in the aid our report may give toward working out better race relations, we
are,
Very respectfully yours,
(Signed by members of the Commission and its Executive Secretaries)

State of Illinois
Office of the Governor
Springfield

January 3, 1921

My dear Mr. Bancroft:
I have received and read with great interest your letter of January 1st transmitting to
me a detailed statement of the work of the Chicago Commission on Race Relations
appointed by me after the race riot in Chicago in 1919, which is signed by yourself as
chairman and by the other members of the Commission.
I am greatly pleased to know that the Commission has been able to accomplish so
much through its investigations and that there has been such hearty co-operation on
the part of many citizens to make the inquiry in this important field as valuable as
possible.
I shall look forward with more than ordinary interest to the appearance of the
completed report in printed form. I suggest that the Commission arrange for its
publication as soon as possible in order that your findings and recommendations may
be made available to all students of race relations in our country.

I desire to express to you and through you to the members of the Commission my
great appreciation of the service which you have rendered to the people of Chicago
and of Illinois in connection with the Commission. I have been advised from time to
time of your continuing interest, your fidelity in attendance upon the meetings of the
Commission, and your earnest desire to render as accurate a judgment as possible.
Yours very sincerely,

(Signed) Frank O. Lowden

Hon. Edgar A. Bancroft
Chairman, Chicago Commission on Race Relations

In accordance with Governor Lowden's suggestion the Commission
herewith presents its report, with findings and recommendations, hoping
that it may prove of service in the efforts to bring about better relations
between the white and Negro races.

THE PROBLEM

The relation of whites and Negroes in the United States is our most grave
and perplexing domestic problem. It involves not only a difference of race
—which as to many immigrant races has been happily overcome—but
wider and more manifest differences in color and physical features. These
make an easy and natural basis for distinctions, discriminations, and
antipathies arising from the instinct of each race to preserve its type. Many
white Americans, while technically recognizing Negroes as citizens, cannot
bring themselves to feel that they should participate in government as freely
as other citizens.
Countless schemes have been proposed for solving or dismissing this
problem, most of them impracticable or impossible. Of this class are such
proposals as: (1) the deportation of 12,000,000 Negroes to Africa; (2) the
establishment of a separate Negro state in the United States; (3) complete
separation and segregation from the whites and the establishment of a caste
system or peasant class; and (4) hope for a solution through the dying out of
the Negro race. The only effect of such proposals is to confuse thinking on
the vital issues involved and to foster impatience and intolerance.
Our race problem must be solved in harmony with the fundamental law of
the nation and with its free institutions. These prevent any deportation of
the Negro, as well as any restriction of his freedom of movement within the
United States. The problem must not be regarded as sectional or political,
and it should be studied and discussed seriously, frankly, and with an open
mind.
It is important for our white citizens always to remember that the Negroes
alone of all our immigrants came to America against their will by the
special compelling invitation of the whites; that the institution of slavery
was introduced, expanded, and maintained in the United States by the white

people and for their own benefit; and that they likewise created the
conditions that followed emancipation.
Our Negro problem, therefore, is not of the Negro's making. No group in
our population is less responsible for its existence. But every group is
responsible for its continuance; and every citizen, regardless of color or
racial origin, is in honor and conscience bound to seek and forward its
solution.
Centuries of the Negro slave trade and of slavery as an institution have
created, and are often deemed to justify, the deep-seated prejudice against
Negroes. They placed a stamp upon the relations of the two races which it
will require many years to erase. The memory of these relations has
profoundly affected and still affects the industrial, commercial, and social
life of the southern states.
The great body of anti-Negro public opinion, preserved in the literature and
traditions of the white race during the long, unhappy progress of the Negro
from savagery through slavery to citizenship, has exercised a persistent and
powerful effect, both conscious and unconscious, upon the thinking and the
behavior of the white group generally. Racial misunderstanding has been
fostered by the ignorance and indifference of many white citizens
concerning the marvelous industry and courage shown by the Negroes and
the success they have achieved in their fifty-nine years of freedom.
The Negro race must develop, as all races have developed, from lower to
higher planes of living; and must base its progress upon industry, efficiency,
and moral character. Training along these lines and general opportunities for
education are the fundamental needs. As the problem is national in its scope
and gravity, the solution must be national. And the nation must make sure
that the Negro is educated for citizenship.
It is of the first importance that old prejudices against the Negroes, based
upon their misfortunes and not on their faults, be supplanted with respect,
encouragement, and co-operation, and with a recognition of their heroic
struggles for self-improvement and of their worthy achievements as loyal
American citizens.

Both races need to understand that their rights and duties are mutual and
equal, and that their interests in the common good are identical; that
relations of amity are the only protection against race clashes; that these
relations cannot be forced, but will come naturally as the leaders of each
race develop within their own ranks a realization of the gravity of this
problem and a vital interest in its solution, and an attitude of confidence,
respect, and friendliness toward the people of the other race.
All our citizens, regardless of color or racial origin, need to be taught by
their leaders that there is a common standard of superiority for them all in
self-respect, honesty, industry, fairness, forbearance, and above all, in
generous helpfulness. There is no help or healing in appraising past
responsibilities, or in present apportioning of praise or blame. The past is of
value only as it aids in understanding the present; and an understanding of
the facts of the problem—a magnanimous understanding by both races—is
the first step toward its solution.

CHAPTER I

THE CHICAGO RIOT
July 27-August 2, 1919

Thirty-eight persons killed, 537 injured, and about 1,000 rendered homeless
and destitute was the casualty list of the race riot which broke out in
Chicago on July 27, 1919, and swept uncontrolled through parts of the city
for four days. By August 2 it had yielded to the forces of law and order, and
on August 8 the state militia withdrew.
A clash between whites and Negroes on the shore of Lake Michigan at
Twenty-ninth Street, which involved much stone-throwing and resulted in
the drowning of a Negro boy, was the beginning of the riot. A policeman's
refusal to arrest a white man accused by Negroes of stoning the Negro boy
was an important factor in starting mob action. Within two hours the riot
was in full sway, had scored its second fatality, and was spreading
throughout the south and southwest parts of the city. Before the end came it
reached out to a section of the West Side and even invaded the "Loop," the
heart of Chicago's downtown business district. Of the thirty-eight killed,
fifteen were whites and twenty-three Negroes; of 537 injured, 178 were
whites, 342 were Negroes, and the race of seventeen was not recorded.
In contrast with many other outbreaks of violence over racial friction the
Chicago riot was not preceded by excitement over reports of attacks on
women or of any other crimes alleged to have been committed by Negroes.
It is interesting to note that not one of the thirty-eight deaths was of a
woman or girl, and that only ten of the 537 persons injured were women or
girls. In further contrast with other outbreaks of racial violence, the Chicago
riot was marked by no hangings or burnings.

The rioting was characterized by much activity on the part of gangs of
hoodlums, and the clashes developed from sudden and spontaneous assaults
into organized raids against life and property.
In handling the emergency and restoring order, the police were effectively
reinforced by the state militia. Help was also rendered by deputy sheriffs,
and by ex-soldiers who volunteered.
In nine of the thirty-eight cases of death, indictments for murder were voted
by the grand jury, and in the ensuing trials there were four convictions. In
fifteen other cases the coroner's jury recommended that unknown members
of mobs be apprehended, but none of these was ever found.
The conditions underlying the Chicago riot are discussed in detail in other
sections of this report, especially in those which deal with housing,
industry, and racial contacts. The Commission's inquiry concerning the facts
of the riot included a critical analysis of the 5,584 pages of the testimony
taken by the coroner's jury; a study of the records of the office of the state's
attorney; studies of the records of the Police Department, hospitals, and
other institutions with reference to injuries, and of the records of the Fire
Department with reference to incendiary fires; and interviews with many
public officials and citizens having special knowledge of various phases of
the riot. Much information was also gained by the Commission in a series
of four conferences to which it invited the foreman of the riot grand jury,
the chief and other commanding officers of the Police Department, the
state's attorney and some of his assistants, and officers in command of the
state militia during the riot.
Background of the riot.—The Chicago riot was not the only serious
outbreak of interracial violence in the year following the war. The same
summer witnessed the riot in Washington, about a week earlier; the riot in
Omaha, about a month later; and then the week of armed conflict in a rural
district of Arkansas due to exploitation of Negro cotton producers.
Nor was the Chicago riot the first violent manifestation of race antagonism
in Illinois. In 1908 Springfield had been the scene of an outbreak that
brought shame to the community which boasted of having been Lincoln's
home. In 1917 East St. Louis was torn by a bitter and destructive riot which

raged for nearly a week, and was the subject of a Congressional
investigation that disclosed appalling underlying conditions.
This Commission, while making a thorough study of the Chicago riot, has
reviewed briefly, for comparative purposes, the essential facts of the
Springfield and East St. Louis riots, and of minor clashes in Chicago
occurring both before and after the riot of 1919.
Chicago was one of the northern cities most largely affected by the
migration of Negroes from the South during the war. The Negro population
increased from 44,103 in 1910 to 109,594 in 1920, an increase of 148 per
cent. Most of this increase came in the years 1916-19. It was principally
caused by the widening of industrial opportunities due to the entrance of
northern workers into the army and to the demand for war workers at much
higher wages than Negroes had been able to earn in the South. An added
factor was the feeling, which spread like a contagion through the South, that
the great opportunity had come to escape from what they felt to be a land of
discrimination and subserviency to places where they could expect fair
treatment and equal rights. Chicago became to the southern Negro the "top
of the world."
The effect of this influx of Negroes into Chicago industries is reviewed in
another section of this report.[4] It is necessary to point out here only that
friction in industry was less than might have been expected. There had been
a few strikes which had given the Negro the name of "strike breaker." But
the demand for labor was such that there were plenty of jobs to absorb all
the white and Negro workers available. This condition continued even after
the end of the war and demobilization.
In housing, however, there was a different story. Practically no new building
had been done in the city during the war, and it was a physical impossibility
for a doubled Negro population to live in the space occupied in 1915.
Negroes spread out of what had been known as the "Black Belt" into
neighborhoods near-by which had been exclusively white. This movement,
as described in another section of this report, developed friction, so much so
that in the "invaded" neighborhoods bombs were thrown at the houses of
Negroes who had moved in, and of real estate men, white and Negro, who
sold or rented property to the newcomers. From July 1, 1917, to July 27,

1919, the day the riot began, twenty-four such bombs had been thrown. The
police had been entirely unsuccessful in finding those guilty, and were
accused of making little effort to do so.
A third phase of the situation was the increased political strength gained by
Mayor Thompson's faction in the Republican party. Negro politicians
affiliated with this faction had been able to sway to its support a large
proportion of the voters in the ward most largely inhabited by Negroes.
Negro aldermen elected from this ward were prominent in the activities of
this faction. The part played by the Negro vote in the hard-fought partisan
struggle is indicated by the fact that in the Republican primary election on
February 25, 1919, Mayor Thompson received in this ward 12,143 votes,
while his two opponents, Olson and Merriam, received only 1,492 and 319
respectively. Mayor Thompson was re-elected on April 1, 1919, by a
plurality of 21,622 in a total vote in the city of 698,920; his vote in this
ward was 15,569, to his nearest opponent's 3,323, and was therefore large
enough to control the election. The bitterness of this factional struggle
aroused resentment against the race that had so conspicuously allied itself
with the Thompson side.
As part of the background of the Chicago riot, the activities of gangs of
hoodlums should be cited. There had been friction for years, especially
along the western boundary of the area in which the Negroes mainly live,
and attacks upon Negroes by gangs of young toughs had been particularly
frequent in the spring just preceding the riot. They reached a climax on the
night of June 21, 1919, five weeks before the riot, when two Negroes were
murdered. Each was alone at the time and was the victim of unprovoked
and particularly brutal attack. Molestation of Negroes by hoodlums had
been prevalent in the vicinity of parks and playgrounds and at bathing-
beaches.
On two occasions shortly before the riot the forewarnings of serious racial
trouble had been so pronounced that the chief of police sent several hundred
extra policemen into the territory where trouble seemed imminent. But
serious violence did not break out until Sunday afternoon, July 27, when the
clash on the lake shore at Twenty-ninth Street resulted in the drowning of a
Negro boy.

The beginning of the riot.—Events followed so fast in the train of the
drowning that this tragedy may be considered as marking the beginning of
the riot.
It was four o'clock Sunday afternoon, July 27, when Eugene Williams,
seventeen-year-old Negro boy, was swimming offshore at the foot of
Twenty-ninth Street. This beach was not one of those publicly maintained
and supervised for bathing, but it was much used. Although it flanks an area
thickly inhabited by Negroes, it was used by both races, access being had
by crossing the railway tracks which skirt the lake shore. The part near
Twenty-seventh Street had by tacit understanding come to be considered as
reserved for Negroes, while the whites used the part near Twenty-ninth
Street. Walking is not easy along the shore, and each race had kept pretty
much to its own part, observing, moreover, an imaginary boundary
extending into the water.
Williams, who had entered the water at the part used by Negroes, swam and
drifted south into the part used by the whites. Immediately before his
appearance there, white men, women, and children had been bathing in the
vicinity and were on the beach in considerable numbers. Four Negroes
walked through the group and into the water. White men summarily ordered
them off. The Negroes left, and the white people resumed their sport. But it
was not long before the Negroes were back, coming from the north with
others of their race. Then began a series of attacks and retreats, counter-
attacks, and stone-throwing. Women and children who could not escape hid
behind débris and rocks. The stone-throwing continued, first one side
gaining the advantage, then the other.
Williams, who had remained in the water during the fracas, found a railroad
tie and clung to it, stones meanwhile frequently striking the water near him.
A white boy of about the same age swam toward him. As the white boy
neared, Williams let go of the tie, took a few strokes, and went down. The
coroner's jury rendered a verdict that he had drowned because fear of stone-
throwing kept him from shore. His body showed no stone bruises, but
rumor had it that he had actually been hit by one of the stones and drowned
as a result.

On shore guilt was immediately placed upon a certain white man by several
Negro witnesses who demanded that he be arrested by a white policeman
who was on the spot. No arrest was made.
The tragedy was sensed by the battling crowd and, awed by it, they
gathered on the beach. For an hour both whites and Negroes dived for the
boy without results. Awe gave way to excited whispers. "They" said he was
stoned to death. The report circulated through the crowd that the police
officer had refused to arrest the murderer. The Negroes in the crowd began
to mass dangerously. At this crucial point the accused policeman arrested a
Negro on a white man's complaint. Negroes mobbed the white officer, and
the riot was under way.
One version of the quarrel which resulted in the drowning of Williams was
given by the state's attorney, who declared that it arose among white and
Negro gamblers over a craps game on the shore, "virtually under the
protection of the police officer on the beat." Eyewitnesses to the stone-
throwing clash appearing before the coroner's jury saw no gambling, but
said it might have been going on, but if so, was not visible from the water's
edge. The crowd undoubtedly included, as the grand jury declared,
"hoodlums, gamblers, and thugs," but it also included law-abiding citizens,
white and Negro.
This charge, that the first riot clash started among gamblers who were under
the protection of the police officer, and also the charge that the policeman
refused to arrest the stone-thrower were vigorously denied by the police.
The policeman's star was taken from him, but after a hearing before the
Civil Service Commission it was returned, thus officially vindicating him.
The two facts, the drowning and the refusal to arrest, or widely circulated
reports of such refusal, must be considered together as marking the
inception of the riot. Testimony of a captain of police shows that first
reports from the lake after the drowning indicated that the situation was
calming down. White men had shown a not altogether hostile feeling for the
Negroes by assisting in diving for the body of the boy. Furthermore a clash
started on this isolated spot could not be augmented by outsiders rushing in.
There was every possibility that the clash, without the further stimulus of
reports of the policeman's conduct, would have quieted down.

Chronological story of the riot.—After the drowning of Williams, it was
two hours before any further fatalities occurred. Reports of the drowning
and of the alleged conduct of the policeman spread out into the
neighborhood. The Negro crowd from the beach gathered at the foot of
Twenty-ninth Street. As it became more and more excited, a group of
officers was called by the policeman who had been at the beach. James
Crawford, a Negro, fired into the group of officers and was himself shot and
killed by a Negro policeman who had been sent to help restore order.
During the remainder of the afternoon of July 27, many distorted rumors
circulated swiftly throughout the South Side. The Negro crowd from
Twenty-ninth Street got into action, and white men who came in contact
with it were beaten. In all, four white men were beaten, five were stabbed,
and one was shot. As the rumors spread, new crowds gathered, mobs sprang
into activity spontaneously, and gangs began to take part in the lawlessness.
Farther to the west, as darkness came on, white gangsters became active.
Negroes in white districts suffered severely at their hands. From 9:00 p.m.
until 3:00 a.m. twenty-seven Negroes were beaten, seven were stabbed, and
four were shot.
Few clashes occurred on Monday morning. People of both races went to
work as usual and even continued to work side by side, as customary,
without signs of violence. But as the afternoon wore on, white men and
boys living between the Stock Yards and the "Black Belt" sought malicious
amusement in directing mob violence against Negro workers returning
home.
Street-car routes, especially transfer points, were thronged with white
people of all ages. Trolleys were pulled from wires and the cars brought
under the control of mob leaders. Negro passengers were dragged to the
street, beaten, and kicked. The police were apparently powerless to cope
with these numerous assaults. Four Negro men and one white assailant were
killed, and thirty Negro men were severely beaten in the street-car clashes.
The "Black Belt" contributed its share of violence to the record of Monday
afternoon and night. Rumors of white depredations and killings were
current among the Negroes and led to acts of retaliation. An aged Italian
peddler, one Lazzeroni, was set upon by young Negro boys and stabbed to

death. Eugene Temple, white laundryman, was stabbed to death and robbed
by three Negroes.
A Negro mob made a demonstration outside Provident Hospital, an
institution conducted by Negroes, because two injured whites who had been
shooting right and left from a hurrying automobile on State Street were
taken there. Other mobs stabbed six white men, shot five others, severely
beat nine more, and killed two in addition to those named above.
Rumor had it that a white occupant of the Angelus apartment house had
shot a Negro boy from a fourth-story window. Negroes besieged the
building. The white tenants sought police protection, and about 100
policemen, including some mounted men, responded. The mob of about
1,500 Negroes demanded the "culprit," but the police failed to find him
after a search of the building. A flying brick hit a policeman. There was a
quick massing of the police, and a volley was fired into the Negro mob.
Four Negroes were killed and many were injured. It is believed that had the
Negroes not lost faith in the white police force it is hardly likely that the
Angelus riot would have occurred.
At this point, Monday night, both whites and Negroes showed signs of
panic. Each race grouped by itself. Small mobs began systematically in
various neighborhoods to terrorize and kill. Gangs in the white districts
grew bolder, finally taking the offensive in raids through territory "invaded"
by Negro home seekers. Boys between sixteen and twenty-two banded
together to enjoy the excitement of the chase.
Automobile raids were added to the rioting Monday night. Cars from which
rifle and revolver shots were fired were driven at great speed through
sections inhabited by Negroes. Negroes defended themselves by "sniping"
and volley-firing from ambush and barricade. So great was the fear of these
raiding parties that the Negroes distrusted all motor vehicles and frequently
opened fire on them without waiting to learn the intent of the occupants.
This type of warfare was kept up spasmodically all Tuesday and was
resumed with vigor Tuesday night.
At midnight, Monday, street-car clashes ended by reason of a general strike
on the surface and elevated lines. The street-railway tie-up was complete for
the remainder of the week. But on Tuesday morning this was a new source

of terror for those who tried to walk to their places of employment. Men
were killed en route to their work through hostile territory. Idle men
congregated on the streets, and gang-rioting increased. A white gang of
soldiers and sailors in uniform, augmented by civilians, raided the "Loop,"
or downtown section of Chicago, early Tuesday, killing two Negroes and
beating and robbing several others. In the course of these activities they
wantonly destroyed property of white business men.
Gangs sprang up as far south as Sixty-third Street in Englewood and in the
section west of Wentworth Avenue near Forty-seventh Street. Premeditated
depredations were the order of the night. Many Negro homes in mixed
districts were attacked, and several of them were burned. Furniture was
stolen or destroyed. When raiders were driven off they would return again
and again until their designs were accomplished.
The contagion of the race war broke over the boundaries of the South Side
and spread to the Italians on the West Side. This community became excited
over a rumor, and an Italian crowd killed a Negro, Joseph Lovings.
Wednesday saw a material lessening of crime and violence. The "Black
Belt" and the district immediately west of it were still storm centers. But the
peak of the rioting had apparently passed, although the danger of fresh
outbreaks of magnitude was still imminent. Although companies of the
militia had been mobilized in nearby armories as early as Monday night,
July 28, it was not until Wednesday evening at 10:30 that the mayor yielded
to pressure and asked for their help.
Rain on Wednesday night and Thursday drove idle people of both races into
their homes. The temperature fell, and with it the white heat of the riot.
From this time on the violence was sporadic, scattered, and meager. The riot
seemed well under control, if not actually ended.
Friday witnessed only a single reported injury. At 3:35 a.m. Saturday
incendiary fires burned forty-nine houses in the immigrant neighborhood
west of the Stock Yards. Nine hundred and forty-eight people, mostly
Lithuanians, were made homeless, and the property loss was about
$250,000. Responsibility for these fires was never fixed. The riot virtually
ceased on Saturday. For the next few days injured were reported

occasionally, and by August 8 the riot zone had settled down to normal and
the militia was withdrawn.
Growth of the riot.—The riot period was thirteen days in length, from
Sunday, July 27, through Thursday, August 8, the day on which the troops
were withdrawn. Of this time, only the first seven days witnessed active
rioting. The remaining days marked the return toward normal. In the seven
active days, rioting was not continuous but intermittent, being furious for
hours, then fairly quiescent for hours. The first three days saw the most
acute disturbance, and in this span there were three main periods: 4:00 p.m.
Sunday till 3:00 a.m. Monday; 9:00 a.m. Monday till 9:00 a.m. Tuesday;
noon Tuesday till midnight. This left two long intervals of comparative
quiet, six hours on Monday and three hours on Tuesday. On the fourth day,
Wednesday, there were scattered periods of rioting, each of a few hours'
duration. Thus Monday afternoon to Tuesday morning was the longest
stretch of active rioting in the first four days.
For the most part the riot was confined to the South Side of the city. There
were two notable exceptions, the district north and west of the south branch
of the Chicago River and the "Loop" or downtown business district. A few
isolated clashes occurred on the North Side and on the extreme West Side,
but aside from these the area covered was that shown on the accompanying
outline map.
For the purposes of discussion it is convenient to divide the riot area into
seven districts. The boundaries in some instances are due to the designation
of Wentworth Avenue by the police as a boundary west of which no
Negroes should be allowed, and east of which no whites should be allowed.

I. "Black Belt." From Twenty-second to Thirty-ninth, inclusive;
Wentworth Avenue to the lake, exclusive of Wentworth; Thirty-ninth to
Fifty-fifth, inclusive; Clark to Michigan, exclusive of Michigan.
II. Area contested by both Negroes and whites. Thirty-ninth to Fifty-fifth,
inclusive; Michigan to the lake.
III. Southwest Side, including the Stock Yards district; south of the
Chicago River to Fifty-fifth; west of Wentworth, including Wentworth.
IV. Area south of Fifty-fifth and east of Wentworth.
V. Area south of Fifty-fifth and west of Wentworth.

VI. Area north and west of the Chicago River.
VII. "Loop" or business district and vicinity.

In the district designated as the "Black Belt" about 90 per cent of the
Negroes live. District II, the "contested area," is that in which most of the
bombings have occurred. Negroes are said to be "invading" this district.
Extension here instead of into District III, toward the Stock Yards
neighborhood, may be explained partly by the hostility which the Irish and
Polish groups to the west had often shown to Negroes. The white hoodlum
element of the Stock Yards district, designated as III, was characterized by
the state's attorney of Cook County, when he remarked that more bank
robbers, pay-roll bandits, automobile bandits, highwaymen, and strong-arm
crooks come from this particular district than from any other that has come
to his notice during seven years of service as chief prosecuting official.[5]
In District IV and V, south of Fifty-fifth Street, Negroes live in small
communities surrounded by white people or are scattered through white
neighborhoods. District VI has a large Italian population. District VII is
Chicago's wholesale and retail center.

THE CHICAGO RIOT
JULY, 27 TO AUGUST, 8, 1919

On only one day of the riot were all these districts involved in the race
warfare. This was Tuesday. On Sunday Districts I, III, and IV suffered
clashes; on Monday all but District VI were involved; on Tuesday the entire
area was affected; on Wednesday District VII was not included, and District
VI witnessed only one clash; on Thursday District IV was again normal,
and Districts II, V, and VII were comparatively quiet; during the remainder
of the week only the first three districts named were active.

The worst clashes were in Districts I and III, and of those reported injured,
34 per cent received their wounds in the "Black Belt," District I, and 41 per
cent on the Southwest Side, in the district including the Stock Yards,
District III.
Factors contributing to the subsidence of the riot were the natural reaction
from the tension, efforts of police and citizens to curb the rioters, the
entrance of the militia on Wednesday, and last, but perhaps not least, a
heavy rain.
The longest period of violence without noticeable lull was 9:00 a.m.
Monday to 9:00 a.m. Tuesday. On Tuesday the feeling was most intense, as
shown by the nature of the clashes. Arson was prevalent on Tuesday for the
first time, and the property loss was considerable. But judging by the only
definite index, the number of dead and injured, Monday exceeded Tuesday
in violence, showing 229 injured and eighteen dead as against 139 injured
and eleven dead on the latter day. While it is apparent that no single hour or
even day can be called the peak of the riot, the height of violence clearly
falls within the two-day period Monday, July 28, and Tuesday, July 29.
The change in the nature of the clashes day by day showed an increase in
intensity of feeling and greater boldness in action. This development
reached its peak on Tuesday. Later came a decline, sporadic outbursts
succeeding sustained activity.
Factors influencing growth of the riot.—After the attacks had stopped,
about 3:00 a.m. Monday, they did not again assume serious proportions
until Monday afternoon, when workers began to return to their homes, and
idle men gathered in the streets in greater numbers than during working
hours. The Stock Yards laborers are dismissed for the day in shifts. Negroes
coming from the Yards at the 3:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., and later shifts were met
by white gangs armed with bats and clubs. On Tuesday morning men going
to work, both Negro and white, were attacked.
The main areas of violence were thoroughfares and natural highways
between the job and the home. On the South Side 76 per cent of all the
injuries occurred on such streets. The most turbulent corners were those on
State Street between Thirty-first and Thirty-ninth, on Cottage Grove Avenue
at Sixty-third Street, on Halsted Street at Thirty-fifth and Forty-seventh

streets and on Archer Avenue at Thirty-fifth Street. Injuries at these spots
were distributed as follows:[6]
Injuries Deaths
State Street—
at Thirty-first 7
between Thirty-first and Thirty-fifth 2
at Thirty-fifth 9 1
between Thirty-fifth and Thirty-ninth 19 2
at Thirty-ninth 3
Cottage Grove Avenue—
at Sixty-third Street 8
Halsted Street—
at Thirty-fifth 8
at Forty-seventh 5
Archer Avenue—
at Thirty-fifth Street 7
Streets which suffered most from rioting were—
State 61 6
Thirty-fifth 50 5
Forty-seventh 32 2
Halsted 32
Thirty-first 29 1

The street-car situation had an effect upon the riot both before the strike and
after it. Because of a shortage of labor at the time, the surface-street-car
company had put on a number of inexperienced men. This may account for
the inefficiency of some crews in handling attacked cars.
An example is the case of Henry Goodman who was killed in an attack on a
Thirty-ninth Street car. The car was stopped at Union Avenue by a truck
suspiciously stalled across the tracks. White men boarded the car and beat
and chased six or eight Negro passengers. When asked under oath to whom
the truck directly in front of him belonged and what color it was, the
motorman replied, "I couldn't say." When asked what time his car left the
end of the line and whether or not he had seen any Negroes hit on the car,
he answered, "I didn't pay any attention." The motorman said he made a
report of the case, but it could not be found by anyone in the street-car
company's office. The conductor of this car had been given orders to warn
Negroes that there was rioting in the district through which the car ran. He
did not do this. He ignored the truck. No names of witnesses were secured.

The motorman was an extra man and had run on that route only during the
day of the attack.
In the case of John Mills, a Negro who was killed as he fled from a Forty-
seventh Street car, the motorman left the car while Negroes were being
beaten inside it. Neither motorman nor conductor took names of witnesses
or attempted to fix a description of the assailants in mind.
When B. F. Hardy, a Negro, was killed on a street car at Forty-sixth Street
and Cottage Grove Avenue, the motorman and conductor offered no
resistance and did not get names or descriptions.
The testimony of the conductor and motorman on a car attacked at Thirty-
eighth Street and Ashland Avenue was clear and showed an attempt to get
all information possible. They secured names of witnesses. One member of
the crew had been in the service of the Chicago Surface Lines for ten years,
and the other for twelve years.
The tie-up of the street railways affected the riot situation by forcing
laborers to walk, making them more liable to assault in the hostile districts,
by keeping many workers from jobs, turning out on the streets hundreds of
idle men, and by increasing the use of automobiles.
Tuesday morning two white men were killed while walking to work
through the Negro area, and two Negroes were killed while going through
the white area.
Curiosity led the idle to the riot zone. One such was asked on the witness
stand why he went. "What was I there for? Because I walked there—my
own bad luck. I was curious to see how they did it, that is all."
Under cover of legitimate use gangs used motor vehicles for raiding.
Witnesses of rioting near Ogden Park said trucks unloaded passengers on
Racine Avenue, facilitating the formation of a mob. On Halsted Street
crowds of young men rode in trucks shouting they were out to "get the
niggers." An automobile load of young men headed off Heywood Thomas,
Negro, and shot him, at Taylor and Halsted streets, as he was walking home
from work.

Beside daily routine and the street-car situation, the weather undoubtedly
had an influence in the progress of the riot. July 27 was hot, 96 degrees, or
fourteen points above normal. It was the culmination of a series of days
with high temperatures around 95 degrees, which meant that nerves were
strained. The warm weather of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday also kept
crowds on the streets and sitting on doorsteps until late at night. Innocent
people trying to keep cool were injured when automobiles raced through the
streets, the occupants firing to right and left. Wednesday night and Thursday
it rained. Cool weather followed for the rest of the week.
Gangs and "athletic clubs."—Gangs and their activities were an important
factor throughout the riot. But for them it is doubtful if the riot would have
gone beyond the first clash. Both organized gangs and those which sprang
into existence because of the opportunity afforded seized upon the excuse
of the first conflict to engage in lawless acts.
It was no new thing for youthful white and Negro groups to come to
violence. For years, as the sections of this report dealing with antecedent
clashes and with recreation show, there had been clashes over baseball
grounds, swimming-pools in the parks, the right to walk on certain streets,
etc.
Gangs whose activities figured so prominently in the riot were all white
gangs, or "athletic clubs." Negro hoodlums do not appear to form organized
gangs so readily. Judges of the municipal court said that there are no gang
organizations among Negroes to compare with those found among young
whites.
The Stock Yards district, just west of the main Negro area, is the home of
many of these white gangs and clubs; it is designated as District III in the
discussion of the riot growth. The state's attorney, as already indicated (see
p. 8), referred to the many young offenders who come from this particular
district. A police detective sergeant who investigated the riot cases in this
district said of this section, "It is a pretty tough neighborhood to try to get
any information out there; you can't do it." A policeman on the beat in the
district said, "There is the Canaryville bunch in there and the Hamburg
bunch. It is a pretty tough hole in there."

There was much evidence and talk of the political "pull" and even
leadership of these gangs with reference to their activities in the riot. A
member of "Ragen's Colts" just after the riot passed the word that the
"coppers" from downtown were looking for club members, but that "there
need be no fear of the coppers from the station at the Yards for they were all
fixed and told to lay off on club members." During the riot he claimed they
were well protected by always having a "cop" ride in one of the
automobiles so everything would be "O.K." in case members of the gang
were picked up. Another member of the club said he had been "tipped off
by the police at the Yards to clean out and keep away from the usual
hangouts because investigators were working out of Hoyne's and out of
Brundage's offices, and were checking up on the activities of the 'Ragen's'
during the riot."
The foreman of the August grand jury which investigated the riot cases said
in testifying before the Commission:
The lead we got to investigate the Forty-seventh Street district was from an
anonymous letter stating that Ragen had such influence in the Forty-seventh Street
police station that these individuals were allowed to go without due process of law.
I didn't believe that was a fact in this particular instance. We did learn that Ragen was
a great power in that district and at the time of our investigation we learned that some
of the "Ragen's Colts" had broken into the police station and pried open a door of a
closet where they had a good deal of evidence in the nature of weapons of prisoners
concealed, and they got all of this evidence out of there without the police knowing
anything about it.

The station referred to is at Forty-seventh and Halsted streets. Gangs
operated for hours up and down Forty-seventh Street, Wells, Princeton,
Shields, and Wentworth avenues and Federal Street without hindrance from
the police.

CROWDS ARMED WITH BRICKS SEARCHING FOR A NEGRO

WHITES STONING NEGRO TO DEATH
Actual photograph of the killing of a Negro by the mob shown above after chasing him into his
home.

THE ARRIVAL OF THE POLICE
He was knocked from the stairway by a brick. Two men are here shown hurling bricks at the
dying Negro.

A judge of the municipal court said in testimony before the Commission:
"They seemed to think they had a sort of protection which entitled them to
go out and assault anybody. When the race riots occurred it gave them
something to satiate the desire to inflict their evil propensities on others."
Besides shouting as they rode down the streets in trucks that they were out
to "get the niggers," they defied the law in other ways. When the militia
men came on the scene on the fourth day of the riot, they testified to trouble
with these gangsters. One of the colonels testified before the Commission:
"They didn't like to be controlled. They would load up heavy trucks with
rowdies and try to force through the lines. They'd come tooting their horns
and having back pressure explosions like gatling guns."
Some of the "athletic club" gangsters had criminal records. L —— W ——
was accused of being one of the leaders of the gang around Forty-seventh

and Wells streets. He himself said boastfully, "I have been arrested about
fifteen times for 'disorderly' and never was arrested with a knife or a gun."
Several witnesses said they had seen him during the riot one night leading
the mob and brandishing a razor and the next night waving a gun. He was
not arrested. D —— H ——, seventeen years old, was identified as being
active in the rioting near Forty-seventh Street and Forrestville Avenue. His
defense was that he was not closer to the Negro assaulted than across the
street, but because he was arrested the year before for a "stick-up" people
looked "funny" at him when anything happened. R —— C —— was
accused of having been implicated in the arson cases on Shields Avenue.
When his mother was interviewed, she said she knew nothing of the rioting,
but said her son was at the time in the county jail, "but not for that."
W —— G —— was identified many times as having taken part in the arson
on Wentworth Avenue. He was indicted for both arson and conspiracy to
riot. Two years before the riot he had been arrested for larceny.
All who discussed gangs before the Commission said that most of the
members were boys of seventeen to twenty-two years of age. Witnesses
before the coroner's juries testified to the youth of the participants in mobs.
Many of the active assailants of street cars were boys. In the case of the
Negro Hardy who was killed on a street car, it was said that the murderers
were not over twenty years, and many were nearer sixteen. In the raids in
the Ogden Park district the participants were between the ages of fifteen
and twenty. The raid just west of Wentworth Avenue, where a number of
houses were much damaged, was perpetrated by boys of these ages. The
attacking mob on Forty-third Street near Forrestville Avenue, was led by
boys of eighteen to twenty-one. The only two hoodlums caught
participating in the outrages in the "Loop," the downtown business district,
were seventeen and about twenty-one. Most of those arrested on suspicion
in the arson cases were taken before the boys' court. Negroes involved in
many cases as assailants were also youthful. The young Negro boys who
killed Lazzeroni were fourteen to eighteen; those who killed Pareko and
Perel were about sixteen.
A member of "Ragen's Colts" is said to have boasted that their territory
extended from Cottage Grove Avenue to Ashland Avenue and from Forty-
third Street to Sixty-third Street. At Sixty-third Street and Cottage Grove
Avenue they were said to have attacked a colored man in a restaurant and

thrown him out of the window. It was reported that trucks of a downtown
store, each carrying about thirty men, yelling that they were "Ragen's Colts"
and that "Ragen's bunch" were going to clean out the community, came to
Sixtieth Street and Racine Avenue. Some of the boys who took part in the
assault upon Negroes at Sixtieth and Ada streets were reputed to be
members of "Ragen's Colts." The club, according to some of its own
members, operated with automobiles from which they managed to "bump
off a number of Niggers." A truck driver said he had driven some "Ragen's
Colts" to Forty-seventh and Halsted streets, where they "dropped" four or
five people, then he drove them back to the "Ragen's Colts" clubhouse at
Fifty-second and Halsted streets. "And," he says, "they had plenty of guns
and ammunition." State's Attorney Hoyne, however, said that no evidence
could be found that "Ragen's Colts" had a store of arms. Members of the
Illinois Reserve Militia reported that they had been threatened by "Ragen's
Colts" that they would be picked off one by one when they got off duty.
One of the most serious cases of rioting in which members of "Ragen's
Colts" were reported to be implicated was the raid upon Shields Avenue,
where there were nine houses occupied by Negroes. At 8:30 Tuesday
evening 200 or 300 gangsters started at one corner and worked through the
block, throwing furniture out of windows and setting fires. A white man
who owned a house on this street which he rented to Negroes says that after
the raid several young men warned him, "If you open your mouth against
'Ragen's' we will not only burn your house down but we will 'do' you."
The Lorraine Club, according to five witnesses, was also implicated in
arson and raids upon homes of Negroes. Their operations, according to
reports, were on Forty-seventh Street and on Wells Street and Wentworth
Avenue between Forty-seventh and Forty-eighth streets. Negroes were
chased, guns were fired, windows broken, front doors smashed in, furniture
destroyed, and finally homes were burned. All Negro families were driven
out. The attack was planned, and news of its imminence spread abroad in
the morning. Rioting started in the afternoon of July 29, and culminated late
that night. There was no interference from the police at any time. It was said
that one of the leaders of the gang who had an express and coal yard carried
away furniture in his wagon. Another was recognized as a youth who had
shot a Negro woman during the afternoon. They are reported to have
attacked an undertaker and friends who came to remove the body of a dead

Negro. Three of the rioters were arrested upon the identification of several
people, but two were released in the municipal court, and the third had a
"no bill" returned before the grand jury. One was released because no
witnesses were present to prosecute him. The witnesses said they were not
notified.
A member of the Lorraine Club denied that his club had anything to do with
this riot, but said it was Our Flag Club that did the "dirty work." Our Flag
Club is located farther east on Forty-seventh Street near Union Avenue.
When John Mills was dragged from a street car at this point and killed, a
policeman recognized several of the club's members in the crowd, but
vouchsafed the opinion that they were not part of the aggressive mob, "for
they did not run as did the others when the patrol came down the street."
Another policeman said he had never had any trouble with the club.
Eight members of the Sparklers' Club were seen at the fire at 5919
Wentworth Avenue, a building in which two Negro families lived. The
arson is reported to have been planned in a neighboring cigar store. One of
the boys put waste soaked in gasoline under the porch and ran. Two of them
threw oil in the building and two others lit it. It took three attempts to make
a fire at this place. Each time it was started the Fire Department put it out.
Two of the boys are declared to have stolen phonograph records and
silverware from the house. A lad not a member of the club was with them at
the fire. Afterward one of the boys warned him, "Watch your dice and be
careful or you won't see your home any more." Six boys were held for
arson, in connection with this affair; one was discharged in the boys' court,
and the cases of two others were nolle prossed. In connection with their
arrest the Chicago Tribune of August 15, 1919, said:
Evidence that organized bands of white youths have been making a business of
burning Negro dwellings was said to have been handed to Attorney General Brundage
and Assistant State's Attorney Irwin Walker.... Chief of Police Garrity, also informed
of the Fire Marshal's charges, declared several so-called athletic clubs in the Stock
Yards district may lose their charters as a result.

A report about the Aylward Club was to the effect that as the Negroes came
from the Stock Yards on Monday, a gang of its members armed with clubs
was waiting for them and that each singled out a Negro and beat him, the
police looking on.

The names of a number of gang ringleaders were reported by investigators.
For illustration, L. Dennis, a Negro of 6059 Throop Street, was attacked on
the night of Monday, July 28, by a mob led by three roughs whose names
were learned and whose loafing place was at Sixty-third Street and Racine
Avenue. A mob of thirty white men who shot Francis Green, Negro,
eighteen years old, at Garfield Boulevard and State Street had a club
headquarters in the vicinity of Fifty-fourth Street and their "hangout" was at
the corner of Garfield Boulevard and State Street.
Other clubs mentioned in riot testimony before the coroner's jury, but not in
connection with riot clashes, are the Pine Club, the Hamburgers, the
Emeralds, the White Club, Favis Grey's, and the Mayflower. The police
closed the clubs for a period of several months after the riot. There were
then in existence a number of Negro gambling clubs, and the state's attorney
declared that it was the colored gamblers who "started this shooting and
tearing around town," and that "as soon as they heard the news that the boy
Williams was drowned, they filled three or four machines and started out to
shoot."
A saloon-keeper near Wabash Avenue and Fifty-fifth Street, one of the
leaders of these colored gamblers, was identified by a white woman as
being in an automobile with five other Negroes exhorting colored men to
riot after the drowning of Williams. The next day he was arrested in an
automobile with other colored men who were said to be shooting into the
homes of white people. They were arrested but were discharged by Judge
Barasa at the Stock Yards court.
Police raids were made on some of the "Black Belt" clubs on August 23. At
the Ranier Club, 3010 South State Street, two revolvers, one razor, one
"black-jack," seven cartridges, one cattle knife, and one ordinary knife were
found. At the Pioneer Club, 3512 South State Street, eight guns, four
packages of cartridges and twenty-four knives were taken. A raid at 2700
South State Street netted four guns, one hunting-knife, and fifty-eight
cartridges and bullets.
The foreman of the grand jury which investigated the riots discussing the
"athletic" and "social" clubs before the Commission, said:

Most of them were closed immediately after the riots. There were "Ragen's Colts," as
they were known, concerning whom the grand jury were particularly anxious to get
something concrete, although no evidence was presented that convicted any of the
members of that club. There were the Hamburgers, another athletic club, the Lotus
Club, the Mayflower, and various clubs. These were white clubs.

Asked if they really were athletic clubs, he replied:
I think they are athletic only with their fists and brass knuckles and guns. We had Mr.
Ragen before the grand jury, and he told us of the noble work that they were doing in
the district, that Father Brian, who had charge of these boys, taught them to box and
how to build themselves up physically, and they were doing a most noble work, and
you would think that Ragen was a public benefactor. During the deliberations of this
grand jury a number of anonymous letters were written with reference to "Ragen's
Colts," and most of the explanations of the fact that they failed to put their names on
these letters were that they were afraid they would lose their lives.

The grand jury included in its report this reference to the gang and club
phase of the riot:
The authorities employed to enforce the law should thoroughly investigate clubs and
other organizations posing as athletic and social clubs which really are organizations
of hoodlums and criminals formed for the purpose of furthering the interest of local
politics. In the opinion of this jury many of the crimes committed in the "Black Belt"
by whites and the fires that were started back of the Yards, which, however, were
credited to the Negroes, were more than likely the work of the gangs operating on the
Southwest Side under the guise of these clubs, and the jury believes that these fires
were started for the purpose of inciting race feeling by blaming same on the blacks.
These gangs have apparently taken an active part in the race riots, and no arrests of
their members have been made as far as this jury is aware.

SCENES FROM FIRE IN IMMIGRANT NEIGHBORHOOD "BACK OF
THE YARDS"

NEGROES UNDER PROTECTION OF POLICE LEAVING WRECKED
HOUSE IN RIOT ZONE

The coroner's jury which conducted inquests into the thirty-eight riot deaths
said:
The suggestion has also been made that race hatred and tendency to race rioting had
its birth and was fostered in the numerous social and athletic clubs made up of young
men and scattered throughout the city. We doubt this, but if in part true, it calls for the
inspection and control of such clubs. These clubs are here, they are popular, they take
the place of the disappearing saloon and poolroom. Properly governed and controlled,
they should be encouraged and fostered and, when necessary, disciplined.
Hoodlums are the nucleus of a mob—the young, idle, vicious, and in many instances
degenerate and criminal, impatient of restraint of law, gather together, and when
fortified by sufficient numbers, start out on a mission of disorder, law-breaking,
destruction, and murder. Mobs, white or colored, grow about a nucleus of this
character.

Types of clashes.—Racial outbreaks are often characterized by hangings,
burnings, and mutilations, and frequently the cause given for them is a
reported Negro attack upon a white woman. None of these features
appeared in the Chicago riot. An attempted hanging was reported by a white
detective but was unsubstantiated. A report that Joseph Lovings, one of the
Negroes killed in the riot, was burned, was heralded abroad and even
carried to the United States Senate, but it was false. The coroner's
physicians found no burns on his body.
Reports of assaults upon women were at no time mentioned or even hinted
at as a cause of the Chicago riot, but after the disorder started reports of
such crimes were published in the white and Negro press, but they had no
foundation in fact.
Of the ten women wounded in the Chicago riot, seven were white, two were
Negroes, and the race of one is unknown. All but one of these ten injuries
appears to have been accidental. The exception was the case of Roxy Pratt,
a Negro woman who, with her brother, was chased down Wells Street from
Forty-seventh by gangsters and was seriously wounded by a bullet. No
cases of direct attacks upon white women by Negro men were reported.
The Commission has the record of numerous instances, principally during
the first twenty-four hours, where individuals of opposing races met, knives

or guns were drawn, and injury was inflicted without the element of mob
stimulus.
On Monday mobs operated in sudden, excited assaults, and attacks on street
cars provided outstanding cases, five persons being killed and many
injured. Nicholas Kleinmark, a white assailant, was stabbed to death by a
Negro named Scott, acting in self-defense. Negroes killed were Henry
Goodman at Thirtieth and Union streets; John Mills, on Forty-seventh
Street near Union; Louis Taylor at Root Street and Wentworth Avenue; and
B. F. Hardy at Forty-sixth Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. All died from
beatings.
Crowds armed themselves with stones, bricks, and baseball bats and
scanned passing street cars for Negroes. Finding them, trolleys were pulled
off wires and entrance to the cars forced. Negroes were dragged from under
car seats and beaten. Once off the car the chase began. If possible, the
vanguard of the mob caught the fleeing Negroes and beat them with clubs.
If the Negro outran the pursuers, stones and bricks brought him down.
Sometimes the chase led through back yards and over fences, but it was
always short.
Another type of race warfare was the automobile raids carried on by young
men crowded in cars, speeding across the dead line at Wentworth Avenue
and the "Black Belt," and firing at random. Crowded colored districts, with
people sitting on front steps and in open windows, were subjected to this
menace. Strangely enough, only one person was killed in these raids, Henry
Baker, Negro.
Automobile raids were reported wherever colored people had established
themselves, in the "Black Belt," both on the main business streets and in the
residence sections, and in the small community near Ada and Loomis
streets in the vicinity of Ogden Park.
These raids began Monday night, continued spasmodically all day Tuesday,
and were again prevalent that night. In spite of the long period, reports of
motorcycle policemen show no white raiders arrested. One suspected
raiding automobile was caught on State Street Tuesday night, after collision
with a patrol wagon. One of the occupants, a white man, had on his person
the badge and identification card of a policeman assigned to the Twenty-

fourth Precinct. No case was worked up against him, and the other men in
the machine were not heard of again in connection with the raid.
Most of the police motorcycle squad was assigned to the Stanton Avenue
station, which was used as police headquarters in the "Black Belt." Several
automobile loads of Negroes were arrested, and firearms were found either
upon their persons or in the automobile.
In only two cases were Negroes aggressively rioting found outside of the
"Black Belt." One of these was the case of the saloon-keeper already
mentioned, and the other was that of a deputy sheriff, who, with a party of
other men, said they were on the way to the Stock Yards to rescue some
beleaguered members of their race. It is reported that they wounded five
white people en route. Sheriff Peters said he understood that the deputy
sheriff was attacked by white mobs and fired to clear the crowd. He was not
convicted.
"Sniping" was a form of retaliation by Negroes which grew out of the
automobile raids. These raiding automobiles were fired upon from yards,
porches, and windows throughout the "Black Belt." One of the most serious
cases reported was at Thirty-first and State streets, where Negroes
barricaded the streets with rubbish boxes. Motorcycle Policeman Cheney
rammed through and was hit by a bullet. His companion officer following
was knocked from his machine and the machine punctured with bullets.
After the wounding of Policeman Cheney and Sergeant Murray, of the Sixth
Precinct, policemen made a thorough search of all Negro homes near the
scene of the "sniping." Thirty-four Negroes were arrested. Of these, ten
were discharged, ten were found not guilty, one was given one day in jail,
one was given five days in jail, one was fined and put on probation, two
were fined $10 and costs, one was fined $25; six were given thirty days
each in the House of Correction, and one, who admitted firing twice but
said he was firing at one of the automobiles, was sentenced to six months in
the House of Correction. His case was taken to the appellate court.
Concerted retaliatory race action showed itself in the Italian district around
Taylor and Loomis streets when rumor said that a little Italian girl had been
killed or wounded by a shot fired by a Negro. Joseph Lovings, an innocent
Negro, came upon the excited crowd of Italians. There was a short chase

through back yards. Finally Lovings was dragged from his hiding-place in a
basement and brutally murdered by the crowd. The coroner reported
fourteen bullet wounds on his body, eight still having bullets in them; also
various stab wounds, contusions of the head, and fractures of the skull.
Rumor made the tale more hideous, saying that Lovings was burned after
gasoline had been poured over the dead body. This was not true.
This same massing of race against race was shown in a similar clash
between Italians and Negroes on the North Side. The results here, however,
were not serious. It was reported in this last case that immediately after the
fracas the Negroes and Italians were again on good terms. This was not true
in the neighborhood of the Lovings outrage. Miss Jane Addams, of Hull-
House, which is near the scene of Lovings' death, testified before the
Commission that before the riot the Italians held no particular animosity
toward Negroes, for those in the neighborhood were mostly from South
Italy and accustomed to the dark-skinned races, but that they were
developing antipathy. In the September following the riot, she said the
neighborhood was still full of wild stories so stereotyped in character that
they appeared to indicate propaganda spread for a purpose.
The gang which operated in the "Loop" was composed partly of soldiers
and sailors in uniform; they were boys of from seventeen to twenty-two, out
for a "rough" time and using race prejudice as a shield for robbery. At times
this crowd numbered 100. Its depredations began shortly after 2:00 a.m.
Tuesday. The La Salle Street railroad station was entered twice, and Negro
men were beaten and robbed. About 3:00 a.m. activities were transferred to
Wabash Avenue. In the hunt for Negroes one restaurant was wrecked and
the vandalism was continued in another restaurant where two Negroes were
found. One was severely injured and the other was shot down. The
gangsters rolled the body into the gutter and turned the pockets inside out;
they stood on the corner of Wabash Avenue and Adams Street and divided
the spoils, openly boasting later of having secured $52, a diamond ring, a
watch, and a brooch.
Attacks in the "Loop" continued as late as ten o'clock Tuesday morning,
Negroes being chased through the streets and beaten. Warned by the
Pinkerton Detective Agency, business men with stores on Wabash Avenue
came to protect their property. The rioting was reported to the police by the

restaurant men. Policemen rescued two Negroes that morning, but so many
policemen had been concentrated in and near the "Black Belt" that there
were only a few patrolmen in the whole "Loop" district, and these did not
actively endeavor to cope with the mob. In the meantime two Negroes were
killed and others injured, while property was seriously damaged.
Tuesday's raids marked the peak of daring during the riot, and their
subsidence was as gradual as their rise. For the next two days the gangs
roamed the streets, intermittently attacking Negro homes. After Tuesday
midnight their operations were not so open or so concerted. The riot
gradually decreased in feeling and scope till the last event of a serious
nature occurred, the incendiary fires back of the Stock Yards.
While there is general agreement that these fires were incendiary, no clue
could be found to the perpetrators. Negroes were suspected, as all the
houses burned belonged to whites. In spite of this fact, and the testimony of
thirteen people who said they saw Negroes in the vicinity before or during
the fires, a rumor persisted that the fires were set by white people with
blackened faces. One of the men living in the burned district who testified
to seeing a motor truck filled with Negroes said, when asked about the color
of the men, "Sure, I know they were colored. Of course I don't know
whether they were painted." An early milk-wagon driver said that he saw
Negroes come out of a barn on Forty-third Street and Hermitage Avenue.
Immediately afterward the barn burst into flames. He ran to a policeman
and reported it. The policeman said he was "too busy" and "it is all right
anyway." One of the colonels commanding a regiment of militia said he
thought white people with blackened faces had set fire to the houses; he got
this opinion from talking to the police in charge of that district.
Miss Mary McDowell, of the University of Chicago Settlement, which is
located back of the Yards, said in testimony before the Commission:
I don't think the Negroes did burn the houses. I think the white hoodlums burned
them. The Negroes weren't back there, they stayed at home after that Monday. When
we got hold of the firemen confidentially, they said no Negroes set fire to them at all,
but the newspapers said so and the people were full of fear. All kinds of mythical
stories were afloat for some time.

The general superintendent of Armour & Company was asked, when
testifying before the Commission, if he knew of any substantial reason why

Negroes were accused of setting fires back of the Yards. He answered:
That statement was originated in the minds of a few individuals, radicals. It does not
exist in the minds of the conservative and thinking people of the community, even
those living in back of the Yards. They know better. I believe it goes without saying
that there isn't a colored man, regardless of how little brains he'd have, who would
attempt to go over into the Polish district and set fire to anybody's house over there.
He wouldn't get that far.

The controlling superintendent of Swift & Company said he could not say it
from his own experience, but he understood there was as much friction
between the Poles and Lithuanians who worked together in the Yards as
between the Negroes and the whites. The homes burned belonged to
Lithuanians. The grand jury stated in its report: "The jury believes that these
fires were started for the purpose of inciting race feeling by blaming same
on the blacks."
The methods of attack used by Negroes and whites during the riot differed;
the Negroes usually clung to individual attack and the whites to mob action.
Negroes used chiefly firearms and knives, and the whites used their fists,
bricks, stones, baseball bats, pieces of iron, hammers. Among the white
men, 69 per cent were shot or stabbed and 31 per cent were beaten; among
the Negroes almost the reverse was true, 35 per cent being shot and stabbed
and 65 per cent beaten. A colonel in charge of a regiment of militia on riot
duty says they found few whites but many Negroes armed.
Arms and ammunition.—The foregoing figures and statements gave some
color to the belief persistent during and after the riot that Negroes had stores
of arms and ammunition. A lieutenant of police testified before the coroner's
jury that he had known in advance that the riot was coming because "there
were guns in every house out there; I knew they were there for a purpose."
He said he had heard that Negroes had been advised to arm themselves and
defend their homes, that the Constitution of the United States provided for
that. The state's attorney said before the Commission that prior to the riot he
had received reports from detectives of private agencies stating the same
thing. He was informed that Negroes readily got firearms from Gary,
Indiana, and that porters on the Pullman trains brought them in from outside
places. He further stated: "I am very definitely assured of the fact that they
were arming and that there were more arms and weapons grouped in that

general district loosely termed the 'Black Belt' than any place else, and my
information is that conditions are that way now."
During the riot there were frequent rumors that Negroes had broken into the
Eighth Regiment Armory for guns and ammunition, but all these rumors
were proved false.
Since the riot many tales have been told of stores of arms brought in by
Pullman porters and by white prostitutes. Mexicans were reported to be
assisting Negroes in the manufacture of bombs and hand grenades. Lists of
addresses where ammunition was being stored have been gathered by
detectives, but not verified.
The same sort of rumors are found circulating among the Negroes in regard
to the arming of whites. It is said that such and such white men have great
boxes of guns and ammunition in the cellars of their homes, and that white
men are forming shooting clubs for the purpose of attacking Negroes in the
event of another riot. There are also widely believed stories that a
department store sold guns to white people before the riot but refused to sell
to Negroes. It was said that pawn shops sold to white people without
permits from the police.
Crowds and mobs.—It may be observed that a crowd is merely a gathering
of people while a mob is a crowd with its attention so strongly fixed upon
some lawless purpose that other purposes are inhibited and it acts along the
line of the one purpose. During the riot many crowds of curiosity seekers
were transformed into vicious mobs when exciting rumors circulated and
the suggestion of vengeance was made by leaders. Such suggestion was
frequently accompanied by some daring act, stimulated by the excitement.
The mob in its entirety usually did not participate actively. It was one in
spirit, but divided in performance into a small active nucleus and a large
proportion of spectators. The nucleus was composed of young men from
sixteen to twenty-one or twenty-two years of age. Sometimes only four
would be active while fifty or 150 looked on, but at times the proportion
would be as great as twenty-five in 200 or fifty in 300. Fifty is the largest
number reported for a mob nucleus. This was in the case of John Mills and
five other Negroes who were beaten, dragged off a Forty-seventh Street car
and chased, Mills being killed. Here there were three degrees of crowd

formation. First came the nucleus of fifty active men who did the beating,
chasing, and killing. Closely aiding and abetting them were 300 or 400
others. After the Negroes had been forced off the car and were being hunted
through the neighborhood a crowd of about 2,000 gathered and followed
the vanguard of attackers and spectators. These were present out of morbid
curiosity, but sufficiently imbued with the spirit of the mob not to interfere
with the outrages.
The fact that children were frequently a part of mobs is one of the thought-
provoking facts of the Chicago riot. Psychologists say that impressions
made upon the child mind are forces which mold adult character to a great
extent. A number of children, some not more than four or five years old,
swarmed in front of the Forty-seventh Street car in the John Mills case and
effectively blocked it while men climbed aboard and sought out the
Negroes. Children, often witnesses of mob brutality, ran to where Negro
victims had fallen and pointed them out to the policemen who came up after
the mobs had dispersed.
There were others, still children in mind, Negro boys of fifteen, accused of
murders. The enormity of their acts faded in the joy of describing their
weapons. "Fat had a club; it looked like a police club," said one, "it had
leather on it." "And the gun had a little picture of an owl on the side of it,"
said another describing a patched-up weapon that brought down a white
laboring-man who left a widow and eight children.

SCENES FROM FIRE IN IMMIGRANT NEIGHBORHOOD "BACK OF
THE YARDS"

SCENE FROM FIRE IN IMMIGRANT NEIGHBORHOOD "BACK OF
THE YARDS"

Among the spectators of mob violence were men, women, and children of
all ages; they included tradesmen, craftsmen, salesmen, laborers. Though
the spectators did not commit the crimes, they must share the moral
responsibility. Without the spectators mob violence would probably have
stopped short of murder in many cases. An example of the behavior of the
active nucleus when out of sight of the spectators bears this out. George
Carr, Negro, was chased from a street car. He outstripped all but the
vanguard of the mob by climbing fences and hiding in a back yard. This
concealed him from the rest of the crowd, who by that time were chasing
other Negroes. The young men who followed Carr left him without striking
a blow, upon his mere request for clemency. In regard to the large non-
active elements in the crowds, the coroner said during the inquest, "It is just
the swelling of crowds of that kind that urges them on, because they
naturally feel that they are backed up by the balance of the crowd, which
may not be true, but they feel that way." Juror Ware said, "If sightseers were
lending their aid and assistance—" Juror Dillon interrupted and finished,
"they ought to be punished."

Often the "sightseers" and even those included in the nucleus did not know
why they had taken part in crimes the viciousness of which was not
apparent to them until afterward. A mere attempt to cover up participation
would have called forth excuses in testimony, but their answers show
irritation at the questioning, an inability to appreciate the situation, or
complete bewilderment. These excerpts from the testimony before the
coroner's jury are examples:
Henry Woodman, in the mob at Sixtieth and Ada streets: "I don't know. I
didn't have any grudge against them [the Negroes]. But they [the mob]
seemed to have it in for the colored people. That is all."
Edward Klose, in the mob in front of 1021 South State Street: "I followed
the crowd, and I was in there because I was in there; they all bunched
around and what could I do?"
One of the boys in the mob at Forty-third Street and Forrestville Avenue: "I
just wanted to see how things were getting along. We wanted to see what
the riot looked like."
Another of this same crowd: "I was following the rest. I wanted to see what
they were going to do."
Another from the same mob: "When they started to grab them [the Negroes]
in the lot, I rushed over directly to the conflict, by the colored men, thinking
I would see more on that side."
Mobs got under way for the commission of atrocities by having the direct
suggestion put to them by one of the leaders. With minds already prepared
by rumors circulating wherever crowds gathered, it was easy to arouse
action. A street car approaching and the cry, "Get the niggers!" was enough.
Prompt action clinched the idea, and the emotion of the attack narrowed the
field of consciousness. War cries aided in keeping emotion at fever heat.
"Get the nigger!" "Kill the black —— of a ——!" "Kill him!" These were
always an incident of mob action.
Counter-suggestion was not tolerated when the mob was rampant. A
suggestion of clemency was shouted down with the derisive epithet,
"Nigger lover!" Silenced objectors made no further effort to thwart mob
action. There are no records of such persons notifying the police or

persisting in their remonstrances. Those whose objections took the form of
action against the mob met with violence. A white man, an instructor in
music at the University of Chicago, saw several white men attack a Negro
who was waiting for a street car at Sixty-third Street and Cottage Grove
Avenue. Without trying verbal remonstrance he struck out at them. His
glasses were knocked off, and he was thrown into the middle of the street
and left unconscious.
Not only did action once under way make interference hazardous, but it
brought into the mob circle a greater number of participants and increased
its energy. Five men jerked a trolley from the wires; ten men boarded the
car; twenty-five men chased and beat the routed Negroes. The mob action
grew faster than the increase in numbers. Ideas suggested by individual
members were quickly carried out in the action of all. The mob as a whole
and the individuals in it increased in fury, and a normal street crowd was
often turned from peaceful assemblage to brutal murder.
A sharp diversion of attention sometimes caused the dispersal of mobs. An
unexpected revolver shot was the most effective means of such diversion.
Here are some instances:
When Thomas Joshua, a Negro boy, was shot by Police Lieutenant Day, a
throng of Negroes came on the run from State Street. The officers, terrified,
escaped in a taxi, leaving their own automobile behind. The mob attempted
to make this car suffer vicariously for the escaped police officers. Other
policemen on the scene had difficulty in holding them back. Two shots were
heard on Federal Street. Immediately the crowd ceased its clamoring, left
the automobile, and apparently lost all thought of Lieutenant Day and ran to
Federal Street.
In the first mob of the riot, that at Twenty-ninth Street and Cottage Grove
Avenue, Negroes and policemen were struggling in a mass in the middle of
the street. A shot was fired by James Crawford, and the mob dispersed from
that corner.
A mob chased a Negro off a street car on Thirty-ninth Street near Wallace.
A policeman with presence of mind followed the group into the alley, fired
a few shots in the air, and the crowd ran.

In no case where an unexpected shot was fired did it fail to scatter the mob,
but shooting which was part of the mob's own action did not seem to have
the same effect.
The course of one riotous mob can be traced in the activities of a certain
group of five white boys who linked up with the riot excitement. They met
at the corner of Sixty-third Street and Ingleside Avenue at 8:30 Monday
evening. While they were trying to decide which movie to attend, a taxi
driver informed them of a riot at Forty-seventh Street. They took the "L" to
Forty-seventh Street and joined the mob. From then until 2:00 a.m. they
were active in mobs which assaulted Negroes at several points. Two were
beaten at Forty-seventh Street and the elevated railway. The mob then
proceeded to Fifty-first Street, but the police drove it back and it moved on
to Indiana Avenue and Forty-third Street, where a deputy sheriff held it off.
Returning here later it attacked a street car, beat a Negro, and then moved
south on Indiana Avenue, jerking trolleys from wires and assaulting
passengers. At Forty-fifth Street a shot fired by a police sergeant scattered it
toward Forty-third Street.
There the mob met Lieutenant Washington, a Negro ex-soldier, who, with
five Negro companions, was obliged to walk across town because car
service had been discontinued on account of the rioting. Lieutenant
Washington, testifying before the coroner's jury, gave this account of the
affair:
After we crossed Grand Boulevard I heard a yell, "One, two, three, four, five, six,"
and then they gave a loud cheer and said, "Everybody, let's get the niggers! Let's get
the niggers," and we noticed some of them crossed the street and walked on up even
with us. The rest of them were about ten or fifteen feet north ... there were about
between four and six men ... crossed the street and got in front of us ... just before we
got to Forrestville Avenue, about twenty yards, they swarmed in on us.

After this attack, in which Lieutenant Browning was shot, and Clarence
Metz, a white boy, was killed by a stab wound inflicted by Lieutenant
Washington in self-defense, the mob moved on to Grand Boulevard,
preceded by the rumor that it intended to attack the homes of Negroes. A
shot from a house grazed a white lad, and the crowd went on, leaving the
police to come and arrest the Negroes who had fired.

Mob action in planned attacks was more daring, but not more dangerous.
Robbery was occasionally an accompaniment of spontaneous attack, but
arson never. Whether or not some of the organized raids could readily have
been stopped by the police, and the mobs dispersed, remains unproved. No
attempt was made either in the "Loop" district, in the Forty-seventh and
Wells streets districts or in the Sixty-ninth and Elizabeth streets district to
check the depredations.
Rumor.—Rumor was often the first step in crowd formation and often
opened the way for the sharp transformation of a crowd into a mob. The
circulation of rumors was partly due to natural repetition, often with
increasing embellishment, by one person to another of what he had heard or
read. The desire to tell a "big story" and create a sensation was no doubt an
important factor. With so much bitter feeling there was also considerable
conscious effort to provoke vengeful animosity by telling the worst that the
teller had heard or could imagine about the doings of the opposite race. The
latter type of rumor circulation especially fed the riot from the beginning to
the final clash. It continues to be a constant menace to the friendly relations
of the races.
Newspapers were often supplied a source of rumor material through
mistake in fundamental facts, due either to misinformation or exaggeration.
In considering the newspaper handling of riot news, it should be borne in
mind that the task was most difficult during a period of such excitement and
such crowding of events. Further it must be considered that white reporters
might very justifiably avoid the risk of seeking news where crowds of
Negroes had been roused to a high pitch of resentment against whites.
There were doubtless instances in which news was secured from sources
ordinarily trustworthy, but inaccurate during the riot. On the other hand, it
must be recognized that in a time of such excitement the effect of
sensational news on the popular mind is generally accentuated, and the
responsibility for careful handling of news is correspondingly greater.
Where bias is as pronounced as in a race riot it is of the utmost importance
that essential facts be stated correctly.
TABLE I

Date Number of Injured as Reported by Facts as Later Obtained from Police, State's
the "Tribune" and "Herald- Attorney, Hospital Reports, and Olivet

Examiner" during the First Four Baptist Church, Covering Each Day
Days of Riot
White Negro Total White Negro Unknown Total
July 27 29 19 48 10 31 5 46
July 28 64 60 124 71 152 6 229
July 29 62 72 134 55 80 4 139
July 30 40 21 61 20 20 2 42
Total 195 172 367 156 283 17 456
Percentage of total 53 47 100 34 62 4 100

Reports of numbers of dead and injured tended to produce a feeling that the
score must be evened up on the basis of "an eye for an eye," a Negro for a
white, or vice versa. A most unfortunate impression may be made upon an
excited public, Negro and white, by such erroneous reporting as the
following, in which newspapers, although they understated rather than
exaggerated the number of injuries, reported that 6 per cent more whites
were injured than Negroes, when the fact was that 28 per cent more
Negroes were injured than whites.
The Tribune of July 29 in a news item said that before 3:00 a.m., July 29,
twenty persons had been killed, of whom thirteen were white and seven
colored. The truth was that of twenty killed, seven were white and thirteen
colored.[7]
The Daily News of July 29 gave the starting-point of the riot as the Angelus
clash, referring to it as "the center of the trouble." The same item mentioned
the spread to the Stock Yards district. The fact was that the assault upon
street cars in the Stock Yards district Monday afternoon and rumors of
further brutalities there helped to start the Angelus riot Monday evening.[8]
The Tribune of July 30 stated that "the Black Belt continues to be the center
of conflict." Up to July 30 the "Black Belt" had witnessed 120 injuries,
while the district west of Wentworth Avenue had had 139. For the entire riot
period the "Black Belt" furnished 34 per cent of the total number of injuries,
and the district west of Wentworth Avenue 41 per cent.
Exaggeration in news reports, when popular excitement is at a high pitch, is
peculiarly dangerous. For the very reason that the essential fact seems
authenticated by the simultaneous appearance of the gist of the report in

several papers, the individual reader is the more inclined to believe such
exaggerations as may appear in his favorite journal.
Cases of exaggeration could be adduced from every Chicago newspaper,
but a typical one is the report in the Chicago Daily News of July 29
concerning the killing of Harold Brignadello, white. This item said:
Four women and nine men are held at the South Clark Street Station after their arrest
at 1021 South State Street, where they had a formidable arsenal.
Harry Signadell [sic], 35, white, died on the way to St. Luke's Hospital shortly before
noon after his bullet-riddled body had been picked up by the police in front of 1021
South State Street, where a colored woman and 20 other Negroes had barricaded
themselves and were shooting at all whites who passed the place.
Other persons arrested included Kate Elder, 26 years old, who gave her home as the
State Street address. In all, four women and nine men were made prisoners at the raid
on the place which was found to be an arsenal for the Negro rioters. Two revolvers,
two rifles, an axe, several knives, and several hundred rounds of ammunition,
including 38 and 48 [sic] calibre cartridges, were discovered piled up near the window
from which the Negroes had been shooting.
Patrolman John Hayes, of the South Clark Street Station, heard the shots fired by the
Negroes who were firing from the house and saw the spurts of fire from their rifles
and revolvers whenever whites ventured to pass the place. An unknown white man, a
victim of the Negroes' bullets, was found lying on the sidewalk. He was rushed to St.
Luke's Hospital where he died.

The facts of this case, as reported by the coroner's jury are as follows:
... Harold Brignadello ... came to his death on the 29th day of July, a.d. 1919, at St.
Luke's Hospital from shock and hemorrhage due to a bullet wound in the chest cavity.
[Note.—"a bullet wound," not "bullet-riddled."]
We find the deceased while standing at the southwest corner of State and Taylor ...
was shot and wounded by a bullet fired from the revolver held in the hand of one
Emma Jackson who was standing at an open window on the second floor of the
premises at 1021 South State Street.
Testimony shows that just prior to the shooting, said premises had been stoned by a
mob of white men.
We, the jury, recommend that the said Emma Jackson, said Kate Elder, said John
Webb, said Ed. Robinson, and said Clarence Jones be held to the grand jury upon a
charge of murder until discharged by due process of law.
[Note.—Two women and three men, not "four women and nine men," nor yet "a
colored woman and 20 other Negroes." They were indicted by the grand jury but
found not guilty.]

We believe from the evidence that the police have sufficient information as to the
identity of some of said white men to warrant arrest, and we recommend such action
be taken.
[Note.—No arrests of men in the white mob were made.]

The testimony further showed that there were 150 white men in the mob
grouped in front of 1021, and four of the men were stoning the house at the
time Emma Jackson fired into their midst.
Only one gun was found and no stores of ammunition, instead of "a
formidable arsenal," or a "barricade" or "an arsenal for Negro rioters," or
"two revolvers, two rifles, an axe, several knives, and several hundred
rounds of ammunition, including 38 and 48 [sic] calibre cartridges ... piled
up near the window from which the Negroes had been shooting." The one
gun was hidden in a niche in the skylight.
Following are examples of rumors current during the riot and disseminated
by the press and by word of mouth, grouped on the basis of the emotions
which they aroused—vengeful animosity, fear, anger, and horror:
Daily News, July 30. Subheadline: "Alderman Jos. McDonough Tells How
He Was Shot at on South Side Visit. Says Enough Ammunition in Section to
Last for Years of Guerrilla Warfare":
[Note.—The reference in the headline to the large amount of ammunition is
repeated in the text, but not elaborated or explained.]
An alderman in an account of his adventures says the Mayor contemplates opening up
35th and 47th streets in order that colored people might get to their work. He thinks
this would be most unwise for, he states, "They are armed and the white people are
not. We must defend ourselves if the city authorities won't protect us." Continuing his
story, he describes bombs going off, "I saw white men and women running through
the streets dragging children by the hands and carrying babies in their arms.
Frightened white men told me the police captains had just rushed through the district
crying, 'For God's sake, arm. They are coming, we cannot hold them.'"

WRECKED HOUSE OF A NEGRO FAMILY IN RIOT ZONE

NEGROES AND WHITES LEAVING THE STOCK YARDS

The point here is not whether the alderman was correctly quoted, but the
effect on the public of such statements attributed to him. There is no record
in any of the riot testimony in the coroner's office or in the state's attorney's
office of any bombs exploded during the riot, nor of police captains
warning white people to arm, nor of any fear on the part of whites of a
Negro invasion. In the Berger Odman case before the coroner's jury there is
a statement that a police sergeant warned the Negroes of Ogden Park to arm
and to shoot at the feet of rioters if they attempted to invade the few blocks
marked off for Negroes by the police.
Herald-Examiner, July 28. Subheadline: "Negroes Have Arms":
A man whose name is withheld reported to the Herald-Examiner that Negroes had
more than 2,000 Springfield rifles and an adequate supply of soft-nosed bullets. R. R.
Jackson, alderman from the second ward, brands the story as untrue.

This statement is not substantiated.
Herald-Examiner, July 29:
Several thousand men stoned the old Eighth Regiment Armory in the heart of the riot
zone, doors were burst in, and hundreds of guns with ammunition taken by the mob.

Police rushed to the scene firing into the mob and finally drove it from the armory.
According to reports more than 50 persons were shot or otherwise injured.

Refutation of this statement is found in the testimony of Police Captain
Mullen before the coroner's jury in the Eugene Williams case:
I received a rumor that the soldiers [referring to Negro soldiers of the Eighth
Regiment] had gone over to the armory for the sole purpose of breaking in and getting
rifles. I dispatched two patrol wagons full of men; after arriving there, we found out
they had been there and broke some windows, but they found out there were no
weapons in there.

Another type of fear-provoking rumor current in street crowds reported the
force and the aggressive plans of the opposing race. Some of these rumors,
current among Negro crowds, were to the effect that a white mob was
gathering on Wentworth Avenue ready to break into the "Black Belt"; that a
white mob was waiting to break through at Sixtieth and Ada streets; that a
white mob was ready to advance upon Twenty-seventh and Dearborn
streets. The first of these rumors had its effect upon the inception of the
Angelus riot, and the second so aroused the fears of Negroes that when a
white mob led by young white boys did step over the "dead-line"
boundaries established by the police, guns were immediately turned upon
them, and one of the invaders was killed. Of the third rumor, Police
Lieutenant Burns said:
... an old colored man came to me ... and said that the colored people on Dearborn
Street in the 2800 block were moving out in fear of a white mob coming from across
the tracks from across Wentworth Avenue.... On the southwest corner of Twenty-
eighth and Dearborn I found a number of colored men standing in front of a building
there. They had pieces of brick and stone in their pockets and were peering around the
corner west on Twenty-eighth Street apparently in great fear.

Among the whites fear was not so prevalent. A fear-producing rumor was
revealed, however, in the examination of two deputy sheriffs who fired on a
Negro. The deputies had heard that Negroes were going to burn up or blow
up factories in the district which they were patrolling. When a dark form
was seen in an alley, panic seized both deputies, and they emptied their
revolvers at an innocent Negro who lived in the adjoining house.
Chief among the anger-provoking rumors were tales of injury done to
women of the race circulating the rumor. The similarity of the stories and
their persistence shows extraordinary credulity on the part of the public. For
the most horrible of these rumors, telling of the brutal killing of a woman

and baby (sometimes the story is told of a Negro woman, sometimes of a
white) there was no foundation in fact. The story was circulated not only by
the newspapers of both races, but was current always in the crowds on the
streets. Here is the story as told in the white press:
Chicago Tribune, July 29:
There is an account of "two desperate revolver battles fought by the police with
colored men alleged to have killed two white women and a white child."
It is reported that policemen saw two Negroes knock down a woman and child and
kick them. The Negroes ran before the police could reach them.

Herald-Examiner, July 29:
Two white women, one of them with a baby in her arms, were attacked and wounded
by Negro mobs firing on street cars....
A colored woman with a baby in her arms was reported at the Deering Police Station,
according to this item, to have been attacked by a mob of more than 100 white men.
When the mob finally fled before the approach of a squad of police both the woman
and child were lying in the street beaten to death, "it is said."

Daily News, July 29:
Another man is held at the Stock Yards station charged with the murder of a white
woman in West 47th Street and Wentworth....
The Negroes, four in number, were arrested at East 39th and Cottage Grove Avenue,
this afternoon by the detective. They are believed to be the ones who seriously
wounded Mrs. Margaret Kelley, white woman, at W. 47th and Wentworth. She was
shot in the back and may die. The names of those under arrest were not given out.
[Note.—"Murder" changed to "seriously injured" in the main story. Mrs. Mary Kelly
was shot in the arm according to the police report and not in the back.]

The men arrested for the shooting were Henry Harris and Scott Brown,
deputy sheriffs, and four others according to the records of the state's
attorney. Sheriff Peters says of the case, that Harris was charged with
shooting someone, but when the case came up the charge was dropped.
Sheriff Peters was convinced that Harris was innocent.
Daily News, July 29. Headline, given place of first importance in the pink
section: "Women Shot as Riots Grow." Columns 7 and 8 of first-page white
section are headed, "Attack White Women as Race Riots Grow. Death
Roster Is 30."

The item reads: "Race rioters began to attack white women this afternoon
according to report received at the Detective Bureau and the Stock Yards
Police Station." The article continues, that Swift & Company had not
received any such reports of attacks on their women employees. But farther
on the item gives an account of a Swift & Company truck filled with girl
employees fired upon by Negroes at Forty-seventh Street and the Panhandle
railroad. The driver was reported killed and several of the girls injured.
The juxtaposition of "Death roster is 30" and "Attack white women" gives a
wrong impression. The "several girls injured" at Forty-seventh Street
evidently refers to the case of Mrs. Mary Kelly. The records of the state's
attorney's office also show that Josephine Mansfield was supposed to have
been wounded by Harris, et al., but the charge was dropped. She was
wounded in the shoulder, according to the police report.
Daily News, July 30:
Alderman McDonough described a raid into the white district the night before by a
carload of colored men who passed Thirty-fifth Street and Wallace "shouting and
shooting." The gunmen shot down a woman and a little boy who stood close by.
[Note.—No record of such a case.]

Here is the "injury done to women" story as it appeared in the Negro press:
Chicago Defender, August 2:
An unidentified young woman and three-months-old baby were found dead on the
street at the intersection of Forty-seventh and Wentworth. She had attempted to board
a car there when the mob seized her, beat her, slashed her body to ribbons, and beat
the baby's brains out against a telegraph pole. Not satisfied with this one rioter
severed her breasts and a white youngster bore it aloft on a pole triumphantly while
the crowd hooted gleefully. The whole time this was happening several policemen
were in the crowd but did not make any attempt to make a rescue until too late.

Concerning all of these stories it may be stated that the coroner had no
cases of deaths of women and children brought before him. There was
nothing in the police reports or the files of the state's attorney or hospital
reports or the reports of Olivet Baptist Church, which would give any
foundation for reports of the killing of a woman and child, white or Negro.
There were other rumors which had the same anger-producing effect as
reports of attacks on women. A notable case of this kind was the fatal clash

at the Angelus, an apartment house for white people at Thirty-fifth Street
and Wabash Avenue, on Monday, July 28 (see p. 6). The trouble here grew
from four o'clock in the afternoon until it culminated in the shooting at 8:00
p.m. The excitement was stimulated by the rapid spread of various rumors. It
was said that a white mob was gathering at Thirty-fifth Street and
Wentworth Avenue, only a few blocks from the colored mob which was
massed on Thirty-fifth Street from State Street to Wabash Avenue. The
rumor was that the white men are armed and prepared to "clean up the
'Black Belt.'" Another rumor had it that a Negro's sister had been killed
while coming home from the Stock Yards where she worked. Finally came
the rumor that a white person had fired a shot from the Angelus building,
wounding a colored boy. The rumor quickly went through the crowd
swarming around the building, but no one heard or saw the shooting. A
search of the building disclosed no firearms. Police Sergeant Middleton,
Negro, described the situation as "everybody trying to tell you something
and you couldn't get anything." Another Negro policeman said it was "just a
rumor that went around through the crowd and everybody was saying, 'He
shot from that window'; I would go to that window and the crowd would
say, 'That is the window over there.'"
The anger-provoking power of rumor was seen in the ensuing clash. About
1,500 Negroes massed on one corner of Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash
Avenue, and about 100 policemen grouped themselves at the intersection of
the two streets. At the sight of a brick flying from the Negro mob the police
fired a volley into the midst of the mob. More shots came quickly from both
sides. Four Negroes were killed, and many were injured, among both the
Negroes and the police.
The Angelus rumor appeared as follows in a Negro newspaper, the Chicago
Defender, August 2: "White occupants of the Angelus apartments began
firing shots and throwing missiles from their windows. One man was shot
through the head but before his name could be secured he was spirited
away."
In the case of Joseph Lovings, a Negro killed by an Italian mob, press
reports that were entirely false tended strongly to provoke the anger of
Negro mobs. For example:

Herald-Examiner, July 30: "He had been shot, stabbed and gasoline had
been thrown on his body which had been set afire. The police extinguished
the fire and took the body to the County Morgue."
Tribune, July 30: "This report says that he was stabbed and shot sixteen
times, then his body saturated with gasoline and set afire."
The coroner's jury in commenting on this rumor said: "It gives us
satisfaction to say that this rumor, from our investigation, is false and
unsubstantiated."
Among the horror rumors one finds such examples as the story of the white
man who stood at the entrance to Exchange Avenue and knocked down half
a dozen Negroes as they came by. This was current in the Stock Yards and
was told by one of the workers at the inquest on the body of William
Dozier, Negro, killed in the Yards. Another rumor had it that a Negro
woman nicknamed "Heavy" had partly slashed off the head of a white man.
This was picked up by a detective circulating among white people living in
the "Black Belt."
But chief among horror rumors was the Bubbly Creek rumor, which took
this form in the press:
Daily News, July 29. Subheadline: "Four Bodies in Bubbly Creek." The
article does not give details but says, "Bodies of four colored men were
taken today from Bubbly Creek in the Stock Yards district, it is reported."
This was one of the most persistent rumors of the riot, and intelligent men
were found repeating it in half-credulous tones. A meat curer, talking in the
superintendent's office of Swift & Company, said: "Well, I hear they did
drag two or three out of Bubbly Creek.... Dead bodies, that is the report that
came to the Yards, but personally I never got any positive evidence that
there was any people who was found there."
A juror on the coroner's panel said: "A man told a friend of mine—I can
furnish the name of that man—a man told him that he saw fifty-six bodies
taken out of Bubbly Creek. They made a statement they used a net and
seine to drag them out."

Mr. Williams, Negro attorney, said he was told that the bodies of 100
Negroes had been found in Bubbly Creek.
In its final report, the coroner's jury made this conclusive statement
regarding the Bubbly Creek rumor:
Bubbly Creek has been the favorite cemetery for the undiscovered dead, and our
inquiry has been partly directed to that stream. In our inquiry we have been assisted
by the Stock Yards officials and workers, by adjacent property owners and residents,
by private detective bureaus, the Police Department, Department of Health, State's
Attorney's office, by observing and intelligent colored citizens, and by other agencies,
and we are firmly of the opinion that these reports, so widely circulated, are
erroneous, misleading, and without foundation in fact, the race riot victims numbering
thirty-eight, and no more, nor are there any colored citizens reported to us as missing.

Rumor, fermenting in mobs, prepares the mob mind for the direct
suggestion impelling otherwise law-abiding citizens to atrocities. Another
more insidious and potentially more dangerous result is the slow
accumulation of feeling which builds between the white and Negro the
strongest barrier of race prejudice.
Police.—There has been much criticism of the manner in which the riot was
handled by the authorities, but it may be pointed out that the riot was not
quelled until at least four groups of peace guardians had taken part in
handling it. The two most important groups were the police and the militia;
the others were composed of deputy sheriffs and Negro ex-soldiers.
Testimony before the coroner's jury and in hearings before this Commission
throws considerable light on the actions of the Police Department as a
whole during the riot, its methods in meeting the unusual situation, and on
the conduct of individual policemen. First-hand information and opinion
was obtained from Chief of Police Garrity and State's Attorney Hoyne.
The police had two severe handicaps at the outset of the rioting. The first, as
declared by Chief Garrity, was lack of sufficient numbers adequately to
cope with the situation. The coroner's jury found that "the police force
should be enlarged. It is too small to cope with the needs of Chicago." The
grand jury added: "The police force is also inadequate in numbers, and at
least one thousand (1,000) officers should be added to the existing force."
This number approximates the need urged by Chief Garrity, who, when
asked before the Commission as to the sufficiency of his force, answered:

"No. I haven't sufficient force. I haven't got a sufficient force now to
properly police the city of Chicago by one-third." Militia officers and other
police officials held the same general opinion.
The second handicap, distrust of white policemen by all Negroes, while
implied and not admitted by Chief Garrity, was frankly explained by State's
Attorney Hoyne. He said before the Commission: "There is no doubt that a
great many police officers were grossly unfair in making arrests. They shut
their eyes to offenses committed by white men while they were very
vigorous in getting all the colored men they could get."
Leaders among the Negroes clearly indicate that discrimination in arrest
was a principal cause of widespread and long-standing distrust. Whether
justified or not, this feeling was actual and bitter. This distrust had grown
seriously during the six months preceding the riot because no arrests were
made in bombing cases. State's Attorney Hoyne said before the
commission: "I don't know of a single case where the police have
apprehended any man who has blown up a house."
Charles S. Duke, a well-educated and fair-minded Negro, gave his reaction
to the bombings when he said that he did not "believe a Negro would have
been allowed to go unpunished five minutes." Mrs. Clarke, Negro, said her
house was bombed three times, once while a plain-clothes policeman was
inside waiting for bombers, but no arrests were made. One suspect was put
under surveillance but was not held.
The trial of the three Negro policemen before the Merit Committee of the
Police Department because they refused to use the "Jim Crow" sleeping-
quarters in a police station doubtless added to race feeling, particularly in
view of the publicity it received in the "Black Belt."
Negro distrust of the police increased among the Negroes during the period
of the riot. With each clash a new cause for suspicion seemed to spring up.
The most striking instance occurred on the first afternoon when Policeman
Callahan refused to arrest the white man whom the Negro crowd accused of
causing the drowning of Williams, the Negro boy. This refusal has been
called the beginning of the riot because it led to mob violence of grave
consequences. However that may have been, the fact remains that this

refusal was heralded broadcast by the Negroes as the kind of action they
might expect from the police.
Typical of the minor tales which laid the foundation for the Negroes'
bitterness toward this white policeman are the following:
1. Kin Lumpkin, Negro, was beaten by a mob on the "L" platform at Forty-
seventh Street, as he was going home from work. The policeman arrested
Lumpkin and had him booked for rioting. No other arrests were made.
Lumpkin was held from July 28 to August 1.
2. Two policemen, one of them Officer McCarty of the Twenty-sixth
Precinct, witnessed the beating of Wellington Dunmore, Negro, of 4120
South Campbell Avenue, but, according to the victim, refused to assist him.
3. John Slovall and brother, Negroes, were beaten and robbed by whites in
sight of a white policeman. No arrests were made. The officer did not even
call for aid.
4. While looking for his mother at Thirty-first and State streets on Tuesday,
July 29, Wm. F. Thornton, Negro, 3207 South Park Avenue, asked a
policeman to take him home. The officer took him to the police station and
locked him up. Another Negro applied for protection, but the police
searched him, clubbed him, and when he ran, the sergeant told another
policeman to shoot him. The policeman obeyed and the man fell under the
"L" station. He was picked up by the same patrol wagon that took Thornton
to the Cottage Grove Police Station. The officer, Bundy, arrested Thornton.

NEGROES BEING ESCORTED BY POLICE TO SAFETY ZONE FROM
THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF FORTY-EIGHTH STREET AND
WENTWORTH AVENUE

SEARCHING NEGROES FOR ARMS IN POLICE STATION

A report on 229 Negroes and whites accused of various criminal activities
disclosed the fact that 154 were Negroes and seventy-five were whites. The
state's attorney reported eighty-one indictments against Negroes and forty-
seven against whites after all riot cases were cleared up. These figures show
that twice as many Negroes appeared as defendants and twice as many were
indicted as whites.
At first glance these figures indicate greater riot activity on the part of
Negroes, and therefore one would expect to find twice as many whites
injured as Negroes. But out of a total of 520 injured persons whose race was
definitely reported, 342 were Negroes and 178 whites. The fact that twice as
many Negroes appeared as defendants and twice as many were injured as
whites suggests the conclusion that whites were not apprehended as readily
as Negroes.

Herman M. Adler, state criminologist of Illinois, testifying before the
Commission, expressed the belief that the police showed much more
readiness to arrest Negroes than whites because the officers thought they
were "taking fewer chances if they 'soaked' a colored man."
Negro distrust of police and courts seems to have been confirmed by the
action of the state's attorney's office in bringing only Negro riot cases
before the grand jury. This body, however, took a stand for fair play and
justice for both sides, and though its action may have been novel, it was
effective. In its final report, the grand jury said:
This jury has no apology to offer for its attitude with reference to requesting the state's
attorney to supply it with information of crimes perpetrated by whites against blacks
before considering further evidence against blacks. This attitude gave rise to the
reports in the press that this grand jury "had gone on a strike." As a matter of fact, its
position was merely a suspension of hearing further cases of crimes committed by
blacks against whites until the state's attorney submitted evidence concerning the
various crimes committed by whites against blacks. The reason for this attitude arose
from a sense of justice on the part of this jury. It is the opinion of this jury that the
colored people suffered more at the hands of the white hoodlums than the white
people suffered at the hands of the black hoodlums. Notwithstanding this fact, the
cases presented to this jury against the blacks far outnumber those against the whites.

State's Attorney Hoyne justified this action by saying that the Police
Department brought in Negroes only, and until they arrested whites, he was
limited to proceedings against Negroes.
The coroner's jury on November 3, 1919, reported as follows:
Our attention was called strikingly to the fact that at the time of race rioting, the
arrests made for rioting by the police of colored rioters were far in excess of the
arrests made of white rioters. The failure of the police to arrest impartially, at the time
of rioting, whether from insufficient effort or otherwise, was a mistake and had a
tendency to further incite and aggravate the colored population.

This seeming discrimination in arrests naturally deepened Negro distrust
and lack of confidence in the police. Testimony was taken by the
Commission on the plans and action of the Police Department during the
riot period, since the Commission felt that the distribution of forces and the
methods used by the department to meet such an emergency were matters of
first importance.
Chief of Police Garrity testified that there were 3,500 policemen in the
department at the time of the riot, and that he had "practically every

policeman in the city of Chicago down there," indicating Thirty-fifth Street
and Rhodes Avenue as "practically in the heart of the district where the
most trouble was." The widest distribution from that center, he said, was
over an area bounded by Lake Michigan, Ashland Avenue, Van Buren
Street, and Sixty-ninth Street.
The heaviest concentration of police, however, was in the "Black Belt." The
Stanton Avenue Police Station at Thirty-fifth Street and Rhodes Avenue is at
about the center of the most congested Negro residential area. Asked how
many policemen were assigned to that vicinity (the area from Twenty-
second to Thirty-ninth streets), Chief Garrity said, "We had in the
neighborhood of 2,800 men in that territory." Later the chief said only "the
necessary sergeants and one or two men at each station were held back for
emergency calls" in all other parts of the city. This means that four-fifths of
the total police force was concentrated there.
Although there is no direct testimony as to the existence of flying squadrons
of police, yet such bodies appear to have been operating. Probably the most
important of these was the patrol under Police Captain Mullen, who said
that his territory extended from Twenty-second to Thirty-ninth streets and
from the lake to the Rock Island tracks, or roughly the "Black Belt." Chief
Deputy Alcock[9] sent eighty-eight policemen into this district on Sunday
afternoon, twenty-five more at midnight, and fifty more on Monday
morning.
In describing the disposition of police details, Chief Garrity said: "They
were routed by him [Alcock] according to conditions existing in different
districts. Some districts might have a hundred men in the block and in the
next block there might be only ten, according to what conditions were."
Forces were moved from one point of disturbance to another by means of
patrol wagons on request of local commanders.
The 2,800 policemen in the "Black Belt" were under the command of Chief
Deputy Alcock with headquarters in the Stanton Avenue Station. He "used
his discretion in the number of men assigned to the different points and the
handling of them in the different territories."
Riot orders were given by Chief Garrity as follows: "Wherever possible
suppress the riot and restore peace"; "the second day I ordered a dead line

on Wentworth Avenue and Twenty-second Street to, I think, Sixty-third
Street"; "instructions were that 'you will allow no colored people to go
across to the west and no white people to go across to the east.'" Cabarets,
saloons, and public places were ordered closed, and all large gatherings of
either whites or Negroes were prohibited from Van Buren to Sixty-ninth
streets and from Ashland Avenue to the lake. The chief added, "Closing
clubrooms and everything in the district west of Wentworth Avenue as well
as east of it." A general policy was adopted of search and seizure of persons
suspected of carrying weapons on the street, and of houses from which
firing came. Captain Mullen testified before the coroner's jury at the Eugene
Williams inquest that on July 29 Chief Deputy Alcock lined up the
policemen in front of the Stanton Avenue Station and gave them their
orders. They were told to "preserve the peace; that was all."
Police records of clashes were incomplete and often inaccurate. This was in
part due, and naturally so, to the stress of the moment. In many cases the
station lists of injured were far from complete and in few instances were the
names of witnesses given. Even the dates and hours of clashes were loosely
recorded. Persons arrested were frequently not booked at all, while on the
other hand it was not uncommon to find innocent persons charged with
serious offenses. Henry Scholz, policeman of the Twenty-sixth Precinct,
threw much light on police records while being examined in connection
with certain automobile arrests:
They were all discharged, booked for "disorderly," because we couldn't find the guns
in the mix-up. It was the first or second day down there and they were bringing them
in right and left, and I suppose in the mix-up they mislaid the guns, or put them away
somewhere, or booked them to someone else. We held them about a week trying to
find the guns and trying to find the officers that got the guns.

It is important to know how the distribution and routing of police affected
the general riot situation. As already shown four-fifths of the police forces
were concentrated in the "Black Belt." This undoubtedly both weakened
police forces elsewhere and also prevented or delayed reinforcements in
outside districts. Only 34 per cent of the total number of reported injuries
occurred in the area of concentration. Negro hatred of the police is worth
mentioning again here, especially since many of the deaths and injuries
occurred during clashes between white policemen and Negro mobs.

That other districts where danger existed were poorly protected is shown by
the fact that fatal clashes occurred there without interruption by the police.
The most conspicuous case is noted in the "Loop" atrocities on July 29,
where two Negroes, Hardwick and Williams, were killed, several were
injured and robbed, and business property of whites was damaged. A police
sergeant said that only three officers and one sergeant were in the district on
the night of July 28-29. In the Stock Yards district, where 41 per cent of the
injuries and several deaths occurred, there is no record of an attempt by the
police to increase the riot forces. In this district gang raids by whites were
practically beyond control. On July 28 B. F. Hardy, a Negro, was killed at
Forty-sixth Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. Sergeant Clancy later
testified that there were no policemen in this district until after the trouble.
The foreman of the grand jury investigated the activities of the Deering
Street Station under Police Captain Gallery. He says: "They didn't have a
sufficient number of policemen to handle the situation. If I remember
correctly, he had eight patrolmen covering a district of any number of
square miles."
In spite of the concentration of police in the "Black Belt" some parts of that
area seem at times not to have been properly guarded. Several serious
clashes occurred there after the police arrived in force. Theodore Copling,
Negro, was shot to death at Thirtieth and State streets in the heart of the
"Black Belt" on July 30. This had been a riotous corner for three days, yet
no policemen were at hand. The nearest was a detective sergeant on
Twenty-ninth Street between Federal and State streets. Samuel Banks,
Negro, was shot and killed near the corner of Twenty-seventh and Dearborn
streets on July 30 at 11:00 p.m., yet Lieutenant Burns, in charge of this
district, testified at the inquest that twelve to fourteen officers were at
Twenty-seventh and Dearborn streets immediately before the shooting.
It was undoubtedly the relatively large number of clashes which the police
were unable to prevent that led the coroner's jury to recommend that "(6)
there should be organization of the force for riot work for the purpose of
controlling rioting in its incipient stages."
The conduct of individual policemen received much adverse criticism from
the Negroes. This was to be expected in the circumstances, but disregarding
the general prejudice of which white officers were accused, certain cases of

discrimination, abuse, brutality, indifference, and neglect on the part of
individuals are deserving of examination.
Abusive and brutal treatment was complained of by Horace Jennings, 3422
South Aberdeen Street. He reported to the state's attorney's office that
Policeman G——, of the Grand Crossing Station, approached him, as he
lay wounded by a mob attack, with the words, "Where's your gun, you
black —— of a ——? You damn niggers are raising hell"; that the officer
hit him on the head, and he did not regain consciousness until some time
later in the Burnside Hospital; and he further charged that Gallagher took a
purse containing $13 when he searched him.
Three Negroes were rescued by the police from a white mob of twenty-five
or thirty men. Scott, one of the Negroes, was taken from the street car on
which all three were riding, by the command of a policeman to "come out
of there, you big rusty brute, you. I ought to shoot you," and was given a
blow on the head. According to a witness he was again struck by the
policeman as he was pushed into the patrol wagon. He was subjected to
rough treatment at the jail and was kept incommunicado from July 28 to
August 4, not being permitted to notify his wife or an attorney. None of the
twenty-five or thirty white rioters was arrested. There was some evidence of
fear on the part of the police to arrest rioting whites.
Fear by policemen of Negroes is also disclosed. George Crumm, white, 124
East Forty-sixth Street, informed the state's attorney's office that he was
beaten by a Negro mob, got police assistance, and pointed out the rioters,
but the police "didn't seem to want to interfere any."
On several occasions policemen left the scene of riots on questionable
excuses while the rioting was in progress. Of the three mounted policemen
at Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash Avenue who rushed to the spot where a
mob was attacking Otterson, two accompanied the automobile of Otterson
to the hospital. The mob was not quelled or dispersed. When the house of
William O'Deneal, Negro, 4742 Wells Street, was attacked, the police took
O'Deneal to the station and left the mob to sack and burn his house. At the
killing of William Dozier, Negro, all three police officers who responded to
notice of an attack by a white mob of 300 or more, left in the same patrol

wagon. The names of witnesses were not taken. It was the custom for all to
accompany the wagon, according to Officer McDonough.
Political "pull" exercised with the police on behalf of rioters has been
indicated. It was noted that one of "Ragen's Colts" said an officer of the
Stock Yards Station "tipped them off" to stay away from their club because
Attorney General Brundage's office was out investigating them.
Indifference both to extreme lawlessness during the riot and to the
procedure of the inquest marked the examination of Captain of Police
Mullen before the coroner's jury. He was in command of twelve mounted
men and between sixty-three and 100 men on foot at Thirty-fifth Street and
Wabash Avenue when a clash between the police and a Negro mob
occurred. While it appears to be the fact that he left just before the heavy
firing to telephone from a saloon one block away, yet the building he was in
was struck by bullets. The following excerpt from the inquest speaks for
itself:
Q.: What time did the shooting take place at the building known as the Angelus
Building? What time did that occur? Was there any shooting at that building?
Mullen: Not that I heard.
Q.: Had there been any shooting done there that evening around ... before you left?
Mullen: Not to my knowledge.
Q.: When was the shooting done, and where were you?
Mullen: What do you mean shooting?

Three men were killed and many injured at Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash
Avenue at this time. Firing broke out near-by almost immediately.
Q.: There were some shots fired at Thirty-fifth and State, Captain, at eight that night,
right after the volley was fired, we have absolute evidence.
Mullen: Well, you may have, but I have not.

Yet Captain Mullen was in command of the police who killed two more
men and inflicted other wounds when the Negroes ran before the police
advance.
Militia.—The rapid growth of the riot both in violence and territorially
created such alarm among the authorities and the public that the question of

its control became a matter of paramount concern to the community. Before
twenty-four hours had elapsed requests were made to the local authorities
for the militia. The representations were based on insufficiency of police
forces and were strongly urged before the chief of police.
Chief Garrity steadily refused to ask for troops, in spite of his repeated
statement that the police force was insufficient. He gave as his reason the
belief that inexperienced militiamen would add to the deaths and disorders.
Mayor Thompson supported the chief's refusal until outside pressure
compelled him to ask the governor for aid. On the other hand the chief
deputy of police was quoted by State's Attorney Hoyne as having said at the
outbreak of the riot that the police would not be able to handle the situation,
and that troops were needed. In this he was supported by Mr. Hoyne. From
observation of conditions on the first three days of the riot, the chief of staff
of the troops, Colonel Ronayne, concluded that the police were insufficient
in numbers, that no improvement was apparent in the general situation, and
that therefore the troops were necessary. He saw no reason, however, for
putting the city under martial law. Other military men were of the same
opinion.
During all of this time Governor Lowden kept in close touch with the
situation from his quarters at the Blackstone Hotel. When the riot appeared
to be subsiding he started to keep an appointment out of town but, on
hearing that there was a renewal of violence, returned to the city on a
special train. When the request was made for the active co-operation of the
troops he acted with promptness.
The troops themselves were clearly of high caliber. For the most part they
were in home service during the war and were older men than are ordinarily
found in militia organizations. They "usually came from the higher type of
business men, men of affairs, men that knew how to think," as one of their
commanding officers described them. They were all American-born.

NEGROES UNDER PROTECTION OF POLICE AND MILITIA BUYING
PROVISIONS BROUGHT INTO THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD IN
WAGONS

THE MILITIA AND NEGROES ON FRIENDLY TERMS

The militia discipline was of the best. Not a single case of breach of
discipline was reported to the regimental commanders. No guardhouse was
necessary during the riot, a remarkable commentary on troop conduct.
The militia had been given special drills in the suppression of riots and
insurrections for a year and a half previous to this occasion, and were, in the
estimation of their commanding officer, "probably better prepared for riot
drill than any troops ever put on duty in the state."
The activities of the militia did not begin as early as many citizens wished.
Though troops began to mobilize in the armories on Monday night, July 28,
they were not called to actual duty on the streets until 10:30 P.M.,
Wednesday, July 30. When called to active duty they were distributed in the
areas of conflict. Between 5,000 and 6,000 troops were called out. This
number was made up entirely of white troops from the Ninth, Tenth, and

Eleventh Infantry, Illinois National Guard, and from the First, Second,
Third, and Fourth Reserve Militia regiments of the militia. Colored troops
who had composed the Eighth Regiment were not reorganized at that time,
and therefore none participated.
Distribution of troops was determined not by the militia command but by
the police, because the city was not under martial law, the civil authority
being merely insufficient, not broken. The Third Infantry covered the
territory from Thirty-first to Thirty-eighth streets and from State to Halsted
streets; Eleventh Infantry from Thirty-ninth to Forty-seventh streets, and
from State to Halsted streets; Tenth Infantry from Forty-eighth to Fifty-fifth
streets (later extended to Sixty-third Street by details from the First
Infantry), and from Cottage Grove to Stewart avenues. The First, Fourth,
and Ninth Infantry were held in reserve. Detachments responded to calls
from the chief of police in districts outside these areas. Headquarters for the
commanding general and his chief of staff were in the Congress Hotel at the
northern boundary of the riot zone.
The orders under which the militia operated did not have the authority of
martial law. The purpose of the orders was to effect a thorough co-operation
with the police only, and not to take over any duties other than the
preservation of law and order. Except in this respect, civilian routine
remained undisturbed. The method of co-operation put the commanding
officer of a regiment in absolute control, within the limits above described,
in his district. The police reduced their number to normal requirements by
removing their reserves as soon as the militia moved in. The patrolmen then
went about on ordinary duties in the districts. Persons arrested by the militia
were turned over to the police.
Responsibility for the preservation of law and order rested on the
regimental commanders. Careful instructions were given troops for
preventing violence: they were to act as soldiers in a gentlemanly manner;
they were furnished with arms to enable them to perform their duties; they
were to use the arms only when necessary; they were to use bayonet and
butt in preference to firing, but if the situation demanded shooting, they
were not to hesitate to deliver an effective fire. Above all, the formation of
mobs was to be prevented.

The manner in which the militia was received by various elements in the
communities where stationed is illuminating. Police officers were glad that
the troops came to relieve them. Two policemen on duty with a patrol
exclaimed, when they heard the militia had come in force, "Thank God! We
can't stand up under this much longer!" The police at Cottage Grove Avenue
said, "We are tickled to death to see you fellows come in; you have never
looked so good to us before!" A regimental commander said his
organization was "welcomed into the zone, of course, by everybody, and I'd
say especially by the colored people." A similar report came from another
regimental commander.
But there was some show of hostility to the troops. Hoodlums fired on some
detachments when they first came in, and Colonel Bolte reported a hatred
for the troops by "the Hamburg Athletic Club, the Ragen's, and the
Emeralds, and a whole bunch of them over there who didn't like to be
controlled!" Volunteer ex-service men with no legal status, but who aided
the police at the time, and deputy sheriffs with overseas training ridiculed
the militia with such taunts as, "Tin soldiers!" The effect of this attitude on
the populace necessitated the arrest of some disturbers and the removal of
unauthorized persons from the streets.
It is a singular fact that militia activities were principally against gangs of
hoodlums, and the majority of these gangs were composed of white youths.
Said one commander, "Rowdies of the white population tried to get through
the lines and had to be arrested." "At one time a heavy truck or two loaded
with white gangsters attempted to break through the militia but was
checked." Plenty of trouble "with the Ragen's and other similar
organizations" was reported by yet another commander.
The militia unquestionably prevented mob formations, raids, and "sniping."
They checked marauders still in search of prey. In many cases they
prevented the initial moves of lawlessness by taking stations at critical
points long before raiders arrived.
There was a marked contrast between the militia and the police. The troops
were under definite orders; commanders had absolute control of their forces
and knew at all times where and how many effectives were available.
Precision and promptness of movement was the rule. Reserves were always

at hand. Discipline was always good. Only one person, a white man, was
killed by the troops. Whatever other restraining causes contributed, it is
certain that the riot was not revived after the troops were posted.
Most of the troops were withdrawn on August 8.
Volunteers.—Many Negro ex-service men, formerly members of the old
Eighth Regiment (Negro) of the Illinois National Guard, donned their
uniforms, armed, and offered their services to the police and militia. The
militia on duty found that these Negro volunteers had no authority or
military status and consequently ordered them to disband, which they did.
Before the troops were called out, however, a determined effort was made
by one Britton, white police reserve, to organize ex-soldiers for volunteer
service. He said as many as thirty-five joined him. They were denied
permits to carry weapons but are reported to have done so. It was these men
who used an automobile, driven with the mufflers open, to clear the streets.
Evidence of the use of liquor was noticed among these men during their
active period. Some were involved in the killing of Samuel Banks, Negro;
some in the robbery of a restaurant and in misdeeds of a minor character.
Following the implication of individuals among them in these crimes,
numbers of the ex-soldiers were arrested by the police, but were released by
order of Chief Garrity on account of the assistance many of them had
rendered the department and because of representations of business men
who felt that the arrests were unjust.
Deputy sheriffs.—In addition to police, militiamen, and volunteers, another
group composed of specially recruited deputy sheriffs, appeared in the riot
zone as preservers of the peace. They were sworn in by Sheriff Peters, of
Cook County, after citizens had appealed to him, he said, to quell the riot.
In regard to their formation, numbers, orders, and duties, the sheriff had this
to say:
I advertised for ex-service men to serve as deputy sheriffs. A thousand or more
applied. They were all men who had returned from the war and were out of work. I
hired 500 of them, kept them in the army uniforms, and instructed them to shoot to
kill any disturbers or rioters. The presence of these men and the show of authority
thereby made was effective, and the riot was quelled.

Fifteen thousand dollars was spent on this force.

It appears that these deputies came on the scene toward the end of the riot
week and at once fell into disfavor with the militia, whom they ridiculed as
"tin soldiers" in much the same manner as did the volunteers. Two
regimental commanders of militia said the special deputies "did not behave
in a very pleasant manner" and "in the majority of instances were no good."
The sheriff was notified to call them in and they soon disappeared. There is
no record of organized methods of procedure or of their activities.
Restoration of order.—Long before actual hostilities ceased, and even
before the arrival of the militia, various agencies, in addition to the police,
were at work trying to hold lawlessness in check and restore order. Efforts
of citizens of both races helped greatly in bringing about peace. As long as
the rioting was in progress thousands of Negroes were cut off from their
employment. The Stock Yards workers especially were affected, since
Negroes living east of Wentworth Avenue would have been forced to go to
work on foot through the district in which the worst rioting occurred. The
hostilities also cut off the food supply in the main riot areas. The dealers in
the "Black Belt," principally Jewish merchants, became alarmed lest
temporary lack of funds due to the separation from work and wages should
lead Negroes to loot their stores.
On August 1, the various packing companies made the unpaid wages of
Negro employees available for them by establishing pay stations at the
Chicago Urban League at 3032 Wabash Avenue, the Wabash Avenue Young
Men's Christian Association at 3763 Wabash Avenue, the South Side
Community Service House at 3201 South Wabash Avenue, and the Binga
State Bank, Thirty-eighth and State streets. Approximately 6,000 employees
were paid in this way. Banks within the district made small temporary loans
to stranded persons, sometimes without security. The cashier of the Franklin
State Bank at Thirty-fifth Street and Michigan Avenue said that he had
made loans of more than $200 to Negroes in sums of $2 and $3 on their
simple promise to pay, and that every dollar had been repaid.
All the local newspapers in their editorial columns took a vigorous stand
against disorder, urged the people to be calm and avoid crowds, and were
insistent that those responsible for rioting should be brought to justice. The
Tribune, for example, published editorials under the following captions:
"Regain Order and Keep It," "Sane Men and Rioters," "This Is No Holiday,"

"The Facts of the Riot," and "Penalties for Rioters." All of these articles
were calm appeals for tolerance, sanity, and dispassionate inquiry for the
facts. The Evening American, in an editorial entitled "This Is Chicago's
Crisis; Keep a Cool Head," said:
Chicago is facing its crisis today.
In one great section of the city law and order for the time being seem to have been
flung to the four winds. White men and colored men are shooting one another down in
the streets for no earthly cause except that the color of their faces differs.
These mobs are not representative of whites or blacks. They are the hoodlums of both
races. But the law abiding whites and blacks are innocent victims.
Hotheads and smoking gun barrels have almost wrested the rule from the keepers of
the peace.
It is worse than a calamity, this race rioting. It is a deadly, ghastly scourge, a dire
contagion that is sweeping through a community for no reason except that mob
violence is contagious.
It is up to the cool-headed men of Chicago to settle the great difficulty. It is up to the
serious-minded business men of the city to get together and find a solution to a
problem which has become so serious.
To meet violence with violence is but making matters worse. Gun toting at a time like
this only adds fuel to the fire already raging.
Reason is the solution. It is mightier than the six-gun. How it is to be exerted is for the
level-headed citizenry to decide, and decide at once.
Hardly an hour passes that more names are not added to the already long list of slain
in the South Side rioting.
There is no time to be lost. Other matters must be put aside for the moment and a
solution reached for Chicago's greatest problem.

NEGRO STOCK YARDS WORKERS CUT OFF FROM WORK
RECEIVING WAGES
Photograph taken at temporary pay station established at the Y.M.C.A. by packing companies.

BUYING ICE FROM FREIGHT CAR SWITCHED INTO NEGRO
RESIDENCE AREA

Labor unions also took a hand in the efforts toward peace. Unionists of both
races were exhorted to co-operate in bringing about harmonious relations,
and meetings for this purpose were planned by trade-union leaders, as
described in the section of this report dealing with the Negro in industry.
Probably the most effective effort of union labor was the following article
in the New Majority, the organ of the Chicago Federation of Labor,
prominently displayed:
For White Union Men to Read
Let any white union worker who has ever been on strike where gunmen or machine
gun have been brought in and turned on him and his fellows search his memory and
recall how he felt. In this critical moment let every union man remember the tactics of
the boss in a strike when he tries by shooting to terrorize striking workers into
violence to protect themselves.

Well, that is how the Negroes feel. They are panic-stricken over the prospect of being
killed.
A heavy responsibility rests on the white portion of the community to stop assault on
Negroes by white men. Violence against them is not the way to solve the vexed race
problem.
This responsibility rests particularly heavy upon the white men and women of
organized labor, not because they had anything to do with starting the present trouble,
but because of their advantageous position to help end it. Right now it is going to be
decided whether the colored workers are to continue to come into the labor movement
or whether they are going to feel that they have been abandoned by it and lose
confidence in it.
It is a critical time for Chicago.
It is a critical time for organized labor.
All the influence of the unions should be exerted on the community to protect colored
fellow-workers from the unreasoning frenzy of race prejudice. Indications of the past
have been that organized labor has gone further in eliminating race hatred than any
other class. It is up against the acid test now to show whether this is so.

Various social agencies took steps to help in the emergency and restore
order. The American Red Cross has a branch at Thirty-fifth Street and
Michigan Avenue. As soon as the rioting became serious a special relief
headquarters was established here, and food was distributed to needy
families cut off from work. The Urban League was used as a headquarters
for the distribution of food.
The Urban League had for several years, through its employment bureau,
handled a large proportion of the city's Negro labor supply and was
conversant with difficulties likely to result from the rioting. It made food
surveys of the entire Negro area, printed and distributed thousands of
circulars and dodgers urging Negroes to stay off the streets, refrain from
dangerous discussions of the riot, and co-operate with the police in every
way to maintain order. The League sent telegrams to the governor and
mayor suggesting plans for curbing disorder, organized committees of
citizens to aid the authorities in restoring order, and served as a bureau of
information and medium of communication between the white and Negro
groups during the worst hostilities.
The Young Men's Christian Association was similarly active within the area
of its efforts. Religious bodies, ministers' associations, and individual
ministers exerted their influence over their respective groups by advising

the citizens to "keep cool," "hold their heads," and generally to let the
authorities settle the riot. Negro business men and one Negro alderman sent
wagons through the streets bearing large signs which advised Negroes not
to congregate on streets, engage in arguments, or participate in any way in
the disorders. The signs further stated that people would be advised when it
would be safe to return to work. Other persons went about speaking on
street corners urging co-operation with the police and militia. Appeals by
officials and leading citizens were published in the white and Negro papers,
carrying similar advice. During the riot a committee of citizens representing
forty-eight social, civic, commercial, and professional organizations met at
the Union League Club and petitioned the governor to take steps to quiet
the existing disorder and appoint a commission to study the situation with a
view to preventing a repetition of it. As a result of this appeal followed by
similar urgings by many committees, the present Chicago Commission on
Race Relations was appointed and began its work.
Aftermath of the riot.—After the restoration of order community activities
were superficially the same as before the riot, but under the surface there
remained a deepened bitterness of race feeling which spread far beyond the
time and territorial limits of the riot itself.
All the deep-seated causes of friction which had developed so largely from
the failure to work out an adjustment of the increased Negro population due
to the migration were and are still present, undiminished in influence.
Consciousness of racial difference and more or less unconscious fear and
distrust were increased and spread by the riot. Among the whites this was
evidenced by the general belief that Negroes were gathering stores of arms
and ammunition. Among the Negroes a growing race solidarity has been
marked. There is a greater lack of confidence in the white man's law and
machinery of protection. Continued bombings of Negro houses in mixed
areas and failure to apprehend the culprits no doubt strengthen this attitude.
Reports of various Negro gatherings held soon after the riot show this to be
the case. Many Negroes frankly urged their brothers that they must arm
themselves and fight if attacked. At one meeting a Negro is reported to have
said:
The recent race riots have done at least one thing for the colored race. In the past we
Negroes have failed to appreciate what solidarity means. We have, on the contrary,

been much divided. Since the riot we are getting together and devising ways and
means of protecting our interests. The recent race riots have convinced us that we
must take steps to protect ourselves. Never again will we be found unprepared. It is
the duty of every man here to provide himself with guns and ammunition. I, myself,
have at least one gun and at least enough ammunition to make it useful.

The riot furnished the gang and hoodlum element a chance to indulge in
lawlessness. Fear of death and injury may help to hold that element in
check. But it cannot be argued that fear of punishment is much of a factor,
for very few convictions of rioters were secured.
Quick justice would have been a salutary means of curbing tendencies to
riot, according to both the coroner's jury and the grand jury. The coroner's
jury said: "One remedy for race rioting is a speedy conviction and
punishment of those guilty, regardless of race or color, giving all concerned
a fair and impartial hearing." Its eighth recommendation reads: "Above all,
a strict enforcement of the law by public officials, fair and impartial, will do
more than any other agency in restoring the good name of Chicago, and
prevent rioting from any cause from again disturbing the peace of our city."
The August, 1919, grand jury said: "This jury feels that in order to allay
further race prejudice and to prevent the re-enactment of shameful crimes
committed during the recent riots, efficient, prompt, and fearless justice on
the part of the judiciary be meted out to the guilty ones, whether they be
white or black."
In a fair consideration of whether swift and impartial justice was meted out,
it must be noted that it was extremely hard to secure evidence sufficient for
successful prosecution. Police attention upon arriving at the scene of a clash
was directed more to removing the injured than apprehending the guilty.
Where attempts were made to search out the offenders, it was next to
impossible to get results on account of the keen race consciousness which
made Negroes disclaim knowledge of Negro culprits and white people deny
seeing specific white men act aggressively. Many of the crowds were
neighborhood gatherings and leaders were often the sons of neighbors.
In most of the riot cases brought before the state's attorney's office the same
difficulty was experienced. Whole blocks of residents were subpoenaed and
accurately described the assaults, but failed entirely to recognize any of the
assailants. The grand jury found the same obstacle. The foreman, referring

to the kind of testimony brought before that body by Negroes on complaints
against whites, said: "... they [the grand jury] usually found it to be hearsay
testimony. Some other individual told them about So-and-So. That a crime
had been committed there was no question, but to get at the root of it was
absolutely impossible."
In spite of these difficulties, those familiar with the riot situation believe
that more arrests of active rioters might have been made and more
convictions obtained. A study of the riot deaths shows that justice failed to
be as swift and sure as the coroner's and grand juries recommended. The
blame for this failure is variously placed on the police, state's attorney,
judge, or jury, according to the prejudice of the one attempting to fix blame,
or his connection with any of these agencies. The fact remains that the
punitive results of the legal processes were too negligible to furnish a
proper deterrent to future rioters.
Of the thirty-eight persons whose death constituted the riot's principal toll—
Fifteen met death at the hands of mobs. The coroners' jury recommended
that the members of the unknown mobs be apprehended. None were ever
found.
Six were killed under circumstances establishing no criminal responsibility:
three white men were killed by Negroes in self-defense, and three Negroes
were shot by policemen in the discharge of their duty.
Four Negroes lost their lives in the Angelus riot. The coroner made no
recommendations, and the cases were not carried farther.
Four cases—two Negro and two white—led to recommendations from the
coroner's jury for further investigation of certain persons, but sufficient
evidence was lacking for indictments.
Nine cases resulted in indictments, four of which led to convictions.
Thus in only four cases was criminal responsibility for death fixed and
punishment meted out to the guilty.
Indictments and convictions are divided according to the race of the persons
criminally involved as follows:

Negro White
Cases Persons Cases Persons
Indictments[10] 6 17 3 4
Convictions 2 3 2 2

There is evidence that the riot of 1919 aroused many citizens of both races
to a quickened sense of the suffering and disgrace which had come and
might come again to the community, and developed a determination to
prevent a recurrence of so disastrous an outbreak of race hatred. This was
manifest, as another section of this report shows, in the courage and control
which people of both races displayed on at least two occasions in 1920
when confronted suddenly with events out of which serious riots might
easily have grown.

MILK WAS DISTRIBUTED FOR THE BABIES

PROVISIONS WERE SUPPLIED BY THE RED CROSS TO HUNDREDS
OF NEGRO FAMILIES

This examination of the facts of the riot reveals certain outstanding features,
as follows:
1. The riot violence was not continuous, hour by hour, but was intermittent.
2. The greatest number of injuries occurred in the district west of
Wentworth Avenue, inclusive of Wentworth, and south of the Chicago River
to Fifty-fifth Street, or, broadly speaking, in the Stock Yards district. The

next greatest number occurred in the so-called "Black Belt," Twenty-second
to Thirty-ninth streets, inclusive, Wentworth to the lake, exclusive of
Wentworth; Thirty-ninth to Fifty-fifth streets, inclusive, Clark Street to
Michigan Avenue, exclusive of Michigan.
3. Organized raids occurred only after a period of sporadic clashes and
spontaneous mob outbreaks.
4. Main thoroughfares witnessed 76 per cent of the injuries on the South
Side. The streets which suffered most severely were State, Halsted, Thirty-
first, Thirty-fifth, and Forty-seventh. Transfer corners were always centers
of trouble.
5. Most of the rioting occurred after working hours. This was particularly
true after the street-car strike started.
6. Gangs, particularly among the young whites, formed definite nuclei for
crowd and mob leadership. "Athletic clubs" supplied the leaders of many
gangs.
7. Whites usually employed fists and clubs in their attacks upon Negroes;
Negroes used firearms and knives in their attacks.
8. Crowds and mobs engaged in rioting were usually composed of a small
nucleus of leaders and an acquiescing mass of spectators. The leaders were
young men, usually between sixteen and twenty-one. Dispersal was most
effectively accomplished by sudden, unexpected gun fire.
9. Rumor kept the crowds in an excited, potential mob state. The press was
responsible for wide dissemination of much of the inflammatory matter in
spoken rumors, though editorials calculated to allay race hatred and help the
forces of order were factors in the restoration of peace.
10. The police lacked sufficient forces for handling the riot; they were
hampered by the Negroes' distrust of them; routing orders and records were
not handled with proper care; certain officers were undoubtedly unsuited to
police or riot duty.
11. The personnel of the militia employed in this riot was of an unusually
high type. This unquestionably accounts for the confidence placed in them

by both races. Riot training, definite orders, and good staff work contributed
to their efficiency.
12. The machinery of justice was affected by prejudices and political
rivalries.
From their reviews of the evidence brought before them, the coroner's jury
and the grand jury presented analyses of the riot, and each made
recommendations of a remedial sort. These recommendations follow:
CORONER'S JURY RECOMMENDATIONS
1. We believe that a representative committee of white and colored people, working
together, could suggest and bring about the necessary and advisable changes.
2. In specifically attacking the housing situation: The correction of the evil by
enlarging the living quarters and placing them in a better sanitary state would in part
solve the difficulty. We believe voluntary segregation would follow and to a
considerable extent remove one cause of unrest.
This is a matter that might well be considered by the Real Estate Board and by
improvement clubs and organizations of property owners in the South Division, and
by the Health Department.
3. In regard to the "athletic clubs": Properly governed and controlled they should be
encouraged and fostered and, when necessary, disciplined.
4. Hoodlumism evokes this comment: Citizens of Chicago, make your hoodlum
element amenable to law, break up and destroy hoodlumism as you would a
pestilence. It is our belief that this element can be brought under control of the law,
and it must be done if we are to remove the danger of rioting from any cause. Vicious
hoodlumism, entirely aside from race hatred, was present in practically all of the
thirty-eight killings, known as race riots.
5. We earnestly urge that fathers and mothers teach their children the lesson of
remaining at home when rioting occurs, and furthermore, they should be kept
occupied, as idleness and bad association often cause young people to become bad
men and women.
6. One remedy for race rioting is a speedy conviction and punishment of those guilty,
regardless of race or color, giving all concerned a fair and impartial hearing.
7. Tolerance must be practiced between both white and colored in the discussion of
the race problem, practiced in our everyday intercourse, in public conveyances, and in
meetings of all kinds.
8. Our attention was called strikingly to the fact that at the time of race rioting the
arrests made for rioting by the police of colored rioters were far in excess of the
arrests made of white rioters. The failure of the police to arrest impartially at the time
of rioting, whether from insufficient effort or otherwise, was a mistake and had a
tendency to further incite and aggravate the colored population.

9. In cases of murder it is of the utmost importance that expert criminologists should
arrive on the scene at the earliest possible moment, and that a complete examination
may be made of the scene of the murder before the body is removed or handled, and
while the necessary evidence for conviction may be obtained, which otherwise may
be lost or destroyed. We have found in the riot cases many instances where the
removal of bodies by inexperienced men, in some cases police officers, destroyed
valuable evidence.
We heartily concur with Coroner Hoffman as to the fact that Chicago badly needs a
permanent murder-investigation squad, which the coroner planned and has so
persistently advocated in the past. We believe that this squad should be equipped with
motor vehicles and subject to call at any hour of the day or night. This squad should
consist of six or more trained policemen, working in relays of eight hours, a
photographer, a finger-print expert, a coroner's physician and chemist, the coroner or
deputy coroner, and a state's attorney. In addition thereto, two trained policemen from
the police department precinct wherein the murder occurred, and a representative of
the City News Bureau. This squad should be available for immediate service, and it
should be the duty of the police at the scene of the murder to allow no one to handle
the body or enter premises where murder occurred until the arrival of the squad.
10. The police force should be enlarged. It is too small to cope with the needs of
Chicago, and under the present living conditions the policeman's pay is entirely
inadequate and should be substantially increased.
Superannuated and incapacitated members of the police force should be retired under
a proper and satisfactory pension system.
There should be organization of the force for riot work, for the purpose of controlling
rioting in its incipient stages.

GRAND JURY RECOMMENDATIONS
1. It is reasonable to believe that the colored people, if provided with proper housing
facilities and an area sufficient in extent, would voluntarily segregate themselves. The
present neighborhood known as the "Black Belt" could, by reasonable public
improvement, assisted by our leading public citizens, be made a decent place to live in
for a much larger population than it now accommodates.... This movement should
enlist the financial and moral support of the industries employing large numbers of
the black race.
2. Facilities for bathing, playgrounds, police protection, better housing and
neighborhood conditions, are matters deserving the earnest attention of the proper
authorities.
3. The employment of the colored people is imperative to the welfare of this
community. Discriminating against the Negro, or, in other words, failure to give him
an opportunity to make an honest livelihood after having induced him to migrate to
this section of the country, simply adds to the already far too great number of
hoodlums that infest our city.
4. This jury feels that in order to allay further race prejudice and to prevent the re-
enactment of shameful crimes committed during the recent riots, efficient, prompt,

and fearless justice on the part of the law-enforcing officers, as well as on the part of
the judiciary, be meted out to the guilty ones, whether they be white or black.
5. ... There is a lack of co-operation and harmony among the agencies of law
enforcement, which impairs their efficiency, leads to miscarriages of justice, and
wastes the public funds.
6. The parole law should be amended so that a criminal once paroled and
subsequently arrested may not a second time be paroled.
7. The efficiency of the police force would be further greatly increased by the co-
operation of the judiciary in refusing to grant wholesale continuances without
carefully scrutinizing the results thereof when members of the police force are
required to act as witnesses.
8. The police department is in need of a thorough house-cleaning. Every officer, no
matter what his position is, who fails in his full duty should be dismissed. Grafters
and those who allow themselves to be dominated by political influences, who are paid
to protect the lives and property of our citizens, should be dismissed and punished to
the fullest extent of the law.
9. It is the opinion of this jury that the police force is also inadequate in numbers, and
at least one thousand (1,000) officers should be added to the existing force.
10. Policemen who have arrived at the age where their usefulness is a matter of the
past should be pensioned, notwithstanding their present number, and notwithstanding
the fact that the pension fund is already taxed to its utmost. The needed funds for this
purpose should be provided.
11. ... payment of salaries to public officers commensurate with the increased cost of
living.
12. The authorities employed to enforce the law should thoroughly investigate clubs
and other organizations posing as athletic and social clubs which really are
organizations of hoodlums and criminals formed for the purpose of furthering the
interest of local politics.
13. The jury also finds that vice of all kinds is rampant in the "Black Belt," and a
thorough cleaning up of that district is absolutely essential to the peace and welfare of
the community.
14. Political influence to a large extent is responsible for the brazenness with which
the Chicago bum, pickpocket, and gun and hold-up man operates. It is also the
opinion of the jury that the indeterminate-sentence law frequently operates in a
miscarriage of justice, and it is our opinion that the court should fix the sentence of
offenders at the time of their conviction.
15. Because of the large number of young boys involved in the rioting, the jury
recommends the resumption of the activities of the Y.M.C.A., the Knights of
Columbus, and Salvation Army, as well as other similar organizations....

CHAPTER II

OTHER OUTBREAKS IN ILLINOIS

I. Minor Clashes in and near Chicago

1. CLASHES IN CHICAGO PRECEDING THE RIOT OF 1919

The race riot of 1919 in Chicago was preceded by a long series of more or
less serious clashes between whites and Negroes. Some of these are
discussed in the section of this report dealing with contacts in recreation.
Others are here described to show the development of friction and conflict
leading up to the 1919 riot. Two brutal and unprovoked murders of Negroes
by gangs of white hoodlums preceded the riot by only a few weeks.
In many of the antecedent clashes a conspicuous part was played by gangs
or clubs of white boys and young men. These operations frequently showed
organization, and the gangsters were often armed with brass knuckles,
clubs, and revolvers.
Some of the earlier clashes, however, did not have their origin in gang
activities. For instance, it may be that the resentment by whites of the
coming of Negroes into their neighborhood inspired the crowd of boys
between twelve and sixteen years of age who, in February, 1917, stoned a
four-flat building at 456 West Forty-sixth Street. Two Negro families
moved into the two second-floor flats of this building. The next afternoon
about 100 boys from nearby schools stoned the building. The two Negroes
attempted to remonstrate but were driven back. One of them reached the
office of the agent of the building, who notified the police. A patrol wagon
responded, but the boys had disappeared. After it had gone the boys
reappeared and renewed the stoning. Every window in the upper part of the
building was broken. On a second riot call Captain Caughlin and Lieutenant

James McGann and a squad of police rescued the Negroes, who shortly
afterward sought other quarters.
Detectives learned the identity of thirty of the boys, some of whom
confessed. With their parents they were compelled to appear at the Stock
Yards police station and pay for the damage inflicted.
The death of a white man, wrongly thought to have been murdered by
Negroes, led to rioting on the night of July 3, 1917, in which a party of
white men in an automobile fired upon a group of Negroes at Fifty-third
and Federal streets. Apparently no one was hit. Earlier in the evening
Charles A. Maronde, a saloon-keeper at 5161 South State Street, had been
found dead following an altercation with Negroes whose passage through
his premises had irritated him. Two shots were fired, but it was not proved
whether by Maronde or by the Negroes. A coroner's jury found that he had
died of heart disease.
In July and August, 1917, there were minor outbreaks of trouble between
Negroes and naval recruits from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. In
some instances recruits and in others Negroes were reported to be the
aggressors.
When organized gangs took part in clashes the results were more serious. A
typical case started in the Kohler saloon at South State and Fifty-first streets
on May 27, 1919, two months before the riot.
A group of about ten white men entered the saloon together. When a Negro
came in and called for a drink, one of the whites knocked him down and
kicked him out of the front door. Arming himself with brickbats, the Negro
called on the whites to come out. The gang crossed to another saloon on the
opposite corner, and when they left it shortly afterward, they carried
revolvers. They then beat the Negro, cutting his head. Dr. Homer Cooper,
whose office is above the Kohler saloon, and one of his patients, Michael
Pantaliono, witnessed the affray.
Roscoe C. Johnston, a Negro plain-clothes man who had been on the police
force only four days, was told of the trouble by a citizen and found the gang
in the second saloon. As he approached, Mart. Flannigan drew a revolver.
Johnston called two plain-clothes men, who chanced to be outside, to

summon a patrol wagon, then followed the gang back to the Kohler saloon
and disarmed and arrested Flannigan. Johnston found three automatic
revolvers behind the bar in the saloon and arrested three more of the men
for carrying concealed weapons. Later six more of the men were taken
when the patrol wagon returned to Kohler's, including Patten, the bartender.
The cases of these ten men were dismissed when they came to trial a week
later before Judge Grant; lack of evidence was the reason given. Flannigan
explained that he carried the gun to protect himself while taking money to
the bank. These young men were said by onlookers to be members of
"Ragen's Colts."
"Ragen's Colts" were frequently identified with lawlessness and specific
clashes before and during the riot. They are typical of the gangs and
"athletic clubs" which were responsible for much disorder, including attacks
upon Negroes. This organization was sponsored by Frank Ragen, a
politician whose record and methods have long offended the decent
citizenship of Chicago. As a member of the Board of Cook County
Commissioners, he allied himself with a spoils-seeking majority against
which two or three public-spirited members waged a courageous struggle.
His participation in the Board's deliberations was marked by such conduct
as the hurling of a large record book and inkwells at members who opposed
the "ring."
As part of his political following he gathered about him the young
hoodlums who make up an important element of the club on which he
bestowed his name. Ragen's influence has often been able to protect the
"Colts" from punishment for criminal acts, including the persecution of
Negroes.
Other "athletic" and "social" clubs, though not so notorious, have been of a
like nature. Miss Mary McDowell, head resident of the University of
Chicago Social Settlement, told the Commission that she knew of five such
clubs composed of young men between seventeen and twenty-two:
Especially before the war they were always under obligation to some politician for
renting a store and paying the initial expenses of their clubs. That's what started them,
and it has come to be quite the fashion to get an empty store with big panes of glass
on which they like to put their names. I am speaking now of "back of the Yards"
conditions.

The Ragen Club is mostly Irish-American. The others are from the second generation
of many nationalities. I don't think they have deliberate criminal desires. I think they
get into these ways, and then they are used and exploited often by politicians.... It is
about the most dangerous thing that we have in the city. Whether the police could not
stop them at the time of the riot on the Monday when they went down Forty-seventh
Street with firearms showing in their hands in autos (a young man living with us can
give you his affidavit on it) and shouting as they went, "We'll get those niggers!" I
don't suppose anybody would want to say, but the fact remains that nobody did stop
them. They went across Halsted Street towards State Street. Four policemen were
there and they never stopped them at all.

Miss Jane Addams, of Hull-House, also described to the Commission the
way in which the ward politicians are responsible for these clubs. She said:
The politicians have had a new trick the last few years all over the city. They pay rent,
as Miss McDowell said, for clubs of boys below the voting age. The politician used to
take care of the young voter and the boy nearly a voter, but now he comes down to
boys of thirteen and fourteen and fifteen and begins to pay their rent and give them
special privileges and keeps the police off when they are gambling. The whole boy
problem is very much more mixed up with these—I won't call them gangs, but they
are clubs with more or less political affiliations. They are not always loyal to their
political boss, but he expects them to be and they are, more or less.

The gangs and "athletic clubs" became more boldly active in the spring of
1919. On the night of June 21, five weeks before the riot, there were two
wanton murders of Negroes by gangs of white hoodlums. One of the
Negroes was Sanford Harris, the other Joseph Robinson. There is no
evidence that either had been offensive in any way, yet they were
deliberately killed by gangs. There is evidence that the gangs in the
neighborhoods of these crimes had spread such fear among Negro residents
that murders of this kind were not unexpected.
Harris lived on Dearborn Street between Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh
streets. About 11:30 p.m. on June 21 he escorted from his home to a street
car at State and Fifty-seventh streets a woman friend who had been calling
on his wife. A Negro man, woman, and child alighted from this car, and
Harris walked behind them west on Fifty-seventh Street on his way home. A
number of white youths approached the man, woman, and child, one of the
gang saying, "Let's get that nigger," referring to the man. Because of the
child's presence they were allowed to pass unmolested.
Then the gang caught sight of Harris, who started to run across a vacant lot
toward his home. A shot was fired and Harris fell after going a short

distance. He died at the Cook County Hospital from peritonitis due to the
bullet wound.
A woman living near Fifty-seventh and Dearborn streets caught hold of one
of the gang who had a pistol in his hand. A plain-clothes policeman
appeared, and she called upon him to arrest the gangster who, she said, had
shot Harris. The detective merely asked how she was able to pick out the
man who had fired the shot. Apparently he ignored the fact that the man
held a revolver in his hand, nor does it appear that he even looked to see
whether it had been recently discharged.
A Mrs. T——, who lived above the saloon at the northwest corner of State
and Fifty-seventh streets, had witnessed the assault on Harris from her back
porch. When other plain-clothes men came upon the scene, she told them
that the gang had hidden under the viaduct on Fifty-seventh Street west of
Dearborn, but there were no arrests and apparently no attempts to make any.
Earlier the same evening, an altercation had taken place between a number
of white boys from sixteen to twenty years of age and Thomas Johnson, a
Negro who, with a Mrs. Moss, conducted a store next to a saloon at State
and Fifty-seventh streets. The boys had been loafing outside the door and
using foul language. Johnson remonstrated with them and finally got a stick
and started after them. A number of other Negroes aided in driving off the
boys, who, as they left, threatened to "get a gang and come back and get
you." It is thought that this was the gang that killed Harris.
Joseph Robinson, the other Negro killed that same night, had lived at 514
West Fifty-fourth Place. He was forty-seven years of age, a laborer for the
Union Coal Company, and had a wife and six children, the oldest seventeen
years of age. He was attacked by a gang at Fifty-fifth Street and Princeton
Avenue, apparently without provocation, and received knife wounds in the
back and left leg. He died from shock and hemorrhages on June 23.
A man named Morden, who lived at 5713 Drexel Avenue, testified at the
Robinson inquest that he had met a gang of from fifteen to thirty men at
Fifty-fifth Street and Shields Avenue about a block from Princeton Avenue.
He said the gang was walking rapidly east and divided to pass him. He was
not far away when Robinson was attacked. The Negro had evidently been
coming in the opposite direction, west on Fifty-fifth Street (Garfield

Boulevard) and the assault began the instant he met the gang. Morden heard
a shot fired and saw Robinson stagger across the street to a candy store. He
saw several men rush forward and help Robinson in the door as the gang
scattered. Morden declared that several of the gang carried clubs, and that
he saw several of these during the assault.
Nicholas Gianakas, who conducted the candy store at 5458 Princeton
Avenue, into which the wounded man had run, testified that he heard the
shot and saw people outside running in all directions. He saw Robinson
coming in the door with blood running off him. Presently Robinson got up
and went outside to sit on the curb. Gianakas called up the police station for
an ambulance. He saw no weapons in the hands of any of the crowd outside
and recognized none of them. He heard people saying that a mob had come
from "the Yards."
Peter Paul Byrne, a patrolman, testified that he had been called from his
beat at Fifty-fifth and State streets by a man in an automobile, who drove
him to the candy store. There he also telephoned for an ambulance, then
went out and rounded up "some kids" on suspicion. There was a big crowd
around, he said, men, women, and children.
One man testified at the inquest that an acquaintance spoke of having seen a
Greek run out of the candy store and hit Robinson on the head with a
hammer or hatchet. But this acquaintance, when called to testify, denied the
story.
Captain Caughlin, in charge of the police of that precinct, testified that a
number of men had been arrested on suspicion, but all of them had been
discharged because none of them knew anything about the matter. People
had been running in every direction, he said, there had been a good deal of
commotion, and he seemed to think it would have been virtually impossible
for the police to find any of the guilty persons.
C. L. McCutcheon, a Negro railway postal clerk, living at 517 West Fifty-
fourth Place, testified at the inquest that he had been threatened by mobs,
that a gang over on the boulevard had so terrorized the fifteen or twenty
"colored boys" in the neighborhood for a long time that none of them dared
to go about alone; that he himself had two boys who would not go on
Halsted Street for $10 a trip.

Following the killing of Harris and Robinson notices were posted along
Garfield Boulevard and some neighboring streets saying that the authors of
the notices would "get" all the "niggers" on July 4, 1919. These notices also
called for help from sympathizers. They predicted that there would be a
street-car strike on the appointed day, and that then they expected to run all
Negroes out of the district. Some witnesses at the inquest stated that the
Negroes of the district, who up to that time had done nothing to protect
themselves, were advised by friendly whites to "prepare for the worst," as
trouble could scarcely be avoided.

2. RACIAL OUTBREAK IN WAUKEGAN
May 31 and June 2, 1920

Waukegan, Illinois, thirty-six miles north of Chicago and near the Great
Lakes Naval Training Station of the United States Navy, was the scene of
two riotous attacks during the nights of May 31 and June 2, 1920, on a
lodging-house for Negroes, by bands of recruits on leave from the Naval
Training Station. No lives were lost, and only two persons were hurt,
neither of them seriously.
These outbursts scarcely classify as race riots. The chief motive seems to
have been a desire for excitement on the part of young and active naval
recruits.
The Sherman House was a dilapidated place on Genesee Street, the main
street of the town. It had been abandoned by whites and was run as a
lodging-house for thirty or thirty-five unmarried Negroes, chiefly factory
workers. On the first floor was a poolroom and soft-drink "parlor," which
some of the naval recruits had patronized.
A mischievous Negro boy of ten years, George Taylor, was primarily
responsible for the outbreaks. On the afternoon of May 31 he and his little
sister had been throwing stones at passing automobiles in Sheridan Road.
One of these missiles broke the wind shield of an automobile driven by
Lieutenant A. F. Blazier, an officer at the Great Lakes Station, who allowed
this fact to become known to some of the recruits at the station. Late that
evening an unorganized mob of recruits assembled at the Sherman House
and threw stones, breaking nearly all the windows. The mob was rushed by

all the available police in Waukegan, who took six prisoners. One reported
incident was the chasing of a Negro by half a dozen bluejackets and
marines and his rescue by the police.
Provost guards from the Naval Station rounded up the rioters and took them
back to Great Lakes, thus ending the outbreak.
Two nights later, or June 2, 150 boys on leave from the Naval Training
Station renewed the attack. They gathered in a ravine near the hotel and at
ten o'clock they poured forth, led by a sailor carrying an American flag. The
police had been warned and were ready with reinforcements.
About seventy-five feet from the lodging-house the police ordered the
attackers to halt; no attention was paid to the command, and they fired their
riot guns in the air, wounding two marines who were some distance away.
Hand-to-hand fighting ensued, during which the police seized the flag and
arrested two marines. The Great Lakes boys gathered about the police
station and demanded their comrades.
Commander M. M. Frucht, executive officer of the Naval Station, who had
already been sent to Waukegan by Commandant Bassett, appeared at the
door and quieted the crowd with a promise that all concerned would have a
square deal. He also advised them to return at once to the Naval Station.
The police released the two prisoners and gave back the flag. Two hundred
provost guards from the Naval Station arrived in motor trucks while the
crowd was at the police station.
Waukegan youths, evidently banded together for the purpose, searched the
house of Edward Dorsey, Negro, at 905 Market Street, on the night of June
5. Ten of them, ranging from seventeen to twenty-two years, were arrested.
They said they had heard that five white persons were held prisoners in
Dorsey's home and that it was their intention to effect a rescue. It was
asserted that a number of provost guards accompanied the crowd to the
Dorsey house.
The general spirit of the people of Waukegan regarding Negroes may be
judged from a proclamation by Mayor J. F. Bidinger, in which he
disclaimed for the people of the city any intention to harass the Negro.
Referring to reports that some of the white people of the town had

participated in the disturbances, the mayor said: "In the first they did not,
and in the second in no great numbers. Hoodlums generally run true to form
and seldom overlook ready-made opportunity to manifest their peculiar
taste in deviltry. Hence the mixing of a few of them into these fracases
signifies nothing in so far as our general public is concerned."
Observers agreed with the mayor that the disturbances were not race riots.
In this connection his proclamation said:
Now it is a definitely ascertained fact that no adult Negro was even remotely
connected with the first stone-throwing; that the colored people did not then retaliate
and have not since sought to retaliate in even the smallest measure; and that all the
episodes have consisted simply of an attack upon people who have been as
inoffensive throughout the entire affair as they could well be. All of which I submit
stamps this affair as an example of disorderly conduct indeed, but not as a race riot.

3. THE "ABYSSINIAN" AFFAIR

Sunday afternoon, June 20, 1920, a small group of Negroes styling
themselves "Abyssinians" ended a parade of their "order" in front of a café
at 209 East Thirty-fifth Street frequented by both whites and Negroes. After
a brief ceremony one of the leaders produced an American flag and
deliberately burned it. He then began to destroy a second flag in the same
manner. Two white policemen remonstrated with the men but were
intimidated by threats and a brandishing of revolvers. They left immediately
to notify police headquarters. Patrolman Owens, Negro, arrived as a second
flag was lighted. Rushing up to the leader who held the burning flag in his
hands and remonstrating with the group for their disloyalty, he was
immediately shot and wounded. Robert Lawson Rose, a sailor on leave
from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, protested against the
destruction of the flag and he too was shot; he staggered into the doorway
of a cigar store at 207 East Thirty-fifth Street. Some of the parade leaders
got rifles from a closed automobile which had followed the parade and was
standing near by, and fired into the cigar store. One of these bullets killed
Joseph Hoyt, a clerk in the store. The sailor, Rose, also died from his
wound. In all about twenty-five shots were fired during the fracas, and
several persons were injured.

The men who did the shooting escaped but were arrested later. Crowds
attracted by the demonstration quickly dispersed when the shooting began,
and from then on there was virtually no disorder except for attacks at a
railroad station on three Negro ministers who were returning to the city and
knew nothing of the shooting. Nine Negroes were arrested and held to the
grand jury. One of them was Grover Cleveland Redding, thirty-seven or
thirty-eight years of age, who was the "prophet" of the "Abyssinian" order
in Chicago. Redding, who had admitted the shooting of Rose, was held with
Oscar McGavick for murder, and the others as accessories after the fact.[11]
The exact reason for this flag-burning has not been disclosed, although it
was apparently intended to symbolize the feeling of the "Abyssinian"
followers that it was time to forswear allegiance to the American
government and consider themselves under allegiance to the Abyssinian
government.
The guns used in the shooting were found by the police in a garage,
together with the regalia of the "Abyssinians," and much of their printed
matter and other effects.[12]
The "Abyssinian" affair might easily have been turned into another great
outbreak such as that of July, 1919. But the police, profiting by their
experience of the previous year, were vigilant. They had organized an
emergency force which was quickly mobilized and put in service in the
district. Moreover, there was evident such a feeling of restraint on the part
of both whites and Negroes that they combined to hunt down the offenders.
Indicative of this spirit of co-operation to prevent racial conflict, and
helpful to it, was the careful handling of the matter by the press. Practically
every newspaper gave prominence to the way in which the two races
worked together to this end, and all dwelt on the courageous action of the
Negro policeman. A picture printed in the Herald-Examiner the following
morning showed people of the two races fraternizing after the shooting. The
Daily News in reporting the affray said that only the co-operation of the
white and Negro merchants of the district stopped the disturbance; that
rowdies in the neighborhood were ready for a fight, but that "the better class
of whites and Negroes worked directly with the police to stop any such

trouble as a recurrence of the rioting last summer, which occurred in the
same neighborhood."
To understand the "Abyssinian" affair an acquaintance with other
characters, certain group propaganda and movements, is necessary. The
"Back to Africa" movement, which lent fervor and enthusiasm to the
development of lawlessness and wanton killing by this group of unlettered
Negroes, has been in progress for more than two years. The Black Star
Steamship Line and the Universal Improvement Association, headed by a
Negro, Marcus Garvey, a British subject, were organized to establish
commercial relations with Africa. To arouse interest and secure funds for
the enterprise, sentiment has been created among Negroes for the
developing of sections of Africa where they may govern themselves and
build up their own institutions and commerce. The movement has gained
thousands of adherents; although the language of its appeals has frequently
been extreme, it has engaged in no dangerous or unpatriotic activities. Its
connection with the tragic incident lies in the implication that "Back to
Africa" means away from the land of unfair treatment, and thus suggests
contempt for the United States.

PROPAGANDA LITERATURE USED BY "ABYSSINIANS" IN
RECRUITING FOLLOWERS

The "Star Order of Ethiopia and Ethiopian Missionaries to Abyssinia"
appears to be an illegitimate offspring of the Universal Improvement
Association and the Black Star Steamship Line. The visit of the Abyssinian
Mission to this country a year ago to renew a treaty between their country
and the United States probably served as an added suggestion. The leaders
of the movement were Redding, secretary of the order; Joseph Fernon,
called the "Great Abyssinian," and his son, "The Prince." Together with a

"Dr." R. D. Jonas, a white man who for several years has engaged in sundry
activities among Negroes, they organized this movement among a class of
Negroes too ignorant to exercise restraint over their racial resentments.
Emotionalism was aroused and a semi-religious twist was given through
their appeals, which played more or less injudiciously on the desire of
Negroes to improve their economic status and to escape from what some of
them regard as oppression, either in this or in other countries. One or two
other similar organizations are making such an appeal, not only to Negroes
in this country, but to other dark-skinned races throughout the world. It is
sought to weld them all together into a great nation. Glittering promises are
set before the illiterate element of the Negro race, which has responded
sufficiently to fatten the purses of some, at least, of the "prophets."
Redding was one of these "prophets." He was influenced by the white man,
"Dr." R. D. Jonas, and had purchased from him the robe or toga which he
wore during the parade of June 20. According to those who knew both men,
he had first "stolen Jonas' thunder" and the following out of which the "Star
Order of Ethiopia" had been manufactured. Having lost this, Jonas was
willing to sell the regalia.
Jonas, it appears, had been promoting one movement after another among
illiterate Negroes for six or seven years. At one time he conducted a co-
operative store on State Street, in which he sold shares. He was often an
orator at street gatherings and had been arrested a number of times. When
Alexander Dowie of Zion City died, Jonas is said to have attempted to put
himself into the vacant position. After the East St. Louis riots he appeared
in Chicago in an express wagon with signs indicating that he was collecting
funds for the Negroes of East St. Louis.
During the afternoon of the shooting, Jonas had been the principal speaker
at a small, orderly meeting of Negroes in Johnson's Hall, 3516 South State
Street, at which he had launched a campaign for Mayor Thompson as a
third-party candidate for president of the United States. The Mayor, he said,
was the only man who could be trusted "to carry out Roosevelt's work" and
put through the treaty with Abyssinia which expired in 1917. He also
referred to the efforts of the Jews to return to Palestine and of the Irish to
free themselves from British domination, and suggested the desirability of a

coalition of the Negro, Jewish, and Irish races. Redding's hold on many of
the Negroes was partly due to the fact that he is a Negro and claims to be a
native of Abyssinia, whereas Jonas is a white man.
Quite evidently the "Back to Abyssinia" movement was used as a means for
exploiting credulous Negroes. For one dollar they could purchase an
Abyssinian flag, a small pamphlet containing a prophecy relating to the
return of the black-skinned people to Africa, a copy of a so-called treaty
between the United States and Abyssinia, and a picture of the "Prince of the
Abyssinians." Likewise when the propaganda had begun to take root, one
might sign a blank form which would commit him to return to "my
motherland of Ethiopia" in order that he might fill any one of forty-four
positions, such as electrical engineer, mechanical draftsman, civil engineer,
architect, chemist, sign-painter, cartoonist, illustrator, traffic manager,
teacher, auto-repairing, agriculture, and poultry-raising. The blank itself
was headed:
STAR ORDER OF ETHIOPIA
AND
THE ETHIOPIAN MISSIONARY TO ABYSSINIA
"A Prince shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall soon stretch
out her hands to God."—Ps. 68:31.
This is to certify that my name was given to Elder Grover Redding, Missionary to
Abyssinia, to show to my brothers in my motherland that I am with them, heart and
soul.
Oh, Wonderful Land, God remembers Thee. He shall deliver Thee from under the
heels of Thy Oppressors. He remembers when Asia condemned Him, and Europe put
Him to death, and it was Africa who haven him until King Herod was dead. It was
Africa's son who helped Bare his Cross up to Calvary. There was Africa's son the
Apostle Phillip met, and he carried the Gospel to Thy land. It was Thee whose Queen
came to King Solomon to prove him with hard questions. Ethiopia, Thou was first on
Earth; Thou shall be last, for Jehova has spoken it. (See Scrip: Zeph. 3:8, 9, 10; Isa.
18 Chap.; Ps. 68:30, 31.)
STAR ORDER OF ETHIOPIA AND ETHIOPIAN MISSIONARY TO ABYSSINIA
This is to certify that I have signed my name as an Ethiopian in America in sympathy
with our motherland Ethiopia. I henceforth denounce the name of Negro which was
given me by another race.

At this point the applicant declares himself ready at any time needed to fill
any of the positions in a list below, which he has checked and which he is
qualified to fill. Blank space appears then for name, address, present

occupation, city, state, and county. At the bottom appears the name of
George Gabriel, described as "Abyssinian" linguist and native of Abyssinia,
together with that of Grover C. Redding, secretary and missionary. The
applicant is requested to mail the blank to 1812 Thirteenth Street,
Washington, D.C., in care of Mrs. Dabney, or 115 W. 138th Street, New
York City, care of Charles Manson, or Joseph Goldberg, Jaffa, Palestine.
The immediate inspiration of the Abyssinians, as previously suggested, was
a visit to this country, more than a year before, of a delegation from
Abyssinia, which had concerned itself with a renewal of the old treaty. It is
pointed out that the chief reason why Negroes should be interested in this
treaty is that they might use it to overthrow "Jim Crow" laws in certain
states. Under this treaty Abyssinians had been guaranteed the right to travel
at will in the United States under the protection of the federal government.
Men like Redding had evidently interpreted this to mean that under such a
treaty the United States would be bound to interfere in behalf of
Abyssinians, if they should be discriminated against under a "Jim Crow"
law.
Redding, however, had some sort of biblical interpretation for his
movement. He maintained that his mission was indicated in the Bible. He
quoted from the Scriptures these words: "So shall the King of Assyria lead
away the Egyptian prisoners, the Ethiopian captives, young and old, to the
shame of Egypt." Asserting that the Ethiopians do not belong here, and that
they should be taken back to their own country, he construed a biblical
passage as meaning that the time of their bondage in a foreign country
should be the expiration of a 300-year period. This period, he said, began in
1619, when Negroes were first taken for purposes of slavery from Africa to
America. He said that the burning of the flag was the symbol indicated to
him through these biblical passages, and the sign that Abyssinians should
no longer stay in this country.
As to the flag of Abyssinia, he had interpreted it thus: "The red means the
blood of Christ; the green, the grass on which he knelt for you and me; the
yellow for the clay. The Ethiopian flag is better known as 'Calvary's flag.'"
Jonas, from whom Redding had obtained these ideas of a Negro Utopia in
Africa, claimed that he had introduced to President Wilson the Abyssinian

delegation which had come to this country. He claimed the credit for having
taken Redding into his home and cared for him several years ago at the
behest of Mrs. Jonas, who had told him that he was a "smart young fellow."
The ceremonies and manifestations of the "Abyssinians" were marked by
such fanaticism that responsible Negroes repudiated them and condemned
the leaders along with other criminals and exploiters of the ignorant
Negroes. The Negro World, organ of the Universal Improvement
Association and Black Star Line, carried the following article.
Appalled by the violence aroused on Sunday night, when an American flag was
burned and two men were killed by the Abyssinian zealots, colored leaders of the
Middle West have begun a systematic campaign to eliminate white exploitation
among the Negroes and to bring about better racial co-operation.
The Chicago police announced today that all the men wanted in the case, except two,
are under arrest. They also promised that the career of Grover Cleveland Redding,
self-styled "Prince of Abyssinia," and identified as a ringleader in the affair, will enter
a new phase tomorrow when the frock-coated suspect is formally charged with
murder, accessory to murder and rioting.
Oscar McGavick, one of the men sought, was arrested in Pittsburgh today. "Bill"
Briggs and Frank Heans were taken into custody here. This leaves the police list with
only two names, the Fernons, father and son. "Dr." R. D. Jonas, known on the South
Side as a professional agitator, was released today, no evidence having been found of
his direct connection with the shooting. Federal officials are investigating him.
According to the opinions of some of the leaders among Chicago Negroes the
"Abyssinian movement," from which Sunday night's trouble indirectly resulted, is a
legitimate and valid enterprise. It is but one of the manifestations of that bubbling
activity which today characterizes the colored people of America in their struggle for
race progression.
The trouble lies, they claim, in a group of exploiters and mountebanks, who,
unauthorized by real leaders in the movement, have seized upon it as a medium for
personal gain. In Chicago two of these were Jonas and Redding, it is claimed.

Pertinent on this point also is the stand taken by the Chicago Defender,
among the most influential of the Negro publications, concerning the
Abyssinians, which said editorially:
We warn all agitators, whether they be white or black, that this paper, standing as it
does for law and order, for justice to all men, for that brotherhood without which no
country can long prosper, and for the better element of our twelve millions, that we
condemn their disloyalty and will do all in our power to aid the constituted authorities
in crushing them.
The burning of the American flag by a group of self-styled Abyssinians at 35th St. and
Indiana Avenue last Sunday evening, as a means of showing their contempt for the

United States, and the resultant murders that followed in the wake of this
demonstration, instead of accomplishing the end desired by these malcontents, acted
as a boomerang. Every black face portrayed indignation. Every black arm was lifted
to strike a blow at these law-breakers. This is our home, our country, our flag, for
whose honor and protection we will give our last drop of blood. With all our
shortcomings it can never truthfully be said that we are disloyal or unpatriotic.

The real problem indicated by the "Abyssinian" affair is how to prevent
self-seekers from playing upon the superstitions and emotions of ignorant
Negroes, to the harm of others and the disturbance of the peace.

4. THE BARRETT MURDER

The murder of a white man, Thomas J. Barrett, by a Negro on September
20, 1920, is not particularly significant in itself. But it was committed in the
heart of the district where some of the worst rioting took place in 1919, it
created a situation which might easily have developed into another serious
riot, and it affords an example of prompt and effective police handling.

AFTER THE "ABYSSINIAN MURDERS"
Photograph taken at Thirty-fifth Street and Indiana Avenue, where both races co-operated to
maintain order.

Forty-seventh and Halsted streets is the intersection of two main
thoroughfares used by Negroes returning home from work in the Stock
Yards. The neighborhood is one where gangs of hoodlums have attacked
Negroes, and is thickly settled with people who have shown considerable
antagonism toward Negroes.
Barrett, who was a motorman on the Chicago surface lines, was killed
shortly after seven o'clock in the evening. He had had his shoes shined at
the stand of William Sianis, 4720 South Halsted Street, and had purchased a
newspaper at Halsted and Forty-seventh streets at about 7:00 p.m. About the
same time three Negroes came out of the yards of Ready & Callaghan on
Halsted Street between Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh, and one of these
Negroes went to the news stand seeking a newspaper in which to roll up his
overalls. In an encounter with these Negroes, Barrett was fatally stabbed,
dying before he reached a hospital. His head was nearly severed from his
body.
The Negroes, pursued by a rapidly increasing crowd of whites, ran north
nearly a block on Halsted Street. They turned into a vacant lot and went
through alleys until they emerged on Forty-fifth Street near Emerald
Avenue, evidently trying to work their way east to the main Negro
neighborhood. The crowd, however, had thickened so rapidly that they took
refuge in St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, just east of Lowe Avenue.
The mob was checked by the appearance and quieting remarks of Father
Thomas M. Burke, pastor of the church. He told them that the Negroes had
sought sanctuary, that there were laws to punish them, and that it was not
the province of a mob to wreak summary vengeance.
Meanwhile the police were already arriving. A patrol wagon had left the
Stock Yards station about seven o'clock, and followed the pursuing crowd.
Acting Lieutenant Bullard telephoned at once to Chief Garrity, and extra
police were quickly thrown into the neighborhood to control the crowd.
Samuel C. Rank, lieutenant of police at the Thirteenth Precinct station,
Forty-seventh Place and Halsted Street, had received the alarm about seven
o'clock. He sent five detectives and followed shortly after to the scene of
the disturbance. He went into the church with Sergeant Brown and three
detectives. Lieutenant Rank forced a number of the mob to leave the church

and locked the doors. Captain Hogan, of the Tenth Police Precinct, and
Chief Garrity arrived about this time. The three Negroes were taken through
a rear entrance to a patrol wagon in the alley and removed to the Hyde Park
police station, a considerable distance away.
The crowd in front of the church had grown by this time to 3,000 or 4,000.
In order to quiet them they were again addressed by Father Burke, who told
them the Negroes had been removed from the church. They dispersed about
10:30 p.m.
Profiting by the experience of 1919 Chief Garrity made prompt use of
prearranged plans to check all such disorders in their incipiency. He
immediately closed saloons and "clubs" in which young hoodlums were
accustomed to gather. He had the police patrol the streets by twos. He drew
a "dead line" to prevent Negroes from entering the district. With his forces
well organized and distributed, he set up headquarters at the Stock Yards
Precinct station and spent the night there, with Captain Westbrook,
commander of the second battalion of police, Captain Hogan, and
Lieutenant Ira McDonnell, of the Desplaines Street station. Street cars and
automobiles approaching the police "dead line" were stopped and all Negro
passengers warned off. Street gatherings were broken up and people were
searched for weapons. People were also kept moving in the streets. This
display of force undoubtedly had its quieting effect. Nevertheless, a stray
Negro was here and there attacked despite the vigilance of the police.
During the five or six hours following the murder, racial street fights
occurred at Forty-fifth Street and Wabash Avenue. A mob stormed a house
at 229 East Forty-fifth Street, attempted to burn it and did considerable
damage. Frank Gavin, a white man, 1509 Marquette Road, was shot in the
back during the mobbing of a Negro at Fifty-third Street and Racine
Avenue. Hoodlums pulled Negroes from street cars and beat them. A Negro
who had been dragged from a car at Thirty-ninth and Emerald Avenue, was
rescued by several white women after he had been severely beaten with
clubs. A man and a small boy, Negroes, were attacked by a gang at Fuller
Park, Forty-fifth Street and Shields Avenue. At Forty-seventh and Halsted
streets three Negroes were taken from a car and slugged, and two others had
a similar experience at Forty-seventh Street and Union Avenue. Frank

Stevens, a white man, 3738 Langley Avenue, was badly injured by a crowd
of Negroes at Thirty-ninth Street and Normal Avenue.
Precautions were continued next day for the protection of Negroes working
in the Stock Yards, and frequenting the district where the disorders had
occurred. This district ran as far west as Racine Avenue and as far east as
Prairie; as far north as Thirty-second Street and as far south as Fifty-third
Street. Negroes working at the Stock Yards had police escorts to and from
their work, and the car lines on Halsted and Forty-seventh and Thirty-fifth
streets, and on Racine Avenue, which are much used by the Negroes, were
especially guarded. Only one clash was recorded the following day. By six
o'clock Wednesday morning, thirty-seven hours after the murder, the special
police concentration was discontinued.
Nine persons in all were reported injured during this disturbance. Nine men
were arrested, including the three Negroes whom Barrett had encountered.
These three were: Samuel Hayes, forty years old, 519 East Thirty-fifth
Street; Henry Snow, thirty-two years old, 517 East Thirty-fifth Street; and
Frank Gatewood, forty-three years old, 3446 Prairie Avenue.
Witnesses at the inquest differed as to whether there was any provocation
for the stabbing of Barrett. Only one of them testified that he heard any of
the four persons say anything. This was Carl Duwell, a printer, 466 West
Twenty-fourth Place, who had just alighted from a Halsted Street car. He
said that Barrett was following the three colored men and seemed to be
threatening them, saying "You want to fight?" One of the Negroes suddenly
turned and struck at Barrett, slashing his throat. The Negroes had been
walking fast, with Barrett following a few feet behind them. After he was
struck, Barrett staggered a few feet to the curb and fell.
Barrett's widow said he was not in the habit of carrying weapons, but it was
current talk that he had been arrested a number of times for street fights
with Negroes. He had been a policeman in the service of the South Park
Commission, and was an ex-soldier. William Sianis, at whose stand Barrett
had his shoes shined just before the murder, said that Barrett was apparently
sober. Neighborhood gossip was to the effect that Barrett had been drinking
at McNally's saloon at Forty-seventh and Halsted streets. Also Duwell's
testimony indicated that Barrett had been drinking.

According to Police Captain Hogan, when the Negroes were arrested in the
church, knives were found on the persons of two of them. One of these,
Sam Hayes, admitted to the police at that time that he had stabbed a white
man at Forty-seventh and Halsted streets. His story was that when he asked
the newsboy at the corner for a newspaper in which to wrap his overalls,
Barrett threatened him and then struck him, and the stabbing followed.
During the night following the murder, Chief of Police Garrity issued a
statement which was published conspicuously in the morning newspapers,
and was most effectively worded to prevent misunderstanding of the
incident and avert use of it to inflame racial hostility. The statement began:
There has been no race riot. The killing at Forty-seventh and Halsted streets was
merely a street-corner fight. There was grave danger that it would be followed by
serious trouble. Precautionary measures were taken at once to forestall the recurrence
of the riots, with the destruction of life and property, of last summer.

This was followed by a detailed account of the special measures and
distribution of police to handle the situation.

II. The Springfield Riot
August 14-15, 1908

The race riot at Springfield, Illinois, in August, 1908, which cost the lives of
two Negroes and four white men, is an outstanding example of the racial
bitterness and brutality that can be provoked by unsubstantiated rumor or,
as in this case, by deliberate falsehood. The two Negro victims were
innocent and unoffending. They were lynched under the shadow of the
capitol of Lincoln's state, within half a mile of the only home he ever
owned, and two miles from the monument which marks the grave of the
great emancipator.
A second fundamental factor in the Springfield riot situation was the fertile
field prepared by admittedly lax law enforcement and by tolerance in the
community of vicious conditions, the worst of which were permitted to
surround the Negro areas.
The spark which touched off the explosion was the old story of the violation
of a white woman by a Negro, and not until the damage had been done was
its falsity confessed by the woman who had told it.

On the night of Friday, August 14, 1908, according to her story, Mrs. H
——, wife of a street-railway conductor, was asleep in her room. She was
alone in the house. She declared that a Negro entered, dragged her from her
bed to the back yard, and there committed the crime. She said she had
attempted to scream but was choked by her assailant, who left her lying
unconscious in the garden.
A Negro, George Richardson, who had been at work on a neighboring lawn
the day before the attack, was accused by Mrs. H—— and was arrested
when he returned to work the next morning. He was placed in the county
jail and on August 19 he was indicted.
During inquiry by a special grand jury certain facts were disclosed
concerning Mrs. H—'s character, and she admitted that, though she had
been brutally beaten by a white man on the night indicated, Richardson was
not present and had no connection with the affair. She admitted that she had
not been raped. For reasons known only to herself, she wished to keep the
name of the real assailant a secret, and therefore she had accused
Richardson. She signed an affidavit exonerating him. Richardson had no
criminal record. He and two of his family were property owners in
Springfield.
While Richardson was in custody and before he was exonerated, feeling
against him was intensified because of the murder, three or four weeks
before, of Clergy A. Ballard, a white man, by Joe James, a Negro tramp,
who was a drug and whiskey addict. James had been taken from a freight
train and placed in jail for thirty days and had been released on the night of
the crime. He was charged with entering the room of Ballard's daughter,
Blanche, at night. Ballard grappled with him, but James broke away and
ran. In the struggle Ballard was mortally injured. James was found asleep in
a park near the Ballard home about noon the next day, under the influence
of a drug. He was tried and hanged, and his body was taken back to
Mississippi by his mother for interment. Rev. Mr. Dawson, spiritual adviser
of James, stated that James declared he had no knowledge of the crime.
Springfield was, therefore, in a receptive mood when, on the morning of
Friday, August 15, it got the first rumors concerning the attack on Mrs. H
——. Richardson had been taken before her and partially identified. In the

afternoon, when it became known that he had been arrested, crowds
gathered about the jail. They seemed good-natured rather than blood-thirsty.
It was also known that James, accused of the Ballard murder, occupied a
cell in the jail. The sheriff preserved order through the afternoon, no effort
being made to disperse the crowd of 300 or 400 persons. About five o'clock
Richardson and James were taken in an automobile to Sherman, north of
Springfield, and there they were transferred by train to Bloomington.
About 7:00 p.m. leadership began to develop in the mob about the jail. The
leaders demanded the two Negroes, but were finally convinced by the
sheriff that they were not in the jail. Then the story spread that Harry Loper,
a restaurant keeper, had provided the automobile in which the men had been
removed. The crowd rushed to the restaurant five blocks away. In response
to the mob's hootings Loper appeared in the doorway with a firearm in his
hand. About 8:30 p.m. someone threw a brick through a plate-glass window
and in a few minutes the front of the restaurant had been smashed out. Then
followed the complete wrecking of the restaurant, as well as the owner's
automobile, which had been standing in front.
When the mob began to surge through the town the Fire Department was
called to disperse it, but the mob cut the hose. Control having been lost by
the sheriff and police, Governor Deneen called out the militia. The mob, by
this time very much excited, started for the Negro district through
Washington Street, along which a large number of Negroes lived on upper
floors. Raiding second-hand stores which belonged to white men, the mob
secured guns, axes, and other weapons with which it destroyed places of
business operated by Negroes and drove out all of the Negro residents from
Washington Street. Then it turned north into Ninth Street.
At the northeast corner of Ninth and Jefferson streets was the frame barber
shop of Scott Burton, a Negro. The mob set fire to this building. From that
point it went a block farther north to Madison Street and then turned east
and began firing all the shacks in which Negroes and whites lived in that
street.
Burton, the first victim of the mob's violence, was lynched in the yard back
of his shop. The mob tied a rope around his neck and dragged him through

the streets. An effort was then made to burn the body, which had been hung
to a tree. This was at two o'clock in the morning.
About this time a company of militia arrived from Decatur, Illinois, and
proceeded through Madison Street to Twelfth Street, where the mob was
engaged in mutilating Burton's body, riddling it with bullets. The mob was
twice ordered to disperse, and the militia fired in the air twice. The third
time the troops fired into the ankles and legs of the mob. At least two of the
men in the mob were wounded and the mob quickly gave way.
By this time the Negroes were badly frightened and began leaving town.
Meanwhile, Governor Deneen had sent for more troops, including two
regiments from Chicago. Before the rioting ended 5,000 militiamen were
patrolling the streets of Springfield. On Saturday morning the militia began
to arrive in force, including detachments from Chicago. This was a
comparatively quiet day, but that night another Negro was lynched within a
block of the State House. The mob gathered on the Court House Square and
marched south on Fifth Street to Monroe, west on Monroe to Spring, and
south on Spring to Edwards. At the southeast corner of Spring and Edwards
streets a Negro named Donegan and his family had lived for many years.
Donegan was eighty-four years old and owned the half-block of ground
where he lived. He was found sleeping in his own yard and was quickly
strung up to a tree across the street. Then his throat was cut and his body
mutilated. The troops interfered at this point and cut down the man, taking
him in an ambulance to the hospital, where he died the following morning.
Donegan's only offense seems to have been that he had had a white wife for
more than thirty years. He bore a good reputation, and the mob had found
no reason for lynching him.
Abe Raymer, who was supposed to have been the leader of the mob, was
charged with the murder of Donegan, but was released.
As an example of the disorder which occurred Friday evening, it is narrated
that Eugene W. Chafin, Prohibition candidate for the presidency, was
delivering an address on the east side of the public square. A Negro pursued
by the mob ran toward the speaker's stand from Fifth and Washington
streets, where he had been pulled from a street car. Two men helped him to
the speaker's stand, while Chafin at the front of the platform threatened to

shoot into the crowd. Although he had no revolver he made a motion
toward his hip pocket. During the mêlée before gaining the platform the
Negro drew a knife from his pocket and slashed several white men. When
he had escaped from the rear of the platform, missiles flew in the direction
of Mr. Chafin, one of them hitting him on the head.
Four men were rounded up who had been blacked up to resemble Negroes
and had been firing on soldiers during the night in an effort to substantiate
the assertion that the Negroes did not welcome the soldiers.
Sunday was quiet. No effort was made to reorganize the mob. The whole
city was as if under martial law. The saloons were shut and every place of
business was closed at 9:00 p.m.
The people who took part in the mob violence had no grievances against the
Negroes. They were hoodlums and underworld folk. Many of the hoodlums,
according to one observer, were less than twenty years old.
During the rioting four white men were killed. They were: Louis Johnson,
of 1208 East Reynolds Street, whose body was found at the foot of the
stairs leading to the barroom in Loper's restaurant. He was shot through the
abdomen; John Colwell, of 1517 Matheny Street, who died at St. John's
Hospital; J. W. Scott, of 125 East Adams Street, who was shot in the lungs;
Frank Delmore, who was killed by a stray bullet.
Seventy-nine persons were injured. The property destroyed included
Loper's restaurant and automobile, Scott Burton's barber shop, the
Delmonico saloon, and one block of houses between Tenth and Eleventh
streets, which were burned, with all their contents. Scores of families were
left destitute. Many Negroes were severely beaten before they were able to
escape from the district. Numbers of these homeless colored people
swarmed to neighboring towns and to Chicago. Three thousand of them
were concentrated at Camp Lincoln, the National Guard camp grounds.
Some of the refugees were cared for at the arsenal.
Current comment concerning the riots suggested political corruption and
laxity of law enforcement as important underlying causes of the riots. An
assistant state's attorney in Springfield charged that saloons had long been
violating the law, and that the law was not generally enforced as it ought to

be. He cited these conditions as responsible in large measure for the rioting
and murders. Pastors in their sermons on the riot focused attention on the
way in which vicious elements were permitted to flout the law with
impunity. This comment came so generally and insistently from those
conversant with the situation that the Chicago Daily News was led to
remark editorially upon the responsibility of the public authorities of
Springfield. It said:
Vice and other forms of law breaking have been given wide latitude here. The
notoriety of Springfield's evil resorts has been widespread.
A mob which murders, burns and loots, is a highly undesirable substitute even for a
complacent city administration. It is a logical result, however, of long temporizing
with vice and harboring of the vicious. When a mob begins to shoot and hang, to
destroy and pillage, there is instant recognition on the part of responsible persons of
the beauty of law enforcement and of general orderliness.

On the Sunday following the riots some Springfield saloon-keepers took
advantage of the fact that large crowds of sight-seers had come to town to
open their places, in violation of the order by Mayor Reece to remain
closed. Some of them were arrested for defiance of the mayor's
proclamation to remain closed until order had been restored.
By Monday or Tuesday order was pretty well restored in Springfield. Some
of the National Guard troops were kept on duty for several days. Almost
100 arrests were made, and a special grand jury returned more than fifty
indictments.

III. East St. Louis Riots
May 28 and July 2, 1917

Following a period of bitter racial feeling, frequently marked by open
friction, a clash between whites and Negroes in East St. Louis, Illinois,
occurred on May 28, 1917, in which, following rumors that a white man
had been killed by Negroes, a number of Negroes were beaten by a mob of
white men. This outbreak was the forerunner of a much more serious riot on
July 2, in which at least thirty-nine Negroes and eight white people were
killed, much property was destroyed by fire, and the local authorities
proved so ineffective and demoralized that the state militia was required to
restore order. A Congressional Committee investigated the facts of the riot

and the underlying conditions, which included industrial disturbances and
shameful corruption in local government.[13]
The coroner of St. Clair County in which East St. Louis is situated, held
thirty-eight inquests, as a result of which it was found that twenty-six of
these deaths had been due to gun-shot wounds, four to drowning, four to
burns, two to fractured skulls, one to hemorrhage of the brain, and one to
pneumonia after a fracture of the thyroid cartilage. Hundreds of persons
were estimated to have been more or less seriously injured, seventy having
been treated in St. Mary's Hospital. It has been impossible to get an accurate
accounting of the deaths and injuries. One man who had taken a deep
interest in the situation estimated that from 200 to 300 Negroes were killed.
About 200 people were arrested. Some of these were released, some were
charged with rioting and conspiracy, and others with arson. Two white
women were tried for conspiracy and rioting, and fined $50.00. Ten
Negroes were convicted of rioting and murder. Indictments of 104 white
persons grew out of the immediate activities of the rioters. Three policemen
were among those indicted for murder in connection with firing upon Negro
bystanders. In this same group of assailants were seven soldiers who were
court-martialed. No finding in their cases has been announced. Three white
men were indicted for murder in connection with a raid upon a street-car
load of Negro passengers in which a father and son were killed, a mother
was wounded severely, and a little daughter escaped. Twenty-six men, two
of them Negroes, were indicted for arson.
The effort to bring the guilty to justice was commented upon and
summarized by this Congressional Committee as follows:
Assistant Attorney General Middlekauf had active charge of the prosecutions growing
out of the riot, and he showed neither fear nor favor. Capable, determined, and
courageous, he allowed neither political influence nor personal appeals to swerve him
from the strict line of duty.
As a result of these prosecutions by the attorney general's office 11 Negroes and 8
white men are in the State penitentiary, 2 additional white men have been sentenced to
prison terms, 14 white men have been given jail sentences, 27 white men, including
the former night chief of police and three policemen, have pleaded guilty to rioting
and have been punished.
These convictions were obtained in the face of organized, determined effort, backed
with abundant funds, to head off the prosecutions and convictions. In the case of

Mayor Mollman there seems to have been an open, paid advertising campaign to
slander and intimidate the attorney general.

The burned area of the city was on Fifth Street, Broadway, Walnut Street,
Eighth Street, Eleventh Street and Bond Avenue, as well as "the Flats" on
Seventh Street, between Division and Missouri avenues. This latter area
was that occupied by Negroes. There were 312 buildings and forty-four
railroad cars totally or partially destroyed, with a total loss of $393,600.
The riots in East St. Louis may be traced, more or less directly, to a number
of causes, the influence of each being apparent.
Without doubt conditions resulting from the migration of a large number of
Negroes from the South, a movement which was more or less general at
that time, account in large measure for the riots, but also involved in it all
are the facts that there had been industrial friction, and that the city was
flagrantly misgoverned.
The Congressional Committee observed an effort to shift the blame from
one element to another. The labor interests sought to place responsibility for
the riots upon the employers, who, they said, had brought great numbers of
Negroes to East St. Louis in order that they might more readily dominate
the employment situation. The employers, on the other hand, thought the
blame rested upon the city and county administration because of laxity in
law enforcement, exploitation of Negroes for political purposes, and all
sorts of political corruption, including the "protection" of vice and crime.
The political ring sought to dodge responsibility by emphasizing economic
and industrial causes of the outbreak.
Whatever may have been the conditions resulting from the influx of
Negroes, they were undoubtedly actuated by a desire to improve their
condition. Some 10,000 or 12,000 Negroes had come to St. Clair County
from the South during the winter of 1916-17. During the year and a half
preceding the riot, the number of such migrants was estimated at 18,000,
although it was reported that many had returned during the winter of 1916-
17, because of the unaccustomed cold climate. It is certain that this influx
severely taxed the housing accommodations of East St. Louis, which were
of the insanitary and inadequate nature that so often characterizes urban

districts in which the Negroes find that they must live. The report of the
Congressional Committee on this point says:
It is a lamentable fact that the employers of labor paid too little heed to the comfort or
welfare of their men. They saw them crowded into wretched cabins without water or
any of the conveniences of life, their wives and children condemned to live in the
disreputable quarters of the town, and made no effort to lift them out of the mire. The
Negroes gravitated to the insanitary sections, existed in the squalor of filthy cabins
and made no complaint, but the white workmen had a higher outlook, and failure to
provide them with better homes added to their bitter dissatisfaction with the burdens
placed upon them by having to compete with black labor.

It is likewise in evidence that special inducements were offered to the
southern Negroes to come to East St. Louis, as well as to other industrial
centers in the North. Advertisements were placed in southern newspapers,
offering employment at wages far in excess of those paid in the South. Low
railroad rates were offered, and in some instances during this general
migration the railroads are said to have transported Negroes free in order
that they might be employed by the railroads. Failures of crops in the South,
floods and ill treatment of Negroes there, coupled with the hope that they
would find fairer treatment in the North, as well as better wages and living
conditions, were the direct causes of migration. After this had become fairly
general it was further stimulated by Negroes who had come North, and who
wrote home painting northern conditions in glowing colors.
From the industrial point of view it should be noted that in the summer of
1916 there had been a strike of 4,000 white men in the packing-plants of
East St. Louis. It was asserted that Negroes were used in these plants as
strike breakers. A report on the Negro migration by the United States
Department of Labor states that when the strike was ended Negroes were
still employed, and some of the white men lost their positions. It says
further: "The white leaders undoubtedly realized that the effectiveness of
striking was materially lessened by this importation of black workers."
Furthermore, it is stated in the report of the Congressional Committee that
the Aluminum Ore Company, during a strike, brought hundreds of Negroes
to the city as strike breakers in order to defeat organized labor, "a precedent
which aroused intense hatred and antagonism, and caused countless
tragedies as its aftermath. The feeling of resentment grew with each
succeeding day. White men walked the streets in idleness and their families
suffered for food and warmth and clothes, while their places as laborers

were taken by strange Negroes who were compelled to live in hovels and
who were used to keep down wages."
In May, 1917, a strike followed demands which had been made upon the
Aluminum Ore Company by the "Aluminum Ore Employees' Protective
Association." These related to alleged injustices and discriminations said to
have been practiced against the employees. The company failed to comply
with these demands, and a thousand white workers struck.
Closely related to this situation was a notice sent to the delegates of the
Central Trades Labor Union by the secretary of the Union, dated May 23,
which declared that the immigration of the southern Negro had reached a
point where "drastic action must be taken if we intend to work and to live
peaceably in this community." This notice declared that these men were
being used "to the detriment of our white citizens by some of the capitalists
and a few real estate owners." It called a meeting to present to the mayor
and city council a demand for action to "retard this growing menace, and
also devise a way to get rid of a certain portion of those who are already
here." The notice read further: "This is not a protest against the Negro who
has long been a resident of East St. Louis, and is a law abiding citizen."
This meeting was held on May 28 in the auditorium of the city hall and was
attended not only by the labor men but also by a large number of other
persons. The Congressional Committee refers to one of the speakers at this
meeting as "an attorney of some ability and no character." The report of the
Committee says that he virtually advised the killing of Negroes and burning
of their homes. The report says further:
He was not authorized to speak for those who went there to protest against the
lawlessness which disgraced the city and the presence of thousands of Negroes who it
is claimed were taking the places of the white workmen, but his inflammatory speech
caused many of his hearers to rush into the street and to resort to acts of violence....
He was in full sympathy with the action of the mob. They followed his advice and the
scenes of murder and arson that ensued were the logical result of his utterances.

That night, May 28, following the meeting, a crowd of white people
assembled in front of the police station and clamored for Negro prisoners. A
rumor circulated through the crowd that a white man had just been killed by
Negroes, and parts of the crowd left, forming a mob which severely beat a
number of Negroes whom it met. The situation was so serious that the

mayor called for troops. The trouble subsided, however. It is important to
note that from this time until the riot of July 1-2, no effort was made to
strengthen the police force nor were any other steps taken to control the
situation.
In connection with the industrial phase of the situation, it should be
remembered that the war had cut off the normal supply of foreign labor, and
that not a few white workers had left East St. Louis for other industrial
centers. Most of the Negro migrants were unskilled workers, and their
competition was, therefore, with the unskilled white workers. One witness
before the Congressional Committee expressed the view that the labor
shortage in East St. Louis prior to the riot certainly did not justify the great
influx of Negroes, but it is of record that most of the newcomers got
profitable employment in unskilled occupations.
The employers were fighting unions of any sort, whether of whites or
Negroes. Unions were seeking membership of Negroes as well as whites in
the hope that the use of Negroes as strike breakers might be prevented.
Whether union men or not, the white workers resented the influx of Negro
workers who might take their jobs. The inevitable consequence was friction
between whites and Negroes.
The Congressional Committee laid great stress upon corrupt politics as the
leading cause of the riots of July 2. It disclosed an almost unbelievable
combination of shameless corruption, tolerance of vice and crime,
maladministration, and debauchery of the courts. The report says that East
St. Louis for many years was a plague spot, harboring within its borders
"every offense in the calendar of crime" and committing openly "every
lapse in morals and public decency." Politicians looted its treasury, gave
away valuable franchises, and elected plunderers to high office. Graft,
collusion with crime and vice, and desecration of office were openly and
deliberately practiced. Criminals were attracted and welcomed, and the
good people of the community were powerless. Owners of large
corporations and manufacturers pitted white against black labor, giving no
thought to their thousands of workmen living in hovels, the victims of
"poverty and disease, of long hours and incessant labor."

The mayor, continues the report, was a tool of dishonest politicians, the
electorate was "debauched," the police were a conscienceless bunch of
grafters, and the revenue of the city was largely derived from saloons and
dens of vice.
Several officials and politicians of high standing were singled out by the
Committee for especial condemnation as the "brains of the city's
corruption."
A great deal of the city's crime and vice was concentrated in what is known
as "Black Valley." This was the section in which the Negroes lived, but
much of the vice and crime was promoted and practiced by vicious whites.
There was much mixing of whites and Negroes in the vilest practices.
Similar conditions existed in the town of Brooklyn near by, with about
3,000 people, of whom only about fifty were white. Its dens of iniquity
were notorious and were the resort of many white people. So openly
operated were these resorts that the Congressional Committee reported that
in the Brooklyn high school "24 out of 25 girls who were in the graduating
class went to the bad in the saloons and dance halls and failed to receive
their diplomas."
Not only were conditions of this sort demoralizing and degrading for the
decent Negroes, but the sanitary conditions were likewise extremely bad.
Some of the houses in the Negro districts had not been painted for fifteen
years and were in a state of great disrepair. Their setting consisted largely of
pools of stagnant water and beds of weeds. At one period during the
migration Negroes were coming in so fast that even these miserable housing
conditions were inadequate, and some of them were forced to live in sheds.
In one instance sixty-nine newcomers were found living in one small house.
Whenever houses were vacated by white people and rented to Negroes, the
rental price was largely increased, sometimes doubled.
After reviewing the corruption in East St. Louis, the report of the
Congressional Committee discussed the riot. It described the condition of
affairs on the night of July 1, 1917, when the second and most serious
outbreak occurred. An automobile (some witnesses said two) went through
the Negro section of the city, its occupants firing promiscuously into homes.
This aroused fierce resentment among the Negroes, who organized for

defense and armed themselves with guns. The ringing of the church bell, a
prearranged signal for assembling, drew a crowd of them, and they marched
through the streets ready to avenge the attack. A second automobile filled
with white men crossed their path. The Negroes cursed them, commanded
them to drive on, and fired a volley into the machine. The occupants,
however, were not the rioters but policemen and reporters. One policeman
was killed and another was so seriously wounded that he died later.
Thousands viewed the riddled car standing before police headquarters. The
early editions of the newspapers gave full accounts of the tragedy, and on
July 2 the rioting began. Negro mobs shot white men, and white men and
boys, girls and women, began to attack every Negro in sight. News spread
rapidly and, as excitement increased, unimaginable depredations and
horrible tortures were committed and viewed with "placid unconcern" by
hundreds. Negro men were stabbed, clubbed, and hanged from telephone
poles. Their homes were burned. Women and children were not spared. An
instance is given of a Negro child two years old which was shot and thrown
into a doorway of a burning building.
On the night of July 1, Mayor Mollman telephoned to the Adjutant General
of Illinois saying that the police were no longer able to handle the situation
and requesting that the militia be sent. Both the police and the militia are
severely censured by the Congressional report for gross failure to do their
duty. The police, says the report, could have quelled the riot instantly, but
instead they either "fled into the safety of cowardly seclusion or listlessly
watched the depredations of the mob, passively and in many instances
actively sharing in the work."
In all, five companies of the Illinois National Guard were sent to East St.
Louis. Some of them arrived on the morning of July 2, the first at 8:40 a.m.
These forces were in command of Colonel S. O. Tripp. Concerning the
conduct of the militia, the Congressional Committee reported in strong
terms, singling out Colonel Tripp for especial condemnation. It said that he
was a hindrance instead of a help to the troops; that "he was ignorant of his
duties, blind to his responsibilities and deaf to every intelligent appeal that
was made to him."

The troops, in the estimation of the Committee, were poorly officered and
in only a few cases did their duty. The report states that "they seemed
moved by the same spirit of indifference or cowardice that marked the
conduct of the police force. As a rule they fraternized with the mob, joked
with them and made no serious effort to restrain them."
Many instances are given of active participation and encouragement of the
mob in its murders, arson, and general destruction.
The only redeeming feature of the activities of the militia, according to the
Congressional Committee, was "the conduct, bravery, and skill of the
officer second in command, whose promptness and determination prevented
the mob from committing many more atrocities."
By eight o'clock of the evening of July 2 there were seventeen officers and
270 men on duty, and by July 4 the force had increased to thirty-seven
officers and 1,411 men. On the evening of July 2 the fury of the mob had
spent itself, and the riot subsided.
The behavior of the troops was condemned not only by the Congressional
Committee but by citizens generally, and a special inquiry was made into
their conduct by the Military and Naval Department of the State of Illinois.
Witnesses to dereliction on duty on the part of the soldiers were examined
and commanding officers of troops were asked to testify and explain
specific acts of violence and neglect of duty. In all seventy-nine persons
were examined. Although the charges against the soldiers in a large number
of cases were serious and sufficient to warrant the criticism which they
received, identification of individuals guilty of these acts was difficult. This
probably accounts for the fact that only seven court-martials resulted from
the inquiry. The commanding officer, though severely censured by the
Congressional Committee, was exonerated by this inquiry.

CHAPTER III

THE MIGRATION OF NEGROES FROM THE SOUTH

I. INTRODUCTION

During the period 1916-18 approximately a half-million Negroes suddenly
moved from southern to northern states. This movement, however, was not
without a precedent. A similar migration occurred in 1879, when Negroes
moved from Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee, and North
Carolina to Kansas. The origin of this earlier movement, its causes, and
manner resemble in many respects the one which has so recently attracted
public attention.
The migration of 1916-18 cannot be separated completely from the steady,
though inconspicuous, exodus from southern to northern states that has
been in progress since 1860, or, in fact, since the operation of the
"underground railway." In 1900 there were 911,025 Negroes living in the
North, 10.3 per cent of the total Negro population, which was then
8,883,994. Census figures for the period 1900-1910 show a net loss for
southern states east of the Mississippi of 595,703 Negroes. Of this number
366,880 are found in northern states. Reliable estimates for the last decade
place the increase of northern Negro population around 500,000.
The 1910-20 increase of the Negro population of Chicago was from 44,103
to 109,594, or 148.5 per cent, with a corresponding increase in the white
population of 21 per cent, including foreign immigration. According to the
Census Bureau method of estimating natural increase of population, the
Negro population of Chicago unaffected by the migration would be 58,056
in 1920, and the increase by migration alone would be 51,538.

The relative 1910-20 increases in white and Negro population in typical
industrial cities of the Middle West, given in Table II, illustrate the effect of
the migration of southern Negroes.
The migration to Chicago.—Within a period of eighteen months in 1917-18
more than 50,000 Negroes came to Chicago according to an estimate based
on averages taken from actual count of daily arrivals. All of those who
came, however, did not stay. Chicago was a re-routing point, and many
immigrants went on to nearby cities and towns. During the heaviest period,
for example, a Detroit social agency reported that hundreds of Negroes
applying there for work stated that they were from Chicago. The tendency
appears to have been to reach those fields offering the highest present
wages and permanent prospects.
TABLE II

Negroes Percentage of Negro Increase, Percentage of White Increase,
1910 1920 1910-20 1910-20
Cincinnati, 19,639 29,636 50.9 8.0
Ohio
Dayton, Ohio 4,842 9,029 86.5 28.0
Toledo, Ohio 1,877 5,690 203.1 42.5
Fort Wayne, 572 1,476 158.0 34.3
Ind.
Canton, Ohio 291 1,349 363.6 71.7
Gary, Ind. 383 5,299 1,283.6 205.1
Detroit, Mich. 5,741 41,532 623.4 106.9
Chicago, Ill. 44,103 109,594 148.5 21.0

II. CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION

A series of circumstances acting together in an unusual combination both
provoked and made possible the migration of Negroes from the South on a
large scale. The causes of the movement fall into definite divisions, even as
stated by the migrants themselves. For example, one of the most frequent
causes mentioned by southern Negroes for their change of home is the
treatment accorded them in the South. Yet this treatment of which they
complain has been practiced since their emancipation, and fifty years
afterward more than nine-tenths of the Negro population of the United
States still remained in the South. "Higher wages" was also commonly

stated as a cause of the movement, yet thousands came to the North and to
Chicago who in the South had been earning more in their professions and
even in skilled occupations than they expected to receive in the North.
These causes then divide into two main classes: (1) economic causes, (2)
sentimental causes. Each has a bearing on both North and South. The
following statements are based on reports prepared by trustworthy agencies
during the migration, on letters and statements from migrants, Negroes and
whites living in the South and the North, and on family history obtained by
the Commission's investigators.

I. ECONOMIC CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION

A. THE SOUTH

Low wages.—Wages of Negroes in the South varied from 75 cents a day on
the farms to $1.75 a day in certain city jobs, in the period just preceding
1914. The rise in living costs which followed the outbreak of the war
outstripped the rise in wages. In Alabama the price paid for day labor in the
twenty-one "black belt" counties averaged 50 and 60 cents a day. It ranged
from 40 cents, as a minimum, to 75 cents, and, in a few instances, $1.00
was a maximum for able-bodied male farm hands.[14]
A Negro minister, writing in the Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser, said:
The Negro farm hand gets for his compensation hardly more than the mule he plows;
that is, his board and shelter. Some mules fare better than Negroes. This, too, in spite
of the fact that the money received for farm products has advanced more than 100 per
cent. The laborer has not shared correspondingly in this advance.
High rents and low wages have driven the Negro off the farms. They have no
encouragement to work. Only here and there you will find a tenant who is getting a
square deal and the proper encouragement.

A white man, writing in the same paper, said:
There is an article in today's Advertiser headed "Exodus of the Negroes to Be
Probed." Why hunt for a cause when it's plain as the noonday sun the Negro is leaving
this country for higher wages? He doesn't want to leave here but he knows if he stays
here he will starve. They have made no crops, they have nothing to eat, no clothes, no
shoes, and they can't get any work to do, and they are leaving just as fast as they can
get away.... If the Negro race could get work at 50 cents per day he would stay here.
He don't want to go. He is easily satisfied and will live on half rations and will never
complain.

The Atlanta Independent, white, said:
If our white neighbors will treat the Negro kindly, recognizing his rights as a man,
advance his wages in proportion as the cost of living advances, he will need no
ordinance nor legislation to keep the Negro here. The South is his natural home. He
prefers to be here, he loves its traditions, its ideals and its people. But he cannot stay
here and starve....
When meat was 15 cents a pound and flour $8 a barrel, the Negro received from $4 to
$8 a week. Now meat is 30 cents a pound and flour $16 a barrel, and the Negro is
receiving the same wages. He cannot live on this and the white man cannot expect
him to live in the South and live on the starvation wages he is paying him, when the
fields and the factories in the North are offering him living wages.

TYPICAL PLANTATION HOMES IN THE SOUTH OF MIGRANTS TO
CHICAGO

The boll weevil.—In 1915 and 1916 the boll weevil cotton pest so ravaged
sections of the South that thousands of farmers were almost ruined. Cotton
crops were lost, and the farmers were forced to change from cotton to food
products. The growing of cotton requires about thirty times as many
"hands" as food products. As a result many Negroes were thrown out of
employment. The damage wrought by the boll weevil was augmented by
destructive storms and floods, which not only affected crops but made the
living conditions of Negroes more miserable.
Lack of capital.—The "credit system" is a very convenient and common
practice in many parts of the South. Money is borrowed for upkeep until the
selling season, when it is repaid in one lump sum. The succession of short
crops and the destruction due to the boll weevil and storms occasioned
heavy demands for capital to carry labor through the fall and early winter

until a new crop could be started. There was a shortage of capital, and as a
result there was little opportunity for work. During this period many white
persons migrated from sections of the South most seriously affected.
"Unsatisfactory" living conditions.—The plantation cabins and segregated
sections in cities where municipal laxity made home surroundings
undesirable have been stated as another contributing cause of the
movement.
Lack of school facilities.—The desire to place their children in good schools
was a reason often given by migrants with families for leaving the South.
School facilities are described as lamentably poor even by southern whites.
Perhaps the most thorough statement of these conditions is given in a Study
of Negro Education by Thomas Jesse Jones, made under the direction of the
federal Bureau of Education, and comparing provisions for white and Negro
children in fifteen southern states and the District of Columbia. He states:
In the South they [Negroes] form 29.8 per cent of the total population, the proportion
in Mississippi and South Carolina being over 55 per cent and ranging in the "black
belt" counties from 50 to 90 per cent of the total population. Almost 3,000,000 are
engaged in agricultural pursuits. They form 40.4 per cent of all persons engaged in
these pursuits in the Southern States.
Though the United States census shows a decrease in illiteracy, there are still about
2,225,000 Negroes illiterate in the South, or over 33 per cent of the Negro population
ten years of age and over.

TABLE III
White Colored
Total population 23,682,352 8,906,879
Population six to fourteen years of age 4,889,762 2,023,108
Population six to fourteen[15] 3,552,431 1,852,181
Teachers' salaries in public schools $36,649,827 $5,860,876
Teachers' salaries per child six to fourteen $10.32 $2.89
Per cent of illiteracy 7.7 33.3
Per cent rural 76.9 78.8

In the fifteen states and the District of Columbia for which salaries by race
could be obtained, the public school teachers received $42,510,431 in
salaries. Of this sum $36,649,827 was for the teachers of 3,552,431 white
children and $5,860,876 for teachers of 1,852,181 colored children. On a

per capita basis, this is $10.32 for each white child and $2.89 for each
colored child.
TABLE IV
County Groups, Percentage of Negroes White School Negro School Per Capita for Per Capita for
in the Population Population Population White Negro
Counties under 10 per cent 974,289 45,039 $ 7.96 $7.23
Counties 10 to 25 per cent 1,008,372 215,744 9.55 5.55
Counties 25 to 50 per cent 1,132,999 709,259 11.11 3.19
Counties 50 to 75 per cent 364,990 661,329 12.53 .77
Counties 75 per cent and 40,003 207,900 22.22 1.78
over

The supervisor of white elementary rural schools in one of the states
recently wrote concerning the Negro schools:
"I never visit one of these [Negro] schools without feeling that we are wasting a large
part of this money and are neglecting a great opportunity. The Negro schoolhouses are
miserable beyond all description. They are usually without comfort, equipment,
proper lighting, or sanitation. Nearly all of the Negroes of school age in the district
are crowded into these miserable structures during the short term which the school
runs. Most of the teachers are absolutely untrained and have been given certificates by
the county board, not because they have passed the examination, but because it is
necessary to have some kind of a Negro teacher. Among the Negro rural schools
which I have visited, I have found only one in which the highest class knew the
multiplication table."

A state superintendent writes:
"There has never been any serious attempt in this state to offer adequate educational
facilities for the colored race. The average length of the term for the state is only four
months; practically all of the schools are taught in dilapidated churches, which, of
course, are not equipped with suitable desks, blackboards, and the other essentials of a
school; practically all of the teachers are incompetent, possessing little or no
education and having had no professional training whatever, except a few weeks
obtained in the summer schools; the schools are generally overcrowded, some of them
having as many as 100 students to the teacher; no attempt is made to do more than
teach the children to read, write, and figure, and these subjects are learned very
imperfectly. There are six or eight industrial supervisors financed in whole or in part
by the Jeanes Fund; most of these teachers are stimulating the Negro schools to do
very good work upon the practical things of life. A few wide-awake Negro teachers
not connected with the Jeanes Fund are doing the same thing. It can probably be
truthfully said that the Negro schools are gradually improving, but they are still just
about as poor and inadequate as they can be."

Commenting on the cause of the migration, the Atlanta Constitution, a
prominent southern white paper, says:

While mob violence and the falsehood which has been built upon that foundation
constitutes, perhaps, a strong factor in the migration of the Negroes, there is scarcely a
doubt that the educational feature enters into it. Negroes induced to go to the North
undoubtedly believe they can secure better educational facilities there for their
children, whether they really succeed in getting them or not.
Georgia, as well as other southern states, is undoubtedly behind in the matter of Negro
education, unfair in the matter of facilities, in the quality of teachers and instructors,
and in the pay of those expected to impart proper instruction to Negro children.
We have proceeded upon the theory that education would, in his own mind, at least,
carry the Negro beyond his sphere; that it would give him higher ideas of himself and
make of him a poorer and less satisfactory workman. That is nonsense....

B. THE NORTH

The cessation of immigration.—Prior to the war the yearly immigration to
the United States equaled approximately the total Negro population of the
North. Foreign labor filled the unskilled labor field, and Negroes were held
closely in domestic and personal-service work. The cessation of
immigration and the return of thousands of aliens to their mother-country,
together with the opening of new industries and the extension of old ones,
created a much greater demand for American labor. Employers looked to
the South for Negroes and advertised for them.
High wages.—Wages for unskilled work in the North in 1916 and 1917
ranged from $3.00 to $8.00 a day. There were shorter hours of work and
opportunity for overtime and bonuses.
Living conditions.—Houses available for Negroes in the North, though by
northern standards classed as unsanitary and unfit for habitation, afforded
greater comforts than the rude cabins of the plantation. For those who had
owned homes in the South there was the opportunity of selling them and
applying the money to payment for a good home in the North.
Identical school privileges.—Co-education of whites and Negroes in
northern schools made possible a higher grade of instruction for the
children of migrants.[16]

II. SENTIMENTAL CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION

The causes classed as sentimental include those which have reference to the
feelings of Negroes concerning their surroundings in the South and their
reactions to the social systems and practices of certain sections of the South.
Frequently these causes were given as the source of an old discontent
among Negroes concerning the South. Frequently they took prominence
over economic causes, and they were held for the most part by a fairly high
class of Negroes. These causes are in part as follows:
Lack of protection from mob violence.—Between 1885 and 1918, 2,881
Negroes were lynched in the United States, more than 85 per cent of these
lynchings occurring in the South. In 1917, 2,500 Negroes were driven by
force out of Dawson and Forsythe counties, Georgia.[17]
The Chicago Urban League reported that numbers of migrants from towns
where lynchings had occurred registered for jobs in Chicago very shortly
after lynchings. Concerning mob violence and general insecurity both
whites and Negroes living in the South have had much to say. Their
statements at the time of the migration are here quoted.
From the Atlanta Constitution (white), November 24, 1916:
Current dispatches from Albany, Georgia, in the center of the section apparently most
affected, and where efforts are being made to stop the exodus by spreading correct
information among the Negroes, say:
The heaviest migration of Negroes has been from those counties in which there have
been the worst outbreaks against Negroes. It is developed by investigation that where
there have been lynchings, the Negroes have been most eager to believe what the
emigration agents have told them of plots for the removal or extermination of the
race. Comparatively few Negroes have left Dougherty County, which is considered
significant in view of the fact that this is one of the counties in southwest Georgia in
which a lynching has never occurred.
These statements are most significant. Mob law as we have known in Georgia has
furnished emigration agents with all the leverage they want; it is a foundation upon
which it is easy to build with a well concocted lie or two, and they have not been slow
to take advantage of it.
This loss of her best labor is another penalty Georgia is paying for her indifference
and inactivity in suppressing mob law.

From the Southwestern Christian Advocate (Negro), April 26, 1917:
But why do they [the Negroes] go? We give a concrete answer: some months ago
Anthony Crawford, a highly respectable, honest and industrious Negro, with a good
farm and holdings estimated to be worth $300,000, was lynched in Abbeville, South

Carolina. He was guilty of no crime. He would not be cheated out of his cotton. That
was insolence. He must be taught a lesson. When the mob went for him he defended
himself. They overpowered him and brutally lynched him. This murder was without
excuse and was condemned in no uncertain words by the Governor, other high
officials and the press in general of South Carolina. Officials pledged that the lynchers
would be punished. The case went to the grand jury. Mr. Crawford was lynched in the
daytime and dragged through the streets by unmasked men. The names of the leaders
were supposed to have been known, and yet the grand jury, under oath, says that it
could not find sufficient evidence to warrant an indictment....
Is any one surprised that Negroes are leaving South Carolina by the thousands? The
wonder is that any of them remain. They will suffer in the North. Some of them will
die. But Anthony Crawford did not get a chance to die in Abbeville, South Carolina.
He was shamefully murdered. Any place would be paradise compared with some
sections of the South where the Negroes receive such maltreatment.

From the Savannah (Georgia) Morning News (white), January 3, 1917:
Another cause is the feeling of insecurity. The lack of legal protection in the country
is a constant nightmare to the colored people who are trying to accumulate a
comfortable little home and farm. There is scarcely a Negro mother in the country
who does not live in dread and fear that her husband or son may come in unfriendly
contact with some white person as to bring the lynchers or the arresting officers to her
door which may result in the wiping out of her entire family. It must be acknowledged
that this is a sad condition....
The Southern white man ought to be willing to give the Negro a man's chance without
regard to his race or color, give him at least the same protection of law given to
anyone else. If he will not do this, the Negro must seek those North or West, who will
give him better wages and better treatment. I hope, however, that this will not be
necessary.

Injustice in the courts.—An excerpt from one of the newspapers of that
period illustrates the basis of this cause:
While our very solvency is being sucked out from underneath we go out about affairs
as usual—our police officers raid poolrooms for "loafing Negroes," bring in twelve,
keep them in the barracks all night, and next morning find that many of them have
steady, regular jobs, valuable assets to their white employers, suddenly left and gone
to Cleveland, "where they don't arrest fifty niggers for what three of 'em done"
[Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser (white), September 21, 1916].

Inferior transportation facilities.—This refers to "Jim Crow cars," a
partitioned section of one railway car, usually the baggage car, and
partitioned sections of railway waiting-rooms, poorly kept, bearing signs,
"For colored only." This dissatisfaction is expressed in part in the following
comment of a Negro presiding elder, writing in the Macon (Georgia)
Ledger, a white paper:

The petty offenses, which you mention, are far more numerous than you are aware of,
besides other unjust treatments enacted daily on the streets, street cars and trains. Our
women are inhumanly treated by some conductors, both on the street cars and trains.
White men are often found in compartments for Negroes smoking, and if anything is
said against it they who speak are insulted, or the car is purposely filled with big puffs
of smoke and the conductor's reply is, "He'll quit to-rectly." Recently a white man
entered a trailer for Negroes with two little dogs. One of the dogs went between the
seats and crouched by a woman; she pushed him from her and the white man took
both dogs and set them aside her and she was forced to ride with them. This is one of
the many, many acts of injustice which often result in a row for which the Negro has
to pay the penalty. These things are driving the Negro from the South.

Other causes stated are (a) the deprivation of the right to vote, (b) the
"rough-handed" and unfair competition of "poor whites," (c) persecution by
petty officers of the law, and (d) the "persecution of the Press."

III. BEGINNING AND SPREAD OF MIGRATION

The enormous proportions to which the exodus grew obscure its beginning.
Several experiments had been tried with southern labor in the Northeast,
particularly in the Connecticut tobacco fields and in Pennsylvania. In
Connecticut, Negro students from the southern schools had been employed
during summers with great success. Early in 1916, industries in
Pennsylvania imported many Negroes from Georgia and Florida. During
July one railroad company stated that it had brought to Pennsylvania more
than 13,000 Negroes. They wrote back for their friends and families, and
from the points to which they had been brought they spread out into new
and "labor slack" territories. Once begun, this means of recruiting labor was
used by hard-pressed industries in other sections of the North. The reports
of high wages, of the unexpected welcome of the North, and of unusually
good treatment accorded Negroes spread throughout the South from
Georgia and Florida to Texas.
The stimuli of suggestion and hysteria gave the migration an almost
religious significance, and it became a mass movement. Letters, rumors,
Negro newspapers, gossip, and other forms of social control operated to add
volume and enthusiasm to the exodus. Songs and poems of the period
characterized the migration as the "Flight Out of Egypt," "Bound for the
Promised Land," "Going into Canaan," "The Escape from Slavery," etc.

The first movement was from Southeast to Northeast, following main lines
of transportation. Soon, however, it became known that the Middle West
was similarly in need of men. Many industries advertised for southern
Negroes in Negro papers. The federal Department of Labor for a period was
instrumental in transporting Negroes from the South to relieve the labor
shortage in other sections of the country, but discontinued such efforts when
southern congressmen pointed out that the South's labor supply was being
depleted. It was brought out in the East St. Louis riot inquiry that plants
there had advertised in Texas newspapers for Negro laborers.
Chicago was the logical destination of Negroes from Mississippi, Arkansas,
Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, because of the more direct railway lines,
the way in which the city had become known in these sections through its
two great mail-order houses, the Stock Yards, and the packing-plants with
their numerous storage houses scattered in various towns and cities of the
South. It was rumored in these sections that the Stock Yards needed 50,000
men; it was said that temporary housing was being provided by these hard-
pressed industries. Many Negroes came to the city on free transportation,
but by far the greater numbers paid their own fare. Club rates offered by the
railroads brought the fare within reach of many who ordinarily could not
have brought their families or even come themselves. The organization into
clubs composed of from ten to fifty persons from the same community had
the effect, on the one hand, of adding the stimulus of intimate persuasion to
the movement, and, on the other hand, of concentrating solid groups in
congested spots in Chicago.
A study of certain Negro periodicals shows a powerful influence on
southern Negroes already in a state of unsettlement over news of the
"opening up of the North."
The Chicago Defender became a "herald of glad tidings" to southern
Negroes. Several cities attempted to prevent its circulation among their
Negro population and confiscated the street- and store-sales supplies as fast
as they came. Negroes then relied upon subscription copies delivered
through the mails. There are reports of the clandestine circulation of copies
of the paper in bundles of merchandise. A correspondent of the Defender
wrote: "White people are paying more attention to the race in order to keep

them in the South, but the Chicago Defender has emblazoned upon their
minds 'Bound for the Promised Land.'"
In Gulfport, Mississippi, it was stated, a man was regarded "intelligent" if
he read the Defender, and in Laurel, Mississippi, it was said that old men
who had never known how to read, bought the paper simply because it was
regarded as precious.[18]
Articles and headlines carrying this special appeal which appeared in the
Defender are quoted:
Why Should the Negro Stay in the South?
WEST INDIANS LIVE NORTH
It is true the South is nice and warm, and may I add, so is China, and we find
Chinamen living in the North, East, and West. So is Japan, but the Japanese are living
everywhere.
SCHOOL BOARDS BAD
While in Arkansas a member of the school board in one of the cities of that state (and
it is said it is the rule throughout the South that a Race woman teacher to hold her
school must be on friendly terms with some one of them) lived openly with a Race
woman, and the entire Race, men and women, were afraid to protest or stop their
children from going to school, because this school board member would get up a mob
and run them out of the state. They must stomach this treatment.
FROZEN DEATH BETTER
To die from the bite of frost is far more glorious than that of the mob. I beg of you,
my brothers, to leave that benighted land. You are free men. Show the world that you
will not let false leaders lead you. Your neck has been in the yoke. Will you continue
to keep it there because some "white folks Nigger" wants you to? Leave to all quarters
of the globe. Get out of the South. Your being there in the numbers you are gives the
southern politician too strong a hold on your progress.
TURN DEAF EAR
Turn a deaf ear to everybody. You see they are not lifting their laws to help you, are
they? Have they stopped their Jim Crow cars? Can you buy a Pullman sleeper where
you wish? Will they give you a square deal in court yet? When a girl is sent to prison,
she becomes the mistress of the guards and others in authority, and women prisoners
are put on the streets to work, something they don't do to a white woman. And your
leaders will tell you the South is the best place for you. Turn a deaf ear to the
scoundrel, and let him stay. Above all, see to it that that jumping-jack preacher is left
at the South, for he means you no good here at the North.
GOOD-BYE, DIXIE LAND

One of our dear southern friends informs an anxious public that "the Negroes of the
North seem to fit very well into their occupations and locations, but the southern
Negro will never make a success in the North. He doesn't understand the methods
there, the people and the work are wholly unsuited to him. Give him a home in the
South where climatic conditions blend into his peculiar physical makeup, where he is
understood and can understand, and let him have a master and you have given him the
ideal home." There is the solution of the problem in a nutshell. This dear friend thinks
that under a master back of the sugar cane and cotton fields, we might really be worth
something to the world. How thoughtful to point out the way for our stumbling feet.
Those who live in the North presumably always lived there, and, like Topsy, they "just
growed" in that section, so naturally fit well into their occupations. There is such a
difference between the white man and the black man of the South; the former can
travel to the North Pole if he chooses without being affected, the latter, "they say" will
die of a million dread diseases if he dares to leave Dixie land, and yet the thousands
who have migrated North in the past year look as well and hearty as they ever did.
Something is wrong in our friend's calculations.
We hear again and again of our "peculiar physical makeup." Is there something
radically different about us that is not found in other people? Why the constant fear of
Negro supremacy if the white brain is more active and intelligent than the brain found
in the colored man? A good lawyer never fears a poor one in a court battle—he knows
that he has him bested from the start. The fact that we have made good wherever and
whenever given an opportunity, we admit, is a little disquieting, but it is a way we
have, and is hard to get out of. Once upon a time we permitted other people to think
for us—today we are thinking and acting for ourselves, with the result that our
"friends" are getting alarmed at our progress. We'd like to oblige these unselfish (?)
souls and remain slaves in the South, but to other sections of the country we have
said, as the song goes: "I hear you calling me," and boarded the train singing, "Good-
by to Dixie-Land."

News articles in the Defender kept alive the enthusiasm and fervor of the
exodus:
LEAVING FOR THE NORTH
Tampa, Fla., Jan. 19.—J. T. King, supposed to be a race leader, is using his wits to get
on the good side of the white people by calling a meeting to urge our people not to
migrate North. King has been termed a "good nigger" by his pernicious activity on the
emigration question. Reports have been received here that all who have gone North
are at work and pleased with the splendid conditions in the North. It is known here
that in the North there is a scarcity of labor, mills and factories are open to them.
People are not paying any attention to King and are packing and ready to travel North
to the "promised land."
DETERMINED TO GO NORTH
Jackson, Miss., March 23.—Although the white police and sheriff and others are
using every effort to intimidate the citizens from going North, even Dr. Redmond's
speech was circulated around, this has not deterred our people from leaving. Many
have walked miles to take the train for the North. There is a determination to leave
and there is no hand save death to keep them from it.

THOMAS LIKES THE NORTH
J. H. Thomas, Birmingham, Ala., Brownsville Colony, has been here several weeks
and is very much pleased with the North. He is working at the Pullman shops, making
twice as much as he did at home. Mr. Thomas says the "exodus" will be greater later
on in the year, that he did not find four feet of snow or would freeze to death. He lives
at 346 East Thirty-fifth St.
LEAVING FOR THE EAST
Huntsville, Ala., Jan. 19.—Fifteen families, all members of the Race, left here today
for Pittsburgh, Pa., where they will take positions as butlers, and maids, getting sixty
to seventy-five dollars per month, against fifteen and twenty paid here. Most of them
claim that they have letters from their friends who went early and made good, saying
that there was plenty of work, and this field of labor is short, owing to the vast amount
of men having gone to Europe and not returned.
THEY'RE LEAVING MEMPHIS IN DROVES
Some are coming on the passenger,
Some are coming on the freight,
Others will be found walking,
For none have time to wait.

Other headlines read: "Thousands Leave Memphis"; "Still Planning to
Come North"; "Northbound Their Cry." These articles are especially
interesting for the impelling power of the suggestion of a great mass
movement.
Denunciation of the South.—The idea that the South is a bad place, unfit for
the habitation of Negroes, was "played up" and emphasized by the
Defender. Conditions most distasteful to Negroes were given first
prominence. In this it had a clear field, for the local southern Negro papers
dared not make such unrestrained utterances. Articles of this type appeared:
EXODUS TO START
Forest City, Ark., Feb. 16.—David B. Smith (white) is on trial for life for the brutal
murder of a member of the Race, W. H. Winford, who refused to be whipped like
others. This white man had the habit of making his "slave" submit to this sort of
punishment and when Winford refused to stand for it, he was whipped to death with a
"black snake" whip. The trial of Smith is attracting very little attention. As a matter of
fact, the white people here think nothing of it as the dead man is a "nigger."
This very act, coupled with other recent outrages that have been heaped upon our
people, are causing thousands to leave, not waiting for the great spring movement in
May.

The Defender had a favorite columnist, W. Allison Sweeney. His specialty
was "breaking southerners and 'white folks' niggers on the wheel." One of
his articles in the issue of June 23, 1917, was captioned: "A Chicago
'Nigger' Preacher, a 'Feeder,' of The 'Little Hells,' Springs up to Hinder Our
Brethren Coming North."
A passage from this article will illustrate the temper of his writings.
Aroused by what he calls a "white folks nigger," he remarks:
Such a creature has recently been called to my attention, and for the same reason that
an unchecked rat has been known to jeopardize the life of a great ship, a mouse's
nibble of a match to set a mansion aflame, I've concluded to carve a
"Slice of liver or two"
from that bellowing ass, who, at this very moment no doubt, somewhere in the South,
is going up and down the land, telling the natives why they should be content, as the
Tribune, puts it, to become "Russianized," to remain in that land—to them—of blight;
of murdered kin, deflowered womanhood, wrecked homes, strangled ambitions, make-
believe schools, roving "gun parties," midnight arrests, rifled virginity, trumped up
charges, lonely graves, where owls hoot, and where friends dare not go! Do you
wonder at the thousands leaving the land where every foot of ground marks a tragedy,
leaving the grave of their fathers and all that is dear, to seek their fortunes in the
North? And you who say that their going is to seek better wages are insulting truth,
dethroning reason, and consoling yourself with a groundless allegation.

Retaliation.—In answer to the warnings of the South against the rigors of
the northern winters, articles of this nature appeared:
FREEZING TO DEATH IN THE SOUTH
So much has been said through the white papers in the South about the members of
the race freezing to death in the North. They freeze to death down South when they
don't take care of themselves. There is no reason for any human staying in the
Southland on this bugaboo handed out by the white press, when the following
clippings are taken from the same journals:
AGED NEGRO FROZEN TO DEATH
Albany, Ga., Feb. 8.—Yesterday the dead body of Peter Crowder, an old Negro, was
found in an out-of-the-way spot where he had been frozen to death during the recent
cold snap [from the Macon (Georgia) Telegraph].
DIES FROM EXPOSURE
Spartanburg, Feb. 6.—Marshall Jackson, a Negro man, who lived on the farm of J. T.
Harris near Campobello Sunday night froze to death [from the South Carolina State].
NEGRO FROZEN TO DEATH IN FIRELESS GRETNA HUT

Coldest weather of the last four years claimed a victim Friday night, when Archie
Williams, a Negro, was frozen to death in his bed in a little hut in the outskirts of
Gretna [from the New Orleans Item, dated Feb. 4th].
NEGRO WOMAN FROZEN TO DEATH MONDAY
Harriet Tolbert, an aged Negro woman, was frozen to death in her home at 18
Garibaldi Street early Monday morning during the severe cold [Atlanta (Ga.)
Constitution, dated Feb. 6].
If you can freeze to death in the North and be free, why freeze to death in the South
and be a slave, where your mother, sister, and daughter are raped and burned at stake,
where your father, brother and son are treated with contempt and hung to a pole,
riddled with bullets at the least mention that he does not like the way he has been
treated?
Come North then, all of you folks, both good and bad. If you don't behave yourself up
here, the jails will certainly make you wish you had. For the hard working man there
is plenty of work—if you really want it. The Defender says come.

Still in another mood:
DIED, BUT TOOK ONE WITH HIM
Alexandria, La., Sept. 29.—Joe Pace (white) a southern workman, who had a way of
bulldozing members of the Race employed by the Elizabeth Lumber Company, met
his match here last Saturday night.
Pace got into one of his moods and kicked a fellow named Israel. Israel determined to
get justice some way and knowing that the courts were only for white men in this part
of the country, he took a shot at Pace and his aim was good.

Another type of article appeared. In keeping with the concept of the South
as a bad place for Negroes, their escape from it under exceptional
circumstances was given unique attention. Thus, there were reported the
following kind of cases.
Saved from the South
Lawyers Save Another from Being Taken South
Saved from the South
Charged with Murder, but His Release Is Secured by Habeas Corpus
New Scheme to Keep Race Men in Dixie Land

A piece of poetry which received widespread popularity appeared in the
Defender under the title "Bound for the Promise Land." Other published
poems expressing the same sentiment were: "Farewell, We're Good and
Gone"; "Northward Bound"; "The Land of Hope."

Five young men were arraigned before Judge E. Schwartz for reading poetry. The
police claim they were inciting riot in the city and over Georgia. Two of the men were
sent to Brown farm for thirty days, a place not fit for human beings. Tom Amaca was
arrested for having "Bound for the Promise Land," a poem published in the Defender
several months ago. J. N. Chislom and A. A. Walker were arrested because they were
said to be the instigators of the movement of the race to the North, where work is
plentiful and better treatment is given.

The "Great Northern Drive."—The setting of definite dates was another
stimulus. The "Great Northern Drive" was scheduled to begin May 15,
1917. This date, or the week following, corresponds with the date of the
heaviest arrivals in the North, the period of greatest temporary congestion
and awakening of the North to the presence of the new arrivals. Letters to
the Chicago Defender and to social agencies in the North informed them of
many Negroes who were preparing to come in the "Great Drive." The
following letter tells its own story:

April 24th, 1917

Mr. R. S. Abbot
Sir: I have been reading the Defender for one year or more and last February I read
about the Great Northern Drive to take place May 15th on Thursday and now I can
hear so many people speaking of an excursion to the North on the 15th of May for
$3.00. My husband is in the North already working, and he wants us to come up in
May, so I want to know if it is true about the excursion. I am getting ready and oh so
many others also, and we want to know is that true so we can be in the Drive. So
please answer at once. We are getting ready.

Yours,
——

Usually the dates set were for Wednesday and Saturday nights, following
pay days.
It is probably no exaggeration to say that the Defender's policy prompted
thousands of restless Negroes to venture North, where they were assured of
its protection and championship of their cause. Many migrants in Chicago
attribute their presence in the North to the Defender's encouraging pictures
of relief from conditions at home with which they became increasingly
dissatisfied as they read.

A NEGRO FAMILY JUST ARRIVED IN CHICAGO FROM THE RURAL
SOUTH

NEGRO CHURCH IN THE SOUTH

IV. THE ARRIVAL IN CHICAGO

At the time of the migration the great majority of Negroes in Chicago lived
in a limited area on the South Side, principally between Twenty-second and
Thirty-ninth streets, Wentworth Avenue and State Street, and in scattered
groups to Cottage Grove Avenue on the east. State Street was the main
thoroughfare. Prior to the influx of southern Negroes, many houses stood
vacant in the section west of State Street, from which Negroes had moved
when better houses became available east of State Street. Into these old and
frequently almost uninhabitable houses the first newcomers moved.
Because of its proximity to the old vice area this district had an added
undesirability for old Chicagoans. The newcomers, however, were
unacquainted with its reputation and had no hesitancy about moving in until

better homes could be secured. As the number of arrivals increased, a
scarcity of houses followed, creating a problem of acute congestion.
During the summer of 1917 the Chicago Urban League made a canvass of
real estate dealers supplying houses for Negroes, and found that in a single
day there were 664 Negro applicants for houses, and only fifty houses
available. In some instances as many as ten persons were listed for a single
house. This condition did not continue long. There were counted thirty-six
new neighborhoods, formerly white, opening up to Negroes within three
months.
At the same time rents increased from 5 to 30 and sometimes as much as 50
per cent. A more detailed study of living conditions among the early
migrants in Chicago was made by the Chicago School of Civics and
Philanthropy. The inquiry included seventy-five families of less than a
year's residence. In the group were sixty married couples, 128 children,
eight women, nine married men with families in the South. Of these
migrants forty-five families came from rural and thirty-two from urban
localities. The greatest number, twenty-nine, came from Alabama; twenty-
five were from Mississippi, eleven from Louisiana, five from Georgia, four
from Arkansas, two from Tennessee, and one from Florida. Forty-one of
these seventy-five families were each living in one room. These rooms were
rented by the week, thus making possible an easy change of home at the
first opportunity.
It was at this period that the greatest excitement over the "incoming hordes
of Negroes" prevailed.
A significant feature was the large number of young children found. The
age distribution of 128 children in these seventy-five families was forty-
seven under seven years, forty-one between seven and fourteen years, and
forty over fourteen years.
Most of these children were of school age and had come from districts in
the South which provided few school facilities. The parents were
unaccustomed to the requirements of northern schools in matters of
discipline, attendance, and scholarship. Considerable difficulty was
experienced by teachers, parents, and children in these first stages of
adjustment.

V. ADJUSTMENTS TO CHICAGO LIFE

Meeting actual conditions of life in Chicago brought its exaltations and
disillusionments to the migrants. These were reflected in the schools, public
amusement places, industry, and the street cars. The Chicago Urban League,
Negro churches, and Negro newspapers assumed the task of making the
migrants into "city folk." The increase in church membership indicates
prompt efforts to re-engage in community life and establish agreeable and
helpful associations. It also reflects the persistence of religious life among
the migrants. This increase is shown in Table V.
TABLE V

Increase in Membership during migration period
Name of Church
Number Percentage
Salem 700 51
Olivet 5,543 80
South Park 2,425 1,872
St. Mark's 1,800 100
Hyde Park 95 131
Bethel 650 800
Walters 351 338

Adjustment to new conditions was taken up by the Urban League as its
principal work. Co-operating with the Travelers Aid Society, United
Charities, and other agencies of the city, it met the migrants at stations and,
as far as its facilities permitted, secured living quarters and jobs for them.
The churches took them into membership and attempted to make them feel
at home. Negro newspapers published instructions on dress and conduct and
had great influence in smoothing down improprieties of manner which were
likely to provoke criticism and intolerance in the city.
Individual experiences of the migrants in this period of adjustment were
often interesting. The Commission made a special effort to note these
experiences for the light they throw upon the general process. Much of the
adjustment was a double process, including the adjustment of rural southern
Negroes to northern urban conditions. It is to be remembered that over 70
per cent of the Negro population of the South is rural. This means
familiarity with rural methods, simple machinery, and plain habits of living.
Farmers and plantation workers coming to Chicago had to learn new tasks.

Skilled craftsmen had to relearn their trades when they were thrown amid
the highly specialized processes of northern industries. Domestic servants
went into industry. Professional men who followed their clientèle had to re-
establish themselves in a new community. The small business men could
not compete with the Jewish merchants, who practically monopolized the
trade of Negroes near their residential areas, or with the "Loop" stores.
Many Negroes sold their homes and brought their furniture with them.
Reinvesting in property frequently meant a loss; the furniture brought was
often found to be unsuited to the tiny apartments or large, abandoned
dwelling-houses they were able to rent or buy.
The change of home carried with it in many cases a change of status. The
leader in a small southern community, when he came to Chicago, was
immediately absorbed into the struggling mass of unnoticed workers.
School teachers, male and female, whose positions in the South carried
considerable prestige, had to go to work in factories and plants because the
disparity in educational standards would not permit continuance of their
profession in Chicago.
These illustrations in Table VI, taken from family histories, show how
adjustment led to inferior occupation.
TABLE VI

Occupation in South Occupation on First Arrival in Chicago Occupation One or More Years Later
Display man on furniture Laborer Laborer in factory
Stone mason Laborer in coal yard Laborer in Stock Yards
Proprietor of café Laborer Elevator man
Farmer Laborer in Stock Yards Laborer in Stock Yards
Coal miner Porter in tailoring shop Janitor
Proprietor of boarding-house Laborer Laborer in Stock Yards
Farmer Factory worker Factory worker
Barber Painter Janitor
Hotel waiter Waiter Porter in factory
Plasterer Laborer in Stock Yards Laborer in steel mill
Farmer Hostler Laborer in livery stable
Clergyman Stationary fireman Laborer in Stock Yards
Tinsmith Waiter Laborer
Farmer Laborer in cement factory Laborer in Stock Yards
Blacksmith Barber Janitor

Office boy Porter Laborer in Stock Yards

The following experiences of one or two families from the many histories
gathered, while not entirely typical of all the migrants, contain features
common to all:
The Thomas family.—Mr. Thomas, his wife and two children, a girl nineteen and a
boy seventeen, came to Chicago from Seals, Alabama, in the spring of 1917. After a
futile search, the family rented rooms for the first week. This was expensive and
inconvenient, and between working hours all sought a house into which they could
take their furniture. They finally found a five-room flat on Federal Street. The
building had been considered uninhabitable and dangerous. Three of the five rooms
were almost totally dark. The plumbing was out of order. There was no bath, and the
toilet was outside of the house. There was neither electricity nor gas, and the family
used oil lamps. The rent was $15 per month. Although the combined income of the
family could easily have made possible a better house, they could find none.
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were farmers in the South. On the farm Mrs. Thomas did the
work of a man along with her husband. Both are illiterate. The daughter had reached
the fourth grade and the boy the fifth grade in school. At home they belonged to a
church and various fraternal orders and took part in rural community life.
On their arrival in Chicago they were short of funds. Father and son went to work at
the Stock Yards. Although they had good jobs they found their income insufficient;
the girl went to work in a laundry, and the mother worked as a laundress through the
first winter for $1 a day. She later discovered that she was working for half the regular
rate for laundry work. Soon she went back to housekeeping to reduce the food bill.
All the family were timid and self-conscious and for a long time avoided contacts,
thus depriving themselves of helpful suggestions. The children became ashamed of
the manners of their parents and worked diligently to correct their manner of speech.
The children attended Wendell Phillips night school in the hope of improving their
community status.
The freedom and independence of Negroes in the North have been a constant novelty
to them and many times they have been surprised that they were "not noticed enough
to be mistreated." They have tried out various amusement places, parks, ice-cream
parlors, and theaters near their home on the South Side and have enjoyed them
because they were denied these opportunities in their former home.
The combined income of this family is $65 a week, and their rent is now low. Many
of their old habits have been preserved because of the isolation in which they have
lived and because they have not been able to move into better housing.
The Jones family.—Mr. Jones, his wife, a six-year-old son, and a nephew aged
twenty-one, came from Texas early in 1919. Although they arrived after the heaviest
migration, they experienced the same difficulties as earlier comers.
They searched for weeks for a suitable house. At first they secured one room on the
South Side in a rooming-house, where they were obliged to provide gas, coal, linen,
bedding, and part of the furniture. After a few weeks they got two rooms for light
housekeeping, for $10 a month. The associations as well as the physical condition of

the house were intolerable. They then rented a flat on Carroll Avenue in another
section. The building was old and run down. The agent for the property, to induce
tenants to occupy it, had promised to clean and decorate it, but failed to keep his
word. When the Jones family asked the owner to make repairs, he refused flatly and
was exceedingly abusive.
Finally Jones located a house on the West Side that was much too large for his family,
and the rent too high. They were forced to take lodgers to aid in paying the rent. This
was against the desire of Mrs. Jones, who did not like to have strangers in her house.
The house has six rooms and bath and is in a state of dilapidation. Mr. Jones has been
forced to cover the holes in the floor with tin to keep out the rats. The plumbing is
bad. During the winter there is no running water, and the agent for the building
refuses to clean more than three rooms or to furnish screens or storm doors or to pay
for any plumbing. In the back yard under the house is an accumulation of ashes, tin
cans, and garbage left by a long series of previous tenants. There is no alley back of
the house, and all of the garbage from the back yard must be carried out through the
front. Jones made a complaint about insanitary conditions to the Health Department,
and the house was inspected, but so far nothing has been done. It was difficult to
induce the agent to supply garbage cans.
Jones had reached the eighth grade, and Mrs. Jones had completed the first year of
high school. The nephew had finished public-school grades provided in his home
town and had been taught the boiler trade. He is now pursuing this trade in hope of
securing sufficient funds to complete his course in Conroe College, where he has
already finished the first year. The boy of six was placed in a West Side school. He
was removed from this school, however, and sent back south to live with Mrs. Jones's
mother and attend school there. Mrs. Jones thought that the influence of the school
children of Chicago was not good for him. He had been almost blinded by a blow
from a baseball bat in the hands of one of several older boys who continually annoyed
him. The child had also learned vulgar language from his school associates.
The Jones family were leading citizens in their southern home. They were members of
a Baptist church, local clubs, and a missionary society, while Jones was a member and
officer in the Knights of Tabor, Masons, and Odd Fellows. They owned their home
and two other pieces of property in the same town, one of which brought in $20 a
month. As a boiler-maker, he earned about $50 a week, which is about the same as his
present income. Their motive in coming to Chicago was to escape from the
undesirable practices and customs of the South.
They had been told that no discrimination was practiced against Negroes in Chicago;
that they could go where they pleased without the embarrassment or hindrance
because of their color. Accordingly, when they first came to Chicago, they went into
drug-stores and restaurants. They were refused service in numbers of restaurants and
at the refreshment counters in some drug-stores. The family has begun the re-
establishment of its community life, having joined a West Side Baptist church and
taking an active interest in local organizations, particularly the Wendell Phillips Social
Settlement. The greatest satisfaction of the Joneses comes from the "escape from Jim
Crow conditions and segregation" and the securing of improved conditions of work,
although there is no difference in the wages.

VI. MIGRANTS IN CHICAGO

Migrants have been visited in their homes, and met in industry, in the
schools, and in contacts on street cars and in parks. Efforts have been made
to learn why they came to Chicago and with what success they were
adjusting themselves to their new surroundings.
Some of the replies to questions asked are given:
Question: Why did you come to Chicago?
Answers:
1. Looking for better wages.
2. So I could support my family.
3. Tired of being a flunky.
4. I just happened to drift here.
5. Some of my people were here.
6. Persuaded by friends.
7. Wanted to make more money so I could go into business; couldn't do it in the
South.
8. To earn more money.
9. For better wages.
10. Wanted to change and come to the North.
11. Came to get more money for work.
12. To better my conditions.
13. Better conditions.
14. Better conditions.
15. Better living.
16. More work; came on visit and stayed.
17. Wife persuaded me.
18. To establish a church.
19. Tired of the South.
20. To get away from the South, and to earn more money.
Question: Do you feel greater freedom and independence in Chicago? In what ways?
Answers:
1. Yes. Working conditions and the places of amusement.

2. Yes. The chance to make a living; conditions on the street cars and in movies.
3. Going into places of amusement and living in good neighborhoods.
4. Yes. Educationally, and in the home conditions.
5. Yes. Go anywhere you want to go; voting; don't have to look up to the white man,
get off the street for him, and go to the buzzard roost at shows.
6. Yes. Just seem to feel a general feeling of good-fellowship.
7. On the street cars and the way you are treated where you work.
8. Yes. Can go any place I like here. At home I was segregated and not treated like I
had any rights.
9. Yes. Privilege to mingle with people; can go to the parks and places of amusement,
not being segregated.
10. Yes. Feel free to do anything I please. Not dictated to by white people.
11. Yes. Had to take any treatment white people offered me there, compelled to say
"yes ma'am" or "yes sir" to white people, whether you desired to or not. If you went
to an ice cream parlor for anything you came outside to eat it. Got off sidewalk for
white people.
12. Yes. Can vote; feel free; haven't any fear; make more money.
13. Yes. Voting; better opportunity for work; more respect from white people.
14. Yes. Can vote; no lynching; no fear of mobs; can express my opinion and defend
myself.
15. Yes. Voting, more privileges; white people treat me better, not as much prejudice.
16. Yes. Feel more like a man. Same as slavery, in a way, at home. I don't have to give
up the sidewalk here for white people as in my former home.
17. Yes. No restrictions as to shows, schools, etc. More protection of law.
18. Yes. Have more privileges and more money.
19. Yes. More able to express views on all questions. No segregation or
discrimination.
20. Sure. Feel more freedom. Was not counted in the South; colored people allowed
no freedom at all in the South.
21. Find things quite different to what they are at home. Haven't become accustomed
to the place yet.
Question: What were your first impressions of Chicago?
Answers:
1. I liked the air of doing things here.
2. A place of real opportunity if you would work.

3. Place just full of life. Went to see the sights every night for a month.
4. I thought it was some great place but found out it wasn't. Uncle told me he was
living on Portland Avenue, that it was some great avenue; found nothing but a mud
hole. I sure wished I was back home.
5. When I got here and got on the street cars and saw colored people sitting by white
people all over the car I just held my breath, for I thought any minute they would
start something, then I saw nobody noticed it, and I just thought this was a real
place for colored people. No, indeed, I'll never work in anybody's kitchen but my
own, any more, that's the one thing that makes me stick to this job.
6. Was completely lost, friend was to meet me but didn't and I was afraid to ask
anyone where to go; finally my friend came; was afraid to sleep first night—so
much noise; thought the cars would finally stop running so I could rest.
7. Liked the place.
8. Always liked Chicago, even the name before I came.
9. Liked it fine.
10. Good city for colored people.
11. Fine city.
12. Thought it the best place for colored people.
13. Thought it a good place for colored people to live in.
14. Very favorable, thought it the place to be for myself and family.
15. Didn't like it; lonesome, until I went out. Then liked the places of amusement
which have no restrictions.
16. Liked it fine, like it even better now.
17. Liked Chicago from the first visit made two years ago; was not satisfied until I
was able to get back.
18. Think I will like it later on.
Question: In what respects is life harder or easier here than in the South?
Answers:
1. Easier. I don't have to work so hard and get more money.
2. Easier in that here my wife doesn't have to work. I just couldn't make it by myself
in the South.
3. Living is much easier; chance to learn a trade. I make and save more money.
4. Easier, you can make more money and it means more to you.
5. Easier to make a living here.
6. Easier, I get more money for my work and have some spare time.

7. Have better home, but have to work harder. I make more money, but spend it all to
live.
8. Have more time to rest here and don't work as hard.
9. Find it easier to live because I have more to live on.
10. Earn more money; the strain is not so great wondering from day to day how to
make a little money do.
11. Work harder here than at home.
12. Easier. Work is hard, but hours are short. I make more money and can live better.
13. More money for work, though work is harder. Better able to buy the necessities of
life.
14. Easier; more work and more money and shorter hours.
15. Living higher, but would rather be here than in South. I have shorter hours here.
16. Don't have to work as hard here as at home. Have more time for rest and to spend
with family.
17. Easier to live in St. Louis. More work here and better wages. Living higher here.
Saved more there.
18. Must work very hard here, much harder than at home.
19. Harder because of increased cost of living.
20. The entire family feels that life is much easier here than at home. Do not find
work as hard anywhere.
Question: What do you like about the North?
Answers:
1. Freedom in voting and conditions of colored people here. I mean you can live in
good houses; men here get a chance to go with the best-looking girls in the race;
some may do it in Memphis, but it ain't always safe.
2. Freedom and chance to make a living; privileges.
3. Freedom and opportunity to acquire something.
4. Freedom allowed in every way.
5. More money and more pleasure to be gotten from it; personal freedom Chicago
affords, and voting.
6. Freedom and working conditions.
7. Work, can work any place, freedom.
8. The schools for the children, the better wages, and the privileges for colored
people.

9. The chance colored people have to live; privileges allowed them and better homes.
10. The friendliness of the people, the climate which makes health better.
11. Like the privileges, the climate; have better health.
12. No discrimination; can express opinion and vote.
13. Freedom of speech, right to live and work as other races. Higher pay for labor.
14. Freedom; privileges; treatment of whites; ability to live in peace; not held down.
15. Freedom of speech and action. Can live without fear, no Jim Crow.
16. More enjoyment; more places of attraction; better treatment; better schools for
children.
17. Liberty, better schools.
18. I like the North for wages earned and better homes colored people can live in and
go more places than at home.
19. Privileges, freedom, industrial and educational facilities.
20. The people, the freedom and liberty colored people enjoy here that they never
before experienced. Even the ways of the people are better than at home.
21. Haven't found anything yet to like, except wife thinks she will like the opportunity
of earning more money than ever before.
Question: What difficulties do you think a person from the South meets in coming to
Chicago?
Answers:
1. Getting used to climate and houses.
2. Getting accustomed to cold weather and flats.
3. Getting used to living conditions and make more money; not letting the life here
run away with you.
4. Adjusting myself to the weather and flat life: rooming and "closeness" of the
houses.
5. Getting used to flat conditions and crowded houses.
6. Getting used to living in flats, and growing accustomed to being treated like people.
7. Getting used to the ways of the people; not speaking or being friendly; colder
weather, hard on people from the South.
8. Just the treatment some of the white people give you on the trains. Sometimes treat
you like dogs.
9. Know of no difficulties a person from the South meets coming to Chicago.

10. I didn't meet any difficulties coming from the South. Know of none persons would
likely meet.
11. Can think of no difficulties persons meet coming from the South to Chicago.
12. Adjustment to working conditions and climate.
13. Climatic changes.
14. Change in climate, crowded living conditions, lack of space for gardens, etc.
15. Change in climate, crowded housing conditions.
16. Coming without knowing where they are going to stop usually causes some
difficulty. Get in with wrong people who seek to take advantage of the ignorance of
newcomers.
17. Becoming adjusted to climate.
18. If they know where they are going, when they come here. The danger lies in
getting among the wrong class of people.
19. Adjustment to city customs, etc.
20. If persons know where they are going and what they are going to do, will not have
any trouble. Must come with the intention of working or else expect many
difficulties.
21. Know of no difficulties.
Question: Do you get more comforts and pleasures from your higher wages?
Answers:
1. Yes. Better homes, places of amusement, and the buying of your clothes here. You
can try on things; you can do that in some stores in Memphis, but not in all.
2. Yes. Living in better houses, can go into almost any place if you have the money,
and then the schools are so much better here.
3. Yes. I live better, save more, and feel more like a man.
4. Yes. I can buy more, my wife can have her clothes fitted here, she can try on a hat,
and if she doesn't want it she doesn't have to keep it; go anywhere I please on the
cars after I pay my fare; I can do any sort of work I know how to do.
5. Yes. Go anywhere I please, buy what I please; ain't afraid to get on cars and sit
where I please.
6. Well, I make more money. I can't save anything from it. There are so many places
to go here, but down South you work, work, work, and you have to save, for you
haven't any place to spend it.
7. Yes. Better homes. Spend money anywhere you want to, go anywhere you have
money enough to go; don't go out very much but like to know I can where and
when I want to.

8. Have chance to make more money, but it is all spent to keep family up.
9. At home did not earn much money and did not have any left to go what few places
colored people were allowed to go. Here, Negroes can have whatever they want.
10. Don't have to worry about how you are going to live. More money earned affords
anything wanted.
11. Have more comforts in the home that could not have at home; more conveniences
here. Wages sons earn make it possible to have all that is wanted.
12. Yes. Better houses and more enjoyment.
13. Yes. I live in larger house and have more conveniences. Can take more pleasure;
have more leisure time.
14. Yes. Better houses and more amusement. More time of my own, better furniture
and food.
15. Yes. Better houses and furniture. More pleasures because of shorter hours of work,
giving me more time.
16. What little was earned at home was used for food and clothing. Here, earn more,
have more to spend; now and then put some in the bank, and can spend some for
pleasure without strain or inconvenience.
17. Yes. More places to go, parks and playgrounds for children, and no difference
made between white and colored. Houses more convenient here.
18. Have more money to spend but when you have to live in houses where landlord
won't fix up you can't have much comfort. Go no place for pleasure, but enjoy the
chance of earning more money.
19. No comment.
20. Have money to get whatever is desired. Live in a better house and can go places
denied at home. All the family are perfectly satisfied and are happier than they have
ever been.
21. Live in better house than ever lived in. Never had the comforts furnished here.
Some houses there had no water closets; only had cistern and wells out in the yard.
Question: Are you advising friends to come to Chicago?
Answers:
1. Yes. People down there don't really believe the things we write back, I didn't
believe myself until I got here.
2. No. I am not going to encourage them to come, for they might not make it, then I
would be blamed.
3. Yes. If I think they will work.
4. Some of them, those who I think would appreciate the advantages here.

5. No. Not right now, come here and get to work, strikes come along, they're out of
work. Come if they want to, though.
6. Yes. I have two sisters still in Lexington. I am trying to get them to come up here.
They can't understand why I stay here, but they'll see if they come.
7. Yes. People here don't realize how some parts of the South treat colored folks; poor
white trash were awful mean where we came from; wish all the colored folks would
come up here where you ain't afraid to breathe.
8. Yes. Want friend and husband to come; also sister and family who want her to come
back that they may see how she looks before they break up and come. Youngest son
begs mother never to think of going back South. Oldest son not so well satisfied
when first came, but since he is working, likes it a little better.

Only a few migrants were found who came on free transportation, and
many of these had friends in Chicago before they came. Few expressed a
desire to return.

VII. EFFORTS TO CHECK MIGRATION

The withdrawal of great numbers of Negroes, both because of the migration
and because of military service, left large gaps in the industries of the South
dependent upon Negro labor. Thousands of acres of rice and sugar cane
went to waste. The turpentine industry of the Carolinas and the milling
interests of Tennessee were hard pressed for labor. Cotton-growing was
much affected, especially in the delta region of Mississippi. The situation
became critical, presenting a real economic problem. Organized efforts
were made, and at times extreme measures were taken, to start a return
movement. A report was circulated that on one day in the winter of 1919 in
Chicago, 17,000 Negroes were counted in a bread line. The "horrors of
northern winters" were played up as they had been during the migration.
The press throughout the country was used to spread broadcast the South's
needs, its kind treatment of Negroes, its opportunities, and its growing
change of heart on the question of race relations. Newspaper articles from
sections of the North and South carried about the same story. The Chicago
Tribune said in a conspicuous headline: "Louisiana Wants Negroes to
Return." Other such headlines were: Washington Post—"South Needs
Negroes. Try to Get Labor for Their Cotton Fields. Tell of Kind Treatment";
New York Evening Sun—"To Aid Negro Return"; Philadelphia Press
—"South Is Urging Negroes to Return. Many Districts Willing to Pay Fare

of Those Who Come Back"; Memphis Commercial Appeal—"South Is Best
for Negro, Say Mississippians. Colored People Found Prosperous and
Happy."
Though such reports were widely circulated throughout the North, the
actual efforts of agencies from the South seeking the return of Negro labor
centered around Chicago. This was due largely to the fact that from the
southern states most acutely in need the drift during the migration had been
to Chicago, and because the increase of Chicago's Negro population had
been so great.
Immediately following the riots in Chicago and Washington, rumors gained
wide currency that hundreds of migrants were leaving for sections of the
South. So strong was the belief in the truth of this report that a Chicago
newspaper telegraphed the governors of southern states inquiring the
number of Negroes they needed. Agents of the South, including
representatives of the Tennessee Association of Commerce, the Department
of Immigration of Louisiana, the Mississippi Welfare League, and the
Southern Alluvial Land Association, visited northern cities with a view to
providing means for the return of Negroes. Although free transportation was
offered, together with promises of increased wages and better living
conditions, the various commissions were disappointed.
Their interviews with Negroes living in Chicago revealed a determination
not to return to conditions they had left two years before. To offset this
objection, two Chicago Negroes and one white man were taken to
Mississippi by a representative of the Mississippi Welfare League to make
an investigation. They visited several delta towns, traveling for the most
part in automobiles and interviewing farmers and laborers. They reported in
substance as follows:
Railroad accommodations for Negroes were adequate and uniform, irrespective of
locality; treatment accorded Negro passengers by railroad officials was courteous
throughout. Public-school terms were nine months in the city and eight months in the
country for white and colored alike, and the strongest possible human ties between
planter and worker exist.... In no instance were Negroes not given the freest use of
sidewalks, streets, and thoroughfares and we were unable to find any trace of friction
of any kind between the races.

An effort was then made by the Chicago Urban League to ascertain the
precise state of affairs. Its southern representative questioned hundreds of

Negroes living in the South, regarding improved relationships. Answers to
this query were all about the same. Some of them are quoted:
There has been no change. Lincoln League organized in this city has been denounced
by the white newspapers as a movement that will cause trouble, and the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Urban Leagues of
various cities have been called "strife breeders and meddlers in southern affairs"; Jim
Crow accommodations are just the same as ever. If there is any change for the better, I
can't see it.
It is ridiculous for any Negro to say he finds conditions better here. Don't you
remember that Negroes answering an invitation to meet the Welfare Committee of
white men not long ago were told as soon as they got into the meeting place that the
Committee was ready to hear what Negroes wanted, but that the question of the
Negro's right to exercise the right of voting would not be allowed to be discussed at
all, and that that must be agreed to before any discussion whatever would be
entertained, and that the Negroes left the meeting place without a chance to demand
the one thing they wished to enjoy?

Some deceitful, lying Negro may say that times are better, but he would, at the same
time, know that he was not telling the truth. Haven't you been hearing more reports of
lynching of Negroes than you ever did in your life, since the war? Where, then, is
there any improvement? Ain't all the judges, all the police and constables, all the
juries as white man as ever? Does the word of a Negro count for more now than it did
before the war? Don't white men insult our wives and daughters and sisters and get off
at it, unless we take the law into our own hand and punish them for it ourselves, and
get lynched for protecting our own, just as often as ever? How much more schooling
from public funds do our children get now than they got before the war? How much
more do we have to say now than we had to say before the war about the way the
taxes we pay shall be spent for schools, or for salaries, or for anything connected with
administration and government? Why, even the colored man in Caddo parish who
subscribed for $100,000 in Liberty bonds and bought lots of War Savings stamps, and
others who bought less, but in the hundreds, and thousands of the bonds and War
Saving stamps, have no more to say about affairs now than they ever had. Where is
the improvement?

The Urban League also made an inquiry into the numbers of Negroes
leaving and arriving in the week following the riot, and when the strongest
efforts were being made to induce a return of migrants. During this period
261 Negroes came to Chicago and 219 left the city. Of the 219 leaving,
eighty-three gave some southern state as their destination. For the most part,
they were persons returning from vacations in the North, and Chicago
Negroes going South to visit or on business. Some were rejoining their
families. Fourteen were leaving because of the riot. None, however,
indicated any intention of going South to work.

It is clear that migrant Negroes are not returning South. On the contrary,
there is a small but continuous stream of migration to the industrial centers
of the North. No great number of Negroes returned to the South even during
the trying unemployment period in the early part of 1921. Census figures
for Chicago for 1920 show a number much smaller than the usual estimates
of the size of the Negro population during the period of the heaviest
migration. This may be accounted for by the fact that Chicago has been
used as a re-routing point to other northern cities. The decrease from 1918
undoubtedly means that some returned to the South, but it is apparent that
the great majority of the migrants remain, despite the hardships attending
shortage of work.

CHAPTER IV

THE NEGRO POPULATION OF CHICAGO

A. DISTRIBUTION AND DENSITY

The Negro population of Chicago, as reported by the Federal Bureau of the
Census, was 44,103 in 1910 and 109,594 in 1920. The increase during the
decade was therefore 65,491, or 148.5 per cent. Negroes constituted 2 per
cent of the city's total population in 1910 and 4.1 per cent in 1920. The
increase in the white population during the decade was 450,047, or 21 per
cent, bringing the white population up to 2,589,104 in 1920. The remainder
of the population consisted of 3,007 Chinese, Japanese, and Indians, of
whom there were 2,123 in 1910. Chicago's total population in 1920 was
2,701,705.
In order to indicate where the Negro population of the city lived in 1910
and in 1920, the Commission sought the co-operation of the Census Bureau.
On the basis of a rough preliminary survey, certain areas in which it was
evident that the main groups of Negroes lived were delimited, and liberal
margins allowed to include scattered residents living near the main areas.
For these areas the Census Bureau supplied figures showing the total and
Negro population by census-enumeration districts. Since each enumeration
district embraced from one or two to six city blocks in the more crowded
portions of the city, the data thus made available enabled the Commission to
prepare maps showing with a fair degree of accuracy where Negroes in
Chicago lived in 1910 and in 1920, and also their proportion to the total
population in these units of area.
The 510 enumeration districts covered for 1910 included 40,739, or 92.3
per cent of the 44,103 Negroes reported by the Census Bureau for that year;
and the 730 enumeration districts covered for 1920 included 106,089, or

96.8 per cent of the 109,594 Negroes reported for that year. The small
remaining number of Negroes scattered throughout the parts of the city not
embraced in these areas in 1910 and 1920 included many janitors living in
the buildings where they worked, and others employed in private homes
and living on the premises, thus making their presence inconspicuous
among white residents. The areas in which 40,739 Negroes were living in
1910 contained a total population of 657,044, the Negroes thus constituting
6.2 per cent of the total. The areas in which 106,089 Negroes lived in 1920
contained a total population of 779,279, the Negroes thus constituting about
13 per cent of the total.
The outstanding fact concerning these data for 1910 and 1920 is that the
large increase in Negro population did not bring into existence any new
large colonies but resulted in the expansion and increased density of areas
in which groups of Negroes already lived in 1910.

DISTRIBUTION OF NEGRO POPULATION 1910
DATA OBTAINED FROM FEDERAL CENSUS

By far the largest number of Negroes in 1910 and 1920 lived in what may
be termed the old "South Side," which includes the original "Black Belt"
embracing the area from Twelfth to Thirty-first streets and from Wentworth
to Wabash avenues. This and other areas of Negro residence in various parts
of the city, with their approximate boundaries in 1910 and 1920 and their
Negro population for both years, are listed here under designations which

are arbitrarily given for convenient reference; they do not embrace the
whole of each area commonly included under such designations.
SOUTH SIDE
1910 boundaries: On the north, Twelfth Street; on the west, Wentworth Avenue; on the
south, Fifty-fifth Street; and on the east, Indiana Avenue. Negro population, 34,335, or
11 per cent of the total population of 311,049.
1920 boundaries: The same as in 1910. Negro population, 92,501, or 24.6 per cent of
the total population of 376,171.
WOODLAWN
1910 boundaries: On the north, Sixty-third Street; on the west, Eberhart Avenue; on
the south, Sixty-seventh Street; and on the east, Grand Avenue. Negro population,
319; total population, 4,783.
1920 boundaries: On the north, Sixty-first Street; on the west, South Park Avenue; on
the south, Sixty-seventh Street; and on the east, Cottage Grove Avenue. Negro
population, 1,235; total population, 8,861.
LAKE PARK AVENUE AREA
1910 boundaries: On the north, Fifty-third Street; on the west, Harper Avenue; on the
south, Fifty-seventh Street; and on the east, Lake Park Avenue. Negro population,
438.
1920 boundaries the same as in 1910. Negro population, 238.
OGDEN PARK AREA
(Vicinity of Ogden Park in Englewood)
1910 boundaries: On the north, Fifty-ninth Street; on the west, Loomis Street; on the
south, Sixty-third Street; and on the east, Halsted Street. Negro population, 1,403;
total population, 25,880.
1920 boundaries the same as in 1910. Negro population, 1,859; total population,
38,893.
MORGAN PARK AREA
1910 boundaries: On the north, 107th Street: on the west, Vincennes Avenue; on the
south, 111th Street; and on the east, Loomis Street. Negro population, 126.
1920 boundaries, the same as in 1910, except on the south, 115th Street. Negro
population, 695.
THREE MINOR COLONIES IN THE SOUTHERN DIVISION OF THE CITY
South Chicago in the vicinity of the steel plants bordering on Lake Michigan at
Ninety-first Street: 36 Negroes in 1910 and 117 in 1920.
Burnside, in the vicinity of South State and Ninety-first streets: 2 Negroes in 1910 and
205 in 1920.

Oakwoods, in the vicinity immediately east of Oakwoods Cemetery, between Sixty-
seventh and Seventy-first streets: 52 Negroes in 1919 and 58 in 1920.
WEST SIDE
1910 boundaries: On the north, Austin Avenue; on the west, Western Avenue; on the
south, Lake Street to Racine to Washington to Halsted; on the east, Halsted Street.
Negro population, 3,379. This includes a scattering of Negroes living immediately
southwest of this area.
1920 boundaries: On the north, Austin Street; on the west, California Avenue; on the
south, Washington Boulevard; and on the east, Morgan Street. Negro population,
8,363, including scattered residents as far south as Twelfth Street.
NORTH SIDE
1910 boundaries: On the north, North Avenue; on the west, Larrabee Street; on the
south, Chicago Avenue; and on the east, State Street. Negro population, 744.
1920 boundaries: The same as in 1910. Negro population, 1,050.
RAVENSWOOD
1910 boundaries: On the north, Lawrence Avenue; on the west, Ashland Avenue; on
the south, Montrose Avenue; and on the east, Sheridan Road. Negro population, 105.
1920 boundaries: The same as in 1910. Negro population, 175.
The total Negro population in the north division of the city, including the part
designated "North Side," the Ravenswood colony, and scattered residents in other
parts, was 1,427 in 1910 and 1,820 in 1920.

B. NEIGHBORHOODS OF NEGRO RESIDENCE

While the principal colony of Chicago's Negro population is situated in a
central part of the South Side, Negroes are to be found in several other parts
of the city in proportions to total population ranging from less than 1 per
cent to more than 95 per cent. In some of these neighborhoods whites and
Negroes have become adjusted to one another; in others they have not.
There are numerous degrees of variation between the two extremes. In this
study the term "adjusted neighborhood" indicates one in which whites and
Negroes have become accommodated to each other, and friction is either
non-existent or negligible; "non-adjusted neighborhood" is one where
misunderstandings, dislikes, and antagonisms resulting from contacts of any
degree between whites and Negroes express themselves in racial hostility,
sometimes involving open clashes.

I. ADJUSTED NEIGHBORHOODS

1. THE SOUTH SIDE

The most striking example of "adjusted neighborhoods" is the district
known as the "Black Belt." Because 90 per cent of the Negroes of Chicago
live within this area, it is usually assumed that the district is 90 per cent
Negro. This, however, is not the case. The area between Twelfth and Thirty-
ninth streets, Wentworth Avenue and Lake Michigan, includes the oldest
and densest Negro population of any section of its size in Chicago.
However, the actual numbers of whites and Negroes living there are 42,797
and 54,906 respectively. In this area the Negro population has increased
gradually and without disturbance for many years. Although for a long
period Negroes were confined to the area bounded by State Street,
Wentworth Avenue, Twelfth, and Thirty-ninth streets, their movement into
the neighborhood east of State Street was ultimately looked upon as a
natural and expected expansion. Within the whole of this territory a
relationship exists, which, although perhaps not uniformly friendly, yet is
without friction or disorder. During the riot few white persons living or
engaged in business there were attacked by Negroes, who were in the
majority in many parts of the area. Many whites remaining in the area,
which was formerly all white, are small property owners who for
sentimental reasons prefer to live there. Numbers of family hotels and large
apartment houses there continue to be occupied by whites, who are
apparently little affected by the presence of 10 per cent more Negroes than
whites around them. Michigan Avenue and Grand Boulevard are the streets
into which Negroes have moved most recently. The only recorded bombing
within this area occurred on Grand Boulevard. The Grand Boulevard
district is affiliated with the Kenwood and Hyde Park Property Owners'
Association. Although the bombing was an expression of resentment
against Negroes because they moved into this block, there are
circumstances which indicate that the resentment did not come from the
neighbors. For example, the wife of a Negro physician owning and living in
a house in the same block was asked by her white neighbors to serve as
chairman of a committee to keep up the property in the neighborhood.

RACIAL CONTACTS AMONG CHILDREN IN AN ADJUSTED
NEIGHBORHOOD

The first Negro family to move into the Vernon Avenue block immediately
south of Thirty-first Street bought its residence in 1911. It was five years
before another Negro family came. White neighbors, who were and are very
friendly, said this family's good care of its lawn was an example for the
whole block.
When an apartment house in which a Negro family lived on South Park
Avenue near Thirty-first Street was burned, white neighbors took them into
their home and kept them until another house was secured. At a meeting of
the City Club of Chicago a white man who had lived in this area for forty
years thus characterized the relations between whites and Negroes living
there:
Having lived on the South Side in what is now known as the "Black Belt" for forty
years, I can testify that I have never had more honest, quiet, and law-abiding

neighbors than those who are of the African race, either full or mixed blood. In the
precinct where I live we have several families blessed with many orderly and well-
behaved children, of Caucasian and African blood. They seem to get along nicely, and
why should they not?... There is no race question, it is a question of intelligence and
morality, pure and simple.
Occasional minor misunderstandings have resulted from contacts in this area, but they
have not been conspicuously marked by racial bitterness. Objections, sometimes
expressed when the tradition of an "all white" neighborhood was first broken,
disappeared as the neighbors came to know each other. Long residence is apparently
one condition of the adjustment process.

Expansion and adjustment.—The first noticeable expansion of the Negro
population following the migration in 1917 and 1918 was in the area
extending south from Thirty-ninth Street to Forty-seventh Street on
Langley, St. Lawrence, and Evans avenues. Negroes began moving into this
area early in 1917, first a few and finally in large numbers. There is yet no
compact group, for these Negro families, while numerous, are well
distributed. The experiences of some of the first families there are
interesting.
A Negro woman bought a piece of property on Langley Avenue, near Forty-
third Street, when every other family in the block was white. The courtesy
shown her by them was all that could be desired, she declares. There are
still six or eight white families in the block, and they continue on the most
friendly terms with her. A Negro woman in another block has white
neighbors all around her, but there has been no racial objection or friction.
Another, who owns her property on Evans Avenue, has had no trouble with
white families that remain in the block. So with a Negro who rents from the
Negro owner of a flat on East Thirty-sixth Street. A Negro who has bought
a home on St. Lawrence Avenue near Forty-seventh Street declares that the
white families living thereabouts "treat my family right." In one block on
St. Lawrence Avenue a Negro family is surrounded by white neighbors, but
no trouble has been experienced. In a block on Langley Avenue another
family of Negroes has had no clashes with the white neighbors who
compose most of the neighborhood.
A woman who built her home in the 4800 block on Champlain Avenue,
when hers was the only Negro family there and has lived there ever since,
had no trouble with neighbors until other Negroes moved in. Then a white
woman circulated a petition for the purpose of compelling the Negroes to

move out. This effort failed. In another block on East Forty-sixth Street a
Negro family lives in a neighborhood which has a majority of whites, but
the relations have been amicable. An apartment house on Champlain
Avenue near Forty-sixth Street is occupied entirely by Negroes, though
there are white families all through the neighborhood. One Negro who has
lived there for three years says they have never been molested. A pioneer
Negro family in a white block on Vernon Avenue near Thirty-ninth Street
reports no trouble with the white neighbors.

DISTRIBUTION OF NEGRO POPULATION 1920
DATA OBTAINED FROM FEDERAL CENSUS

Two women who were among the last of the whites to leave the Langley
Avenue vicinity say they always found the Negroes to be kindly neighbors.
A Negro family on Forty-first Street has been there a year without friction
with white neighbors. In another block on East Forty-second Street a Negro
woman reported that, though there are white people all through the
neighborhood, the two races get along peaceably. In the 400 block of East
Forty-sixth Street a similar report is given. In still another block on
Champlain Avenue lives a woman who has been in the midst of white
families for a number of years without experiencing animosity. On East
Forty-second Street a Negro family has lived for three years in similar
freedom from racial friction.
In another instance a pioneer Negro family in a block otherwise wholly
white was well regarded by all except one of the neighbors. This white man
who voiced loudly his objections to the "invasion" was one who, because of
his drunken habits and troublesome nature, had long been considered an
undesirable neighbor by other whites in the block.
Woodlawn.—Relations in Woodlawn, where the Negro population increase
has been relatively large, are for the most part friendly. There is an
association of Negro property owners interested in keeping up the physical
appearance of their homes in the neighborhood. No clashes have been
reported except one instance of a group of white boys from another
neighborhood throwing stones at a building where they saw Negroes.
Following the stirring up and organization of anti-Negro sentiment in Hyde
Park, an attempt was made to organize white Woodlawn property owners
against the invasion of the district by Negroes. This organization was not a
great success. There have been no bombings in this district, and no
concerted opposition to the presence of Negroes as neighbors. Long
residence together and the good character and conduct of both Negroes and
whites are probably important reasons for lack of friction.

2. THE WEST SIDE

A situation like that in the adjusted neighborhoods of the South Side exists
in the district bounded by Washington and Kinzie, Ashland and California
avenues, where there has been a settlement of Negroes for many years.

Houses are cheaper than on the South Side, and although the general
standard of workingmen's homes compares favorably with that on the South
Side, few of the abandoned good residences formerly occupied by wealthy
persons are available for Negroes. The densest and oldest settlement of
Negroes is within the boundaries named, although the Negro residence area
actually extends many blocks beyond them on all sides. There has been
little friction, though the area has 9,221 whites and 6,520 Negroes. South of
Washington Boulevard occasional difficulties have been met by the
incoming Negro population, similar to those found in areas where the most
congested Negro population on the South Side is spreading. On the West
Side no bombings have occurred, although there have been frequent
protests against the expansion. Some streets have come to be recognized as
Negro streets.
In recent years many Negroes have bought homes on the West Side when
they could not easily find living quarters in or near the older Negro
residence areas on the South Side. Almost uniformly they keep their homes
in good condition, which cannot be said of all the Negroes who settled early
in this district. West Side Negroes, laborers for the most part, are generally
home-loving, hard-working, and desirous of improving conditions for their
children. Older settlers among them have been able to make their
adjustments without great difficulty and with no marked antagonism from
white neighbors.
Though occasionally trivial conflicts arise between Negro and white
neighbors, the attitude of whites in nearby areas is customarily friendly if
not cordial. For example, a Negro doctor has a considerable practice among
nearby Italians in the vicinity of the Chicago Commons Social Settlement.
At Chicago Commons itself no distinction is made with respect to the few
Negro families which at times make use of the facilities. Children of these
families have entered classes and clubs, and one of them became a leader of
a group.
The Poles who mainly occupy the neighborhood around the Northwestern
University Social Settlement are entirely friendly to Negroes. Three years
ago an educated Negro was at the head of the boys' department of the
settlement, and, with one exception, no one in that position has made more
friends among the boys and their families.

On the West Side, as on the South and North sides, Negroes have
established their own restaurants and barber shops and some groceries and
delicatessen stores. There are several theaters whose patronage is largely
Negro.

3. THE NORTH SIDE

On the North Side, Negroes live among foreign whites and near a residence
area of wealthy Chicagoans. Their first appearance occasioned little notice
or objection, since they were generally house servants living near their
work. The largest numbers are to be found between Chicago Avenue and
Division Street on North Wells, Franklin, and cross streets connecting them.
This neighborhood has experienced several complete changes in population.
It was first occupied by Irish, then by Swedes, then by Italians. The present
neighbors of Negroes are Italians. As indicated by the population changes,
the neighborhood is old and run down, and the reasons given by Negroes
for living there are low rents and proximity to the manufacturing plants
where they work.
The Negroes there are renters, because the property, although undesirable
for residence purposes, is valuable for business and too expensive for them
to buy. The families are chiefly respectable, hard-working people. They
have their own barber and tailor shops and similar business places. In social
affairs they confine themselves largely to meetings, dances, and similar
gatherings held exclusively for their own race. Formerly the second floor of
a building on Division Street was frequently rented by the Negroes for
church and other meetings, and dances. Recently they have found other
meeting places, particularly for religious devotions. Some of their social
gatherings and meetings take place at Seward Park.

A SAVINGS BANK IN THE NEGRO RESIDENCE AREA ON SATURDAY
EVENING

CHILDREN AT WORK IN A COMMUNITY GARDEN

They are welcomed not only in Seward Park, one of the city's recreation
centers, but in the settlements. At Eli Bates House, 621 West Elm Street, for
example, there has been a club of Negro young men, and applications have
been received for admission of Negro children to some classes. The head
resident of the settlement reports, however, that it has not had much contact
with the Negro group. A few Negro children come to the kindergarten; a
group of Negro boys makes use of the gymnasium, and some neighboring
Negro families have asked settlement residents for advice.
In this neighborhood friendly relations exist between the Sicilians, who
predominate, and their Negro neighbors. Some Negroes live harmoniously
in the same tenements with the Sicilians. Their children play together, and
some Negro children have learned Sicilian phrases, so that they are able to
deal with the Sicilian shopkeepers.

Elsewhere on the North Side the feeling between Italians and Negroes is not
so cordial. During the riot of 1919, serious trouble was averted on the North
Side through prompt and effective efforts by the police and members of the
community. It was reported throughout the district that automobiles loaded
with armed Negroes were on their way from the South Side to "shoot up the
North Side." The Italians immediately armed themselves and began to shoot
recklessly. They were eventually quieted by the police and others, and there
was no retaliation of the Negroes.
Many Negroes who have purchased homes and lived on the North Side for
years report little opposition. One family on North Wells Street has lived
there since 1888 and now owns several valuable pieces of property. The
man had no trouble in buying property, and the whites have always been
friendly to them and to all Negroes in that section. Another Negro family on
North Wells Street, where Negroes first lived, had no difficulty in getting
their flat sixteen years ago. This block is occupied by whites and Negroes
without friction.
Minor expressions of antagonism attended the moving in of some Negro
families, but after several months the white neighbors accepted them and
now are on good terms with them.

II. NON-ADJUSTED NEIGHBORHOODS

Failure of adjustment between whites and Negroes has greatly accentuated
the difficulties of the housing problem for Negroes. When a general
shortage of housing is relieved there may still be a serious shortage for
Negroes because of the hostility of white neighborhoods. The sentiment for
"all-white" neighborhoods has grown with the increase in Negro population
and the threatened occupancy in small or large degree by Negroes. These
non-adjusted neighborhoods fall into distinct classes:
1. Neighborhoods of unorganized opposition. These are neighborhoods
where few Negroes live. Though contiguous they are sharply separated
from areas of Negro residence and are definitely hostile to Negroes, even
those passing through the neighborhood going to and from work, but the
hostility in them is unorganized.

2. Neighborhoods of organized opposition. (a) Neighborhoods in which no
Negroes live but which are in the line of Negro expansion. Opposition to
threatened invasion has been strong. As yet they are exclusively white, and
every effort is being made to keep them so. They are illustratively treated
here as "exclusive neighborhoods." (b) Neighborhoods in which the
presence of Negro residents is hotly contested, by organized and
unorganized efforts to oust them. These for convenience are termed
"contested neighborhoods."

1. NEIGHBORHOODS OF UNORGANIZED OPPOSITION

In Certain West Side neighborhoods white property owners objected to the
expansion of the principal Negro residence area of that section.
The pastor of the Negro Presbyterian Church on Washington Boulevard,
who came to Chicago in 1919, bought the houses at 2006 and 2008
Washington Boulevard, in which white people had formerly lived. He
moved into one of them in May, 1919, and both he and his tenants in the
other house received warning letters advising them to move or take the
consequences. The last of these was received during the riot in July, 1919.
No attention was paid to them.
During the riots little trouble was experienced by the Negroes in the West
Side district, who generally remained in their own houses and
neighborhoods. Some became involved in clashes on their way to or from
work, but there was no serious clash.
The district west of Cottage Grove Avenue and south to Sixty-third Street in
Woodlawn is rather sparsely built up, most of the buildings being one- and
two-family houses. Numbers of white people in the neighborhood believe
that the district has been blighted because of the occasional presence of
Negroes.
On the North Side some hostility to Negroes was shown during the 1919
riot. One Negro, who had lived on North Franklin Street for five years and
in Chicago for thirty years, told of having been spit at by rowdy Italians,
and on another occasion threatened with shooting by young roughs in a
passing automobile. White neighbors, however, intervened. Under pressure

of the riot excitement, some Italian children pushed through windows and
doors pictures of skulls and coffins inked in red. At the time of the riot Eli
Bates House issued a circular deploring race hatred and appealing for order
and fairness.

Although the few Negroes living in the Lake Park Avenue area[19] have
experienced little opposition in their present homes, there has been no
Negro expansion there. The colony, has in fact, dwindled in size since 1910.
It is made up largely of Negroes who were house servants for white families
near-by or worked in the hotels of the district.
Negroes of this colony are barred from all white restaurants in the district
except one place conducted by a Greek. In three of the motion-picture
houses they are not allowed to sit in the best seats. In one of these theaters a
sign reads, "We reserve the right to seat our patrons to suit ourselves."
Negroes are permitted in the balcony or in the rear seats of the main floor.
On Langley, St. Lawrence, and adjoining streets south of Fifty-fifth Street
there is considerable friction resulting from the presence of Negroes.
There are residence districts of Chicago adjacent to those occupied by
Negroes in which hostility to Negroes is so marked that the latter not only
find it impossible to live there, but expose themselves to danger even by
passing through. There are no hostile organizations in these neighborhoods,
and active antagonism is usually confined to gang lawlessness. Such a
neighborhood is that west of Wentworth Avenue, extending roughly from
Twenty-second to Sixty-third streets. The number of Negroes living there is
small, and most of them live on Ada, Aberdeen, and Loomis streets, south
of Fifty-seventh Street. In the section immediately west of Wentworth
Avenue and thus adjoining the densest Negro residence area in the city,
practically no Negroes live. In addition to intense hostility, there is a lack of
desirable houses. Wentworth Avenue has long been regarded as a strict
boundary line separating white and Negro residence areas. The district has
many "athletic clubs."[20] The contact of Negroes and whites comes when
Negroes must pass to and from their work at the Stock Yards and at other
industries located in the district. It was in this district that the largest
number of riot clashes occurred.[21] Several Negroes have been murdered
here, and numbers have been beaten by gangs of young men and boys. A

white man was killed by one of two Negroes returning from work in that
district, who declared that they had been intimidated by the slain man.
Speaking of this district, the principal of the Raymond School, a branch of
which is located west of Wentworth Avenue, said that antagonism of the
district against Negroes appeared to have been handed down through
tradition. He said:
We get a good deal of the gang spirit in the new school on the other side of Wentworth
Avenue. There seems to be an inherited antagonism. Wentworth Avenue is the gang
line. They seem to feel that to trespass on either side of that line is ground for trouble.
While colored pupils who come to the school for manual training are not troubled in
the school, they have to be escorted over the line, not because of trouble from
members of the school, but groups of boys outside the school. To give another
illustration, we took a little kindergarten group over to the park. One little six-year-old
girl was struck in the face by a man. A policeman chased but failed to catch him. The
condition is a tradition. It is handed down.

2. NEIGHBORHOODS OF ORGANIZED OPPOSITION

"Exclusive neighborhoods."—In neighborhoods which are exclusive on the
basis of social class, whose restrictions apply to Negroes and the majority
of whites alike, the high price of property is a sufficient barrier against
Negroes; it is in the neighborhoods where property values are within the
means of Negroes that fears of invasion are entertained. In many new real
estate subdivisions houses are sold on easy payments. Almost without
exception these sections are exclusively for whites, and usually it is so
stated in the prospectus. Other sections longer established come to notice
when some incident provokes the expression of opposition already
organized and awaiting it.
Such a section is the neighborhood known as Park Manor and Wakeford.
This neighborhood lies between Sixty-ninth and Seventy-ninth streets, and
Cottage Grove and Indiana avenues. It is newly built, chiefly with small
dwellings, most of them not more than five years old. Many of the residents
had lived in a neighborhood to the north, nearer Woodlawn, whose growth
of Negro population had caused some of them to move. Park Manor and
Wakeford were startled by the following advertisement in the Chicago
Daily News in July, 1920:

For sale—Colored Attention: homes on Vernon, South Park and Indiana Aves. Sold on
easy terms; come out and look this locality over; Protestant neighborhood, Park
Manor and Wakeford; good transportation. Blair, 7455 Cottage Grove Avenue.

Blair, a real estate agent, denied all knowledge of the advertisement and
attributed it either to an enemy or to a practical joker. He sent notices to be
read the following day in the nine churches of the district, so stating,
deploring the occurrence and pledging himself to aid the other residents in
excluding Negroes and in hunting down the author of the advertisement.
Meanwhile the entire district had been aroused, and a meeting called for the
evening of July 12, in front of a church at Seventy-sixth Street and St.
Lawrence Avenue. About 1,000 people gathered for this meeting, which
was conducted by the presidents of the South Park Manor and Wakeford
Improvement Associations. The former announced that he had visited the
Daily News and learned that the advertisement had been handed to a clerk
in typewritten form and with a typewritten signature, and paid for in
advance, whereas Blair's regular advertising was done on a charge account.
This and other information tended to show that the agent was not
responsible for the advertisement. In its issue of Monday, July 12, the Daily
News printed an explanatory statement.
Other speakers at the meeting were a real estate dealer and an alderman.
Considerable indignation was expressed over the false light in which the
community had been placed. Even the suggestion that Negroes might by
chance become a part of this community seemed to be abhorrent. As far as
Negroes were concerned there was no excitement, but they resented being
used to frighten white residents.

PROPORTION OF NEGROES TO TOTAL POPULATION
1910
DATA OBTAINED FROM FEDERAL CENSUS

"Contested neighborhoods."—The contested neighborhoods are by far the
most important among the types of non-adjusted neighborhoods, both
because of the actual presence in them of varying numbers of Negroes and
their bearing on the future relations of the races. The efforts in such
neighborhoods to keep out Negroes involve stimulation of anti-Negro
sentiment and organization of property owners, and the campaign against
the presence of Negroes as neighbors develops into a campaign against

Negroes. Negroes in turn resent both the propaganda statements and the
organized efforts. A continuous struggle, marked by bombings, foreclosures
of mortgages, and court disputes, is the result.
The most conspicuous type of a "contested neighborhood" is that known as
Kenwood and Hyde Park. In this general neighborhood, from Thirty-ninth
to Fifty-ninth streets and from State Street to Lake Michigan, hostility
toward Negroes has been plainly and even forcibly expressed through
organized efforts to oust them and prevent their further encroachment. The
situation is peculiar. This is the part of the old South Side in which most of
the Negro population of Chicago has settled. The so-called "Black Belt" has
been overcrowded for years. Old and deteriorated housing and its
insufficiency have been steadily driving Negroes out of it in search of other
homes.
It was inevitable that the great influx of migrants should overflow into
surrounding territory. Many migrants brought funds, having sold out their
homes and other possessions. Negroes who had lived for some time in the
"Black Belt" were eager to escape from it, and here was their opportunity.
They did not wish to go too far from their churches and other established
institutions, and Hyde Park was immediately adjoining.
Conditions in Hyde Park during 1916 and 1917 favored the overflow.
Numbers of new, and in some instances high-grade, apartment houses had
been built during the previous ten or fifteen years. Many whites were
leaving their individual houses to live in these apartments or to move to the
North and South Shore regions. The houses had become less desirable, and
many of them were vacant. The district, except for certain definite
neighborhoods, had lost much of its former aristocratic air, with the coming
of rooming-and boarding-houses. During 1914, 1915, and 1916 many
houses and apartments in Hyde Park were vacant or were rented at low
prices. Inducements were offered to prospective tenants in the form of
extensive decorations and repairs, or some rental allowance.
Negroes bought houses and apartment buildings and rented anything
rentable. This expansion of the Negro boundaries was promoted by both
white and Negro real estate agents and property owners with little
opposition. These men soon learned that Negroes, with their increased

wages due to war conditions, were able to make first payments, at least, on
houses and to rent better houses or flats than they had previously been
obliged to occupy.
Then the entrance of the United States into the war in 1917 and the
suspension of building operations occasioned a house shortage which
became acute in 1918. The white demand for dwellings began to exceed the
supply. Real estate men of the neighborhood began to discuss plans for re-
establishing it as an exclusively white neighborhood. A survey by the
Kenwood and Hyde Park Property Owners' Association showed that of the
3,300 property owners in the district, about 1,000 were Negroes. Neighbors
had objected little, the entrance of the Negroes having been so gradual that
it was almost unnoticeable.
Both Kenwood and Hyde Park, using these terms in the more restricted
sense of the original residential localities that bore the names, had enjoyed
the activities of local improvement organizations whose function it was to
keep the streets sprinkled and clean, to procure better lighting, and
otherwise improve civic conditions. The Kenwood and Hyde Park Property
Owners' Association became prominent in 1918 on account of its agitation
to "make Hyde Park white." In October, 1918, a form letter was sent out
calling a meeting of the Grand Boulevard district of this Association for
October 20. The letter said in part: "We are a red blood organization who
say openly, we won't be driven out. We make no secret of our methods, they
are effective and legal." A dodger announcing the same meeting read:
Every white person Property Owner in Hyde Park come to this meeting. Protect your
Property.
Shall we sacrifice our property for a third of its value and run like rats from a burning
ship, or shall we put up a united front and keep Hyde Park desirable for ourselves? It's
not too late.

The Grand Boulevard district, described as extending from Thirty-ninth to
Sixty-third streets, and from Michigan to Cottage Grove avenues was
included in the consolidated organization of the Hyde Park and Kenwood
districts. This Association, as was asserted by its president, also had the co-
operation of three other similar organizations, one in the Washington Park
district, the Lake Front Community Property Owners' Association,
operating in the district north of Thirty-ninth Street and south of Thirty-

third Street, east of Cottage Grove Avenue; and one in the Englewood
district, which is southwest of Hyde Park.
Organization of sentiment: It does not appear that the residents of this
neighborhood rose spontaneously to oppose the coming in of Negroes. If
this had been the case, the first Negroes moving into the district in 1917
would have felt the opposition. The sudden interest in race occupancy was
based upon the alleged depreciation of property by Negroes. With this
emphasized, it was not difficult to rally opposition to Negroes as a definite
menace. The real estate men gave the alarm, alleging a shrinkage in
property values. The effort through the Hyde Park and Kenwood
Association was intended to stop the influx and thereby the depreciation.
Meetings were held, a newspaper was published, and literature was
distributed. Racial antagonism was strong in the speeches at these meetings
and in the newspapers. The meeting which probably marked the first
focusing of attention on the Kenwood and Hyde Park districts was held
May 5, 1919, when the sentiment was expressed that Negro invasion of the
district was the worst calamity that had struck the city since the Great Fire.
A prominent white real estate man said: "Property owners should be
notified to stand together block by block and prevent such invasion."
Distinctly hostile sentiments were expressed before audiences that came
expecting to hear how their property might be saved from "almost certain
destruction." A speaker at one of the meetings said in part:
We are taught that the principle of virtue and right shall be the rule of our conduct in
all of our transactions with our fellow-men, and therefore it is our duty to help the
Negro, to uplift him in his environment, mark you, not ours. But it is not our duty,
now mark this, it is not our duty as I see it, nor is it according to the laws of nature for
us to live with him as neighbors or on a social basis. There is an immutable,
unchanging law that governs the distribution, association and conduct of all living
creatures. Man is no exception to the universal rule. In every land and clime man
obeys the second law of his nature and seeks his own kind, avoiding every other, and
ever, ever is he warring with his unlike neighbor, families, classes, societies, tribes,
and nations.
There are men who proclaim to the world and ourselves that the destiny of the black
man and the white man is one. I do not believe it; I cannot believe it. Now, listen! As
far back as September 18, 1858, in his famous joint debate with Stephen A. Douglas,
Abraham Lincoln, that wonderful, Godlike man, the liberator of the slaves, said this
(Now listen, 1858, over sixty years ago): "I am not nor ever have been in favor of
bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and the black
race. I am not nor ever have been in favor of qualifying them to intermarry with white

people, and I will say in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between
the white and black races living together on terms of social and political equality."

Other remarks of speakers at these meetings were:
The depreciation of our property in this district has been two hundred and fifty
millions since the invasion. If someone told you that there was to be an invasion that
would injure your homes to that extent, wouldn't you rise up as one man and one
woman, and say as General Foch said: "They shall not pass"?

There isn't an insurance company in America that will turn around and try to buck our
organization when we as one man give them to understand that it is dangerous to
insure some people.

Why I remember fifteen or twenty years ago that the district down here at Wabash
Avenue and Calumet was one of the most beautiful and highest-class neighborhoods
of this great city. Go down there today and see the ramshackle broken-down and
tumble-down district. That is the result of the new menace that is threatening this
great Hyde Park district. And then tell me whether there are or not enough red-
blooded, patriotic, loyal, courageous citizens of Hyde Park to save this glorious
district from the menace which has brought so much pain and so much disaster to the
district to the south of us.

You cannot mix oil and water. You cannot assimilate races of a different color as
neighbors along social lines. Remember this: That order is heaven's first law.

Throughout the meetings, profession was made of friendliness toward the
Negroes, together with a desire to serve their needs and accord them fair
treatment. The Property Owners' Journal, published by the Association,
was less guarded. While some of its columns made similar professions, its
remarks in other columns were characterized by extreme racial bitterness
and antagonism.
An apparently conciliatory attitude was also taken by speakers at meetings
of the Hyde Park Association and its Grand Boulevard branch. In a meeting
of the latter on January 19, 1920, the chairman declared that he wished to
say for publication: "We have no quarrel with the colored people. We have
no desire to intimidate them by violence." The mission of the organization,
he said, was peaceable, and it was the purpose to proceed according to law
and order. The Association, he averred, had been charged "by the colored
press" with being parties to bombing outrages. He wanted it known that "we
have denounced officially the action of anyone or any set of people who

would indulge in a practice of that character." The story of the bombing
campaign is given in another section of this report.
At another meeting it was asserted that the Kenwood and Hyde Park
Association had a membership of 1,000 persons, and it was estimated that
in the district to which it applied the investment in real estate was
$1,000,000,000. The purpose of the organization was declared to be "to
guard that $1,000,000,000 against depreciation from anything." One
speaker said he did not believe there was a piece of property west of
Cottage Grove Avenue in Hyde Park that was worth 33 cents on the dollar
"as it stands now with this invasion." He said his home cost about $25,000,
but he felt safe in saying that he could not then get $8,000 for it. A city
alderman was one of the speakers at this meeting.
Most of the real estate dealers in the area were claimed as members of the
Kenwood and Hyde Park Association or its Grand Boulevard branch.
Special reference was made at various times and in scathing terms to
dealers who declined to affiliate. At the meeting of the Grand Boulevard
district on January 19, 1920, it was reported that the Executive Committee
of the parent association had succeeded during the previous two or three
months in educating real estate men. "The colored man," a speaker said,
"would have never been in this district had not our real estate men in their
ambition to acquire wealth and commissions, which is perfectly legitimate,
put them here, although this action on their part has been very shortsighted,
as some of them now admit." This speaker said also that the Association's
"greatest successes" had been in getting all but five or six of the real estate
men to sign a pledge not to show or rent or sell any property "within our
locality that we claim jurisdiction of in the future to colored people."

PROPORTION OF NEGROES TO TOTAL POPULATION
1920
DATA OBTAINED FROM FEDERAL CENSUS

The Property Owners' Journal exerted no little influence in the creation of
this sentiment. Claiming a wide circulation, its utterances were so extreme
in bitterness against Negroes that many of the residents of the district,
although opposed to the coming in of Negroes, held aloof from the
organization because they could not indorse appeals to race hatred and
advocacy of measures which they felt were illegal and dangerously near to
violence. These extracts are from its issue of December 13, 1919:

To damage a man's property and destroy its value is to rob him. The person who
commits that act is a robber. Every owner has the right to defend his property to the
utmost of his ability with every means at his disposal.
Any property owner who sells property anywhere in our district to undesirables is an
enemy to the white owner and should be discovered and punished.
Protect your property!
Property conservatively valued at $50,000,000 owned by some 10,000 individuals is
menaced by a possible Negro invasion of Hyde Park. The thing is simply impossible
and must not occur.

These are from its issue of January 1, 1920:
As stated before, every colored man who moves into Hyde Park knows that he is
damaging his white neighbors' property. Therefore, he is making war on the white
man. Consequently, he is not entitled to any consideration and forfeits his right to be
employed by the white man. If employers should adopt a rule of refusing to employ
Negroes who persist in residing in Hyde Park to the damage of the white man's
property, it would soon show good results.
The Negro is using the Constitution and its legal rights to abuse the moral rights of the
white.

This is from its issue of February 15, 1920:
There is nothing in the make-up of a Negro, physically or mentally, which should
induce anyone to welcome him as a neighbor. The best of them are insanitary,
insurance companies class them as poor risks, ruin alone follows in their path. They
are as proud as peacocks, but have nothing of the peacock's beauty. Certain classes of
the Negroes, such as the Pullman porters, political heelers and hairdressers are
clamoring for equality. They are not content with remaining with the creditable
members of their race, they seem to want to mingle with the whites. Their inordinate
vanity, their desire to shine as social lights caused them to stray out of their paths and
lose themselves. We who would direct them back where they belong, towards their
people, are censured and called "unjust." Far more unjust are their actions to the
members of their race who have no desire to interfere with the homes of the white
citizens of this district. The great majority of the Negroes are not stirred by any false
ambition that results only in discord. Wherever friction arises between the races, the
suffering is usually endured by the innocent. If these misleaders are sincere in their
protestations of injustice, if they are not hypocritical in their pretence of solving the
race question, let them move. Their actions savour of spite against the whites, whose
good will can never be attained by such tactics. The place for a Negro aristocrat is in a
Negro neighborhood.

In the same issue, under the heading Caveat Vendor (Let the Seller Beware)
appeared the following:
People who sell their property to Negroes and take first and second mortgages and
promises to pay monthly sums do not know what risks they are taking in trying to

collect the money. Mrs. Nora Foster of 4207 Prairie sold her house to some niggers
and when she went to collect she was assaulted and thrown down a flight of stairs.
This is not a case of saying it served her right because more than seven of her
neighbors sold before Mrs. Foster did, but it does serve as a splendid example of the
fact that niggers are undesirable neighbors and entirely irresponsible and vicious.
The Negroes' innate desire to "flash," to live in the present, not reckoning the future,
their inordinate love for display has resulted in their being misled by the example of
such individuals as Jesse Binga and Oscar De Priest. In their loud mouthing about
equality with the whites they have wormed their course into white neighborhoods,
where they are not wanted and where they have not the means to support property.
Keep the Negro in his place, amongst his people and he is healthy and loyal. Remove
him, or allow his newly discovered importance to remove him from his proper
environment and the Negro becomes a nuisance. He develops into an overbearing,
inflated, irascible individual, overburdening his brain to such an extent about social
equality, that he becomes dangerous to all with whom he comes in contact, he
constitutes a nuisance, of which the neighborhood is anxious to rid itself.
Another building which has been polluted by Negro tenancy is to be renovated on
May 1st.... Either the Negro must vanish or decay sets in. Who is next?
Misleaders of the Negro, those flamboyant, noisy, witless individuals, who, by power
of superior gall and gumption, have blustered their way into positions of prominence
amongst their people, wonder why this district resents their intrusion. To allow
themselves an opportunity to parade their dusky persons before an audience of their
followers, these misleaders held a meeting of the Protective Circle (composed, no
doubt, of Negro roundheads), at which a varied assortment of Negro preachers,
politicians and other what nots exposed our methods and organization work. With
much comical oratory, they dangled our association before the spellbound eyes of
their sable dupes and after extreme fuming and sweating appointed about fifteen
committees to annihilate all Hyde Parkers.

III. BOMBINGS

A form of organized resistance to the coming of Negroes into new
neighborhoods was the bombings of their homes and the homes of real
estate men, white and Negro, who were known or supposed to have sold,
leased, or rented local property to them.
From July 1, 1917, to March 1, 1921, the Negro housing problem was
marked by fifty-eight bomb explosions. Two persons, both Negroes, were
killed, a number of white and colored persons were injured, and the damage
to property amounted to more than $100,000. Of these fifty-eight bombs,
thirty-two were exploded within the square bounded by Forty-first and
Sixtieth streets, Cottage Grove Avenue and State Street. With an average of

one race bombing every twenty days for three years and eight months, the
police and the state's attorney's office succeeded in apprehending but two
persons suspected of participation in these acts of lawlessness. One of these,
James Macheval, arrested on the complaint of C. S. Absteson, a janitor, was
released on a $500 bond. At the writing of this report, one year after the
arrest, there has been no trial. Another man was apprehended, questioned,
held under surveillance for two days by the police, and finally released.
News of threatened bombings in many cases was circulated well in advance
of the actual occurrence. Negroes were warned of the exact date on which
explosions would occur. They asked for police protection, and, in some
instances where police were sent beforehand, their homes were bombed,
and no arrests were made.
The persons directing these bombings did not limit their intimidations to
Negro residents in white neighborhoods; residences of Negroes and white
real estate men were bombed because they had sold or rented property in
these exclusive areas to Negroes, and Negro bankers' houses were bombed
because they made loans on Negro property and supported their mortgages.
These bombings increased rapidly in frequency and damaging effect. The
six months' period ended October 1, 1920, witnessed as many bombings as
the entire thirty-five months preceding. Prior to 1919 there were twelve
bombings. Four of these were directed at properties merely held by Negro
real estate men as agents, two of them in Berkeley Avenue just north of
Forty-third Street, and near the lake. Five were in the 4500 block on
Vincennes Avenue, two at 4200 Wabash Avenue, and one at 4732 Indiana
Avenue.
Bombing of real estate men's properties appears to have been part of a
general scheme to close the channels through which the invasion proceeded
rather than a protest of neighbors. The four explosions in the 4500 block on
Vincennes Avenue appear to have been deliberately aimed at the tenants.
This block is at the center of the neighborhood most actively opposed to the
coming in of Negroes. In January, 1919, a white and a Negro real estate
agent were bombed; in March, Jesse Binga's real estate office at 4724 State
Street and an apartment at 4041 Calumet Avenue were bombed. In April
there were two more bombings, one of a realty office. Following a public

meeting on May 5 to arouse white property owners of the Hyde Park district
against Negro invasion, there were four bombings. Between January 1,
1920, and March 1, 1920, there were eight bombings in eight weeks.
Responsibility for the creation of the sentiment thus expressed was in some
instances assumed by organizations. For example the Property Owners'
Journal, in its issue for February 1, 1920, said:
Our neighborhood must continue white. This sentiment is the outgrowth of the mass
meeting of property owners and residents which was held Monday, January 19. Mr.
George J. Williams furnished the climax of the meeting when he informed the
audience in terse, pithy language that "Hyde Park enjoys a reputation too splendid as a
neighborhood of white culture to allow Negroes to use it as their door mat."

In the issue of December 13, 1919, white and Negro real estate men and
owners selling property to Negroes in the district were "branded as unclean
outcasts of society to be boycotted and ostracized in every possible
manner," and W. B. Austin, white, was accused of violating a gentleman's
obligation to his community in selling a home to a Negro. It was asserted
falsely that the house which he had sold had been used during the race riots
as a "rendezvous for Negroes who fired volleys of revolver shots from
doors and windows at white boys in the street who, according to the
testimony of neighbors, had not attacked the premises."
On December 26 the home of J. H. Coleman, a white real estate man who
had sold a house to a Negro, was bombed. The transaction was not public,
and occupancy was not to take place for five months. On December 27 the
home of Jesse Binga, a Negro real estate man, was bombed. One week later,
on January 6, came the bombing of W. B. Austin, on the North Side.
During 1919 and 1920 committees and delegations of whites and Negroes
appealed to the chief of police, the mayor, State's Attorney Hoyne, and the
press, but nothing was done. The mayor referred these matters to his chief
of police. The police were unable to discover the bombers or anyone
directing them. The state's attorney, in response to appeals, emphatically
defined his duty as a prosecuting rather than an apprehending agent. All the
while, however, the bombings continued steadily; no arrests except the two
mentioned were made; and the Negro population grew to trust less and less
in the interest of the community and the public agencies of protection.

1. TYPICAL BOMBINGS

The circumstances of the bombings were investigated by the Commission,
and details of what happened in several typical cases are here presented.
Bombing of the Motley home.—In 1913 S. P. Motley, Negro, and his wife purchased a
building at 5230 Maryland Avenue through a white agent, and on March 15, 1913, the
family moved in. For four years they lived there without molestation save the silent
resentment of neighbors and open objection to the presence of Negro children in the
streets. On July 1, 1917, without warning or threat, a bomb was exploded in the
vestibule of the house, and the front of the building was blown away. The damage
amounted to $1,000. Police arrived from the station at Fifty-second Street and Lake
Park Avenue ten minutes after the explosion. No clews were found and no arrests
were made. The original owner of the building was bitterly opposed to Negroes and
was a member of an organization which was seeking to keep Negroes out of the
district.
Some time after this incident it was rumored that Motley was planning to purchase the
building adjacent. At 4:00 a.m. June 4, 1919, a dynamite bomb was exploded under
the front of the house adjacent and tore up its stone front. The neighbors were in the
street immediately after the explosion. No clews were found and no arrests were
made. The Motley family on this occasion was accused of inviting another Negro
family into the block. The new family in question negotiated for its own property, and
before an actual settlement had been made, received numerous telephone messages
and threats. It moved in, but was not bombed.

HOMES BOMBED IN RACE CONFLICTS OVER HOUSING
JULY 1, 1917-MARCH 1, 1921

Bombing of Moses Fox's home.—Moses Fox, white, connected with a "Loop" real
estate firm, lived at 442 East Forty-fifth Street. The house was too large, and he
decided to move to smaller quarters. The building was sold through a real estate firm
to persons whom he did not know. On March 10, 1920, a few days after the sale, he
received a telephone call informing him that he must suffer the consequences of
selling his home to Negroes. At 7:30 that evening an automobile was seen to drive
slowly past his home three times, stopping each time just east of the building. On the
last trip a man alighted, and deposited a long-fuse bomb in the vestibule. The fuse
smoked for four minutes. Attracted by the smoke, Fox ran toward the front of the
house. The bomb exploded before he reached the door. It was loaded with dynamite

and contained slugs which penetrated the windows of buildings across the street. The
evening selected for the bombing was the one on which Patrolman Edward Owens,
Negro, was off duty and a white policeman was patrolling his beat. The bombing was
witnessed by Dan Jones, a Negro janitor, and Mrs. Florence De Lavalade, a Negro
tenant. The front of the building was wrecked and all the windows shattered. Damage
amounting to $1,000 was done. No arrests were made.
Bombing of Jesse Binga's properties.—Jesse Binga is a Negro banker and real estate
man. His bank is at 3633 State Street, his real estate office at 4724 State Street, and
his home at 5922 South Park Avenue. He controls more than $500,000 worth of
property and through his bank has made loans on Negro property and taken over the
mortgages of Negroes refused by other banks and loan agencies.
On November 12, 1919, an automobile rolled by his realty office and a bomb was
tossed from it. It left the office in ruins. The police were soon on the scene, but the car
was well beyond reach by the time of their arrival. No clews to the bombers were
found, and no arrests were made. It was the opinion of the police that white residents
of the Hyde Park district resented Binga's handling of Negro property in that district.
Twenty-one days later an automobile drew up in front of Binga's home at 5922 South
Park Avenue, and its occupants put a bomb under the front steps. It failed to explode.
When the firemen arrived they found it sizzling in the slush beneath the porch. The
police declared that this was an expression of racial feeling.
Twenty-five days later the bombers reappeared and left a third bomb. It tore up the
porch of Binga's home. Again the police found that the explosion had been caused by
"racial feeling," white men having said that "Binga rented too many flats to Negroes
in high-class residence districts." The house was repaired and police provided to
guard the house. At twelve o'clock each night the guard changed watch. On the night
of February 28 the policeman on duty until twelve o'clock left a few minutes early,
and the policeman relieving him was just a few minutes late. In this unguarded
interval an automobile swung around the corner, and as it passed the Binga home a
man leaned out and tossed a bomb into the yard. The bomb lit in a puddle of water
and the fuse went out. It was found that the bomb had been made of black powder,
manila paper, and cotton. The explanation of the attempt was that "his $30,000 home
is in a white neighborhood."
A police guard was still watching the house on the night of June 18, 1920 when the
bombing car appeared again. On this occasion neither policeman was in sight when
the car drew up. A man alighted this time and carefully placed the bomb. The
explosion that followed almost demolished the front of the house and smashed
windows throughout the block. This last explosion damaged the home to the extent of
$4,000. Binga offered a reward of $1,000 for the apprehension of those guilty of these
repeated acts of lawlessness.
On November 23 Binga was bombed again. This time the bomb damaged his
neighbors more seriously than it did Binga's property. No clews were found and no
one was arrested.
Bombing of R. W. Woodfolk's home.—R. W. Woodfolk, Negro banker and real estate
dealer, purchased a flat at 4722 Calumet Avenue. It was an investment of the
Merchants and Peoples' Bank, 3201 South State Street, which he controlled. The
building was occupied by one white and four Negro families. On the evening of

February 1, 1920, a person with keys to the building locked the tenants in their
apartments, sprung the locks of the doors leading to the street, and planted a bomb in
the hallway. The explosion ripped up the hall and stairway, tore away the brick work
around the entrance, and shattered the windows of adjacent buildings. The damage
was estimated at $1,000. No arrests were made.
Bombing of the Clarke home.—Mrs. Mary Byron Clarke, Negro, purchased through
W. B. Austin, a white banker and real estate man, properties at 4404 and 4406 Grand
Boulevard, vacant for a year at the time of purchase, and previously used by
prostitutes. A real estate dealer herself, she had frequently been assisted by Austin in
financing her transactions, one of which was the sale to Negroes of Isaiah Temple, a
Jewish synagogue at Forty-fifth Street and Vincennes Avenue.
The dwellings were renovated and she moved into one of them; the other she rented.
During the riot of July, 1919, her home was attacked by a mob. When the police
arrived in response to a call by the Clarkes, they battered in the doors at the demand
of the mob and arrested Mr. and Mrs. Clarke. They were acquitted. On January 5,
1920, the house was bombed. The explosion caused $3,360 worth of damage. The
building was again bombed February 12, 1920, this time with a dynamite bomb
thrown through the plate-glass door in the hallway from a passing automobile. The
stairway was knocked down and large holes blown in the wall. The police came,
found no clews, and made no arrests. At the request of Mrs. Clarke a special
policeman was detailed to guard the property.
Numerous threatening letters and telephone calls followed, all of which were reported
to the police. There were threats of another bombing if she did not sell, and there were
visits from representatives of real estate interests in Hyde Park making offers.
Tuesday evening, April 13, 1920, a third bomb was exploded in spite of the presence
of the two special policemen. The bomb was thrown from the premises of Frederick
R. Barnheisel, an immediate neighbor, a telephone wire deflected it, and it landed near
the Clarke garage.
Mrs. Clarke made a statement concerning this bombing before the Commission in
which she said:
"Wednesday [the day following the third bombing] we got a letter saying 'move out or
sell, there is nothing else for you to do. We missed you last night but we will get you
the next time. We are determined.' A letter prior to that stated if we did not get out
they would 'get our hides.'
"There has been some sinister influence brought to bear on the insurance company
since the riot and since the first bombing. We have had our house insured against
bombing since the first bombing. The first damage of about $500 they paid and
canceled the insurance on 4404 Grand Boulevard. The second bomb did damage to
the extent of $3,360. They wrote saying they would cancel it, subject however to
pending loss. There was a clause calling for settlement within sixty days. After sixty
days we would have to enter suit to get it. The sixty days have passed, and there has
been no attempt to settle. Some of the glass has been replaced. They have accepted it,
and there has been no disposition on their part to settle.
"Berry, Johnston, & Peters, the men with whom we have had the most business
dealings, have insisted that we sell the place. Mr. Peters said last week he could get a

buyer from the Hyde Park-Kenwood Association people, also said if any indebtedness
remained on the contract or deeds, that the money must first be paid to them, then to
us. We have been careful not to let any indebtedness, even for ten days, come against
4406."
Bombing of Crede Hubbard's home.—Following is part of Hubbard's statement to the
police immediately after the bombing of his home at 4331 Vincennes Avenue on the
night of April 25, 1920:
"The day on which I had planned to move, a man who said he was Mr. Day, of the
Hyde Park and Kenwood Association, telephoned me. He said: 'I hear you have
acquired property and you are dissatisfied with it; we can take it off your hands—
relieve you of it.' I replied that I didn't think I needed any help. He asked, 'What do
you expect to do?' I said, 'I expect to move into it or sell it if I can get my price.' I
moved on Tuesday and Wednesday he called in person. He said, 'I called to find out if
you want us to sell or handle your property for you.' I told him I thought I could
handle it, and that I was not anxious to sell but would consider selling if I could get an
offer of say $11,000. He replied that his buyers were not able to go that far. He
continued, 'The point is, I represent the Hyde Park-Kenwood Association. We have
spent a lot of money and we want to keep this district white.' I asked him why they
had not thought of buying the property before and told him that the house had been
for sale for eight months. He replied that it was a lamentable fact that they had
overlooked it. I told him that I heard the Hyde Park Association had a $100,000 slush
fund out of which $100 was paid for each bombing. He said he would have some of
his buyers come in and look over the property. Shortly afterward, Mr. Stephen D.
Seman and another man came and represented themselves as buyers. They looked
over the inside of the house. I only carried them through the halls. Mr. Seman said,
'You only paid $8,500 for this property.' I told him that he had been misinformed, I
had paid $9,000. He said, 'I will give you $9,500 for it.' I refused. As they were
leaving he added, 'You had better consider our offer.' Soon after that a man named
Casson, real estate man, called. I would not let him in. When he asked me my price I
told him $11,500.
"A week later a delegation from the Hyde Park Association called. The spokesman
began: 'I am Mr. Austin. You understand the nature of our business with you, I
suppose.' ... I told the chief clerk of the office of the Northwestern Railroad to inform
you that we were coming to see you. We are the Hyde Park-Kenwood Association and
you will understand that you are not welcome in this district. We want to know what
can be done.' I replied that I didn't know what could be done unless they wanted to
buy; otherwise I expected to live there, and my price was $11,500. They continued,
'Do you suppose if I moved into a black district where I wasn't wanted, that I would
want to live there?' I said, 'If you had bought property there and liked the property, I
don't see why you should move.' They said, 'Why do you persist in wanting to live
here when you know you are not wanted?' I said, 'I have bought property here and I
am expecting to live here.' Then they filed out of the door, and one of the members
stated, 'You had better consider this proposition.'
"In the office of the Northwestern Railroad, Mr. Shirley called me in and read a letter
to me which he had received from Mr. Austin. 'Murphy, his name is,' he said, 'I know
him fairly well, and I simply want to make an answer to the letter. Don't think I am
trying to influence you one way or the other. This is the letter: it goes about like this:
"Crede Hubbard has purchased a three-flat building at 4332 Vincennes Avenue.

Property values are always shot to hell when Negroes move in. Use whatever
influence you have to induce him to sell and find out for us his lowest figures."' He
added, 'Don't think I am trying to brow-beat you into selling this property.'"
"On the following Sunday night on my way back to Milwaukee, I read in the paper
that my house had been bombed. My family was at home, my two boys sleeping
about ten feet from the place that was most seriously damaged. The bomb was placed
inside the vestibule. The girl there heard a taxicab drive up about twenty-five minutes
to twelve and stop for a few minutes and start off again. About six minutes after the
taxicab stopped, the explosion came, and in about five minutes there were not less
than 300 people on the street in front of the place asking questions. There were a
number of plain-clothes men in the crowd. I told my story to the chief of police and to
a sergeant of the police and they said it was evidence enough to warrant the arrest of
the officials of the Association named, but they also thought that it would do no
good.... 'The thing we will have to do is to catch somebody in the act, sweat him and
make him tell who his backers are.'
"The police believe that the actual bombing is being done by a gang of young rough-
necks who will stop at nothing, and they expect a pretty serious encounter if they are
interfered with. A big automobile is being shadowed now by the police. It is used by
this bunch of young fellows under suspicion, and it is thought that they keep the car
well loaded with ammunition, and whoever attacks them must expect trouble. There
are four plain-clothes men on guard in this district now. The police told me to get
anything I want from a Mauser to a machine gun and sit back in the dark, and when
anybody comes up to my hallway acting suspiciously to crack down on him and ask
him what he was there for afterwards."
Bombing of the Harrison home.—Mrs. Gertrude Harrison, Negro, living alone with
her children, contracted to buy a house at 4708 Grand Boulevard. In March, 1919, she
moved in. She immediately received word that she had committed a grave error. She
and her children were constantly subjected to the insulting remarks both of her
immediate neighbors and passers-by.
On May 16, 1919, a Negro janitor informed her that neighbors were planning to bomb
her house. She called up the Forty-eighth Street police station and told of the
threatened danger. The officer answering the telephone characterized her report as
"idle talk" and promised to send a man to investigate. The regular patrolman came in
and promised to "keep an eye on the property," but there were ten blocks in his beat. A
special guard was secured and paid by Mrs. Harrison when it was learned that one
would not be furnished by the police.
The following night, May 17, her house was bombed while the patrolman was
"punching his box" two blocks away and the special watchman was at the rear. A
detail of police was then provided both at the front and rear. The following night a
bomb was thrown on the roof of the house from the window of a vacant flat in the
adjoining apartment house. The flat from which the bomb was thrown had been
unlocked to admit the bombers and locked again. The police failed to question either
the persons living in the apartment or those leaving it immediately after the explosion.
The first explosion blew out the front door and shattered the glass in the front of the
house. The bomb was filled with gravel and bits of lead. The second was of similar
character, but did not do as much damage. No arrests were made.

DAMAGE DONE BY A BOMB
This bomb was thrown into a building at 3365 Indiana Avenue, occupied by Negroes. A six-year-
old Negro child was killed.

In all these fifty-eight bombings the police have been able to accomplish
nothing definite. Practically every incident involved an automobile,
descriptions of which were furnished by witnesses. The precautions taken to
prevent bombings, even if they were well planned and systematically
carried out, failed lamentably.

2. REACTION OF WHITES IN HYDE PARK

Increasing frequency of bombings, failure of the police to make arrests, and
the apparent association of these acts of open violence with the white
residents of Hyde Park drew out explanations.

Pastors of churches in the district who, it had been charged, helped to give
circulation to printed sentiments of the organized opposition to the
"invasion" were strong in their repudiation. The menace to law and order
was definitely recognized and the public given to understand that neither
the pastor nor his congregation had encouraged acts of lawlessness in any
manner. In a statement to a Commission investigator, one of these pastors
said, "I am not in sympathy with the methods and am very doubtful about
the aims of the Property Owners' Association and have, therefore, been
unable to join them or indorse their efforts."
A local paper, the Real Estate News, published a long article in February,
1920, on "Solving Chicago's Race Problem." It was directed at South Side
property owners and carried a stern warning "against perils of boycott and
terrorism being promoted by local protective associations." Referring to the
bombing outrages, this paper, under the heading "Danger in Boycotts and
Bombs," said:
In Kenwood and Hyde Park, particularly, a number of "protective associations" have
been formed. Property owners have been urged to join these bodies, which, without
attempt at concealment, advocate a boycott against all persons of a certain race. At
meetings of these groups there has been open advocacy of violence. There has been
incendiary talk. Bombs and bullets have been discussed, and speakers talking thus
have been applauded. There have been repeated acts of violence. Night bombing of
Negro homes and apartments has taken place. Bombing and shooting is increasing in
frequency.
The time has come, we believe, for a word of solemn warning to all South Side
property owners. It is: Keep out of those associations. If you are now in, get out! For
you are in great danger of the penitentiary! You are in grave peril of losing your
property by damage suits!

Another excerpt, under the heading "Perils of 'Protective' Organizations,"
said:
No one can justly criticize men for forming organizations to protect or advance their
own interests lawfully. Property owners ought to unite wherever practicable for proper
and lawful purposes beneficial to themselves. For such unions operate to the welfare
of all.
Recently, however, a number of men have joined in forming and promoting
organizations on the South Side which are perilous to themselves and to every
property owner who joins them. Owners of real estate should be the last men in the
world to get mixed up in movements involving violence, threats, intimidations, or
boycotts. Because they are responsible. Their wealth cannot be concealed. Judgments
against them are collectible.

Under the heading "Drastic Laws Forbid Conspiracies":
The law of conspiracy is drastic. Conspiracy is an association together of persons for
the purpose of doing an unlawful thing in an unlawful way, or a lawful thing in an
unlawful way, or an unlawful thing in a lawful way. Under the law, all persons in a
conspiracy are equally guilty. One need not throw a bomb, or even know of the intent
of throwing a bomb, to be found guilty. The act of one, no matter how irresponsible, is
the act of all.
Any association formed in Chicago for the purpose of, or having among its aims,
refusal to sell, lease or rent property to any citizen of a certain race, is an unlawful
association. Every act of such an association for advancement of such an aim is an act
of conspiracy, punishable criminally and civilly in the District Court of the United
States. And every member of such an association is equally guilty with every other
member. If one member hires a bomber, or a thug who commits murder in pursuance
of the aims of the association, all the organization may be found guilty of conspiracy
to destroy property or to commit murder, as the case may be.

This entire article was widely circulated in the disturbed neighborhoods by
the Protective Circle, an organization of Negroes, 25,000 copies being
mailed to residents of Hyde Park.
Residents of the district, stirred by the succession of bombings, began to
protest. The paper of the Kenwood and Hyde Park Property Owners'
Association reflected this feeling in a statement declaring that the
Association had no connection with the bombings, and that its president
was considering the advisability of assisting the authorities in apprehending
these lawless individuals. On another occasion, this paper took pains to
explain that the bombing of George A. Hyers' property on March 5 was an
outgrowth of labor troubles and not of a property owners' organization
recently formed in this community. At a meeting of the General Committee
of the Property Owners' Association the following resolution was
unanimously adopted:
Whereas, Our attention has been called to various explosions of bombs in our
neighborhood at the houses of colored people living in this vicinity, and
Whereas, While we are anxious to persuade these people to move from this locality,
we are opposed to violence of every description, therefore, be it
Resolved, That we condemn the action of anyone resorting to throwing of bombs or
other methods not in accordance with reason, law or justice.

The attention of the city was directed to these unlawful happenings and
protests from both white and Negro individuals made themselves heard.

The bombings, however, did not abate in frequency. Neither were the police
any more successful in locating their sources.

3. REACTION OF NEGROES

From the beginning Negroes were outspoken in their indignation over the
bombings, but their protests had no apparent effect in checking the
outrages.
The attacks, however, have made the Negroes firm in their stand. Mrs.
Clarke was bombed four times; she still lives in the property and declares
that she will not be driven out. Jesse Binga has been bombed six times but
states he will not move. Only two of the forty Negro families bombed have
moved; the others have made repairs, secured private watchmen or
themselves kept vigil for night bombers, and still occupy the properties.
Following the bombing of Jesse Binga on June 18, 1920, the Chicago Daily
News quoted him as saying to a policeman, "This is the limit; I'm going."
When his attention was called to the statement he promptly replied:
Statements relative to my moving are all false. My idea of this bombing of my house
is that it is an effort to retard the Binga State Bank which will take over the mortgages
of colored people now buying property against which effort is being made to
foreclose. I will not run. The race is at stake and not myself. If they can make me
move they will have accomplished much of their aim because they can say, "We made
Jesse Binga move; certainly you'll have to move," to all of the rest. If they can make
the leaders move, what show will the smaller buyers have? Such headlines are efforts
to intimidate Negroes not to purchase property and to scare some of them back South.

In February a group of Negroes formed themselves into a body known as
the Protective Circle of Chicago, the purpose of which, as stated in its
constitution, was "to combat, through legal means, the lawlessness of the
Kenwood and Hyde Park Property Owners' Association and by organized
effort to bring pressure to bear on city authorities to force them to
apprehend those persons who have bombed the homes of twenty-one
Negroes."
A mass meeting was held February 29, 1920, with 3,000 Negroes present. A
popular appeal for funds for the purposes of this organization raised $1,000.

Attacks were directed against the Kenwood and Hyde Park Property
Owners' Association. A representative of the Protective Circle said in part:
The Hyde Park Property Owners' Association is not a new thing. It is more than
eighteen years old. Eighteen years ago they proposed fourteen points as a platform for
their Association. The thirteenth point was that they would keep out undesirables. All
Negroes were classed as undesirables. Ten years ago Dr. Jenifer, a Negro minister,
appeared before the Association and severely criticized the organization for its un-
American policies. It is just recently that this organization has shown its hand openly,
and the things that they have said and done are dangerously near to illegality. I have in
my files this statement taken from a stenographic report of one of their meetings,
made by the president of the Association: "If Negroes do not get out of Hyde Park, we
will get Bolsheviks to bomb them out." The bombers of the homes of Negroes have
been allowed to get away unpunished. Judge Gary hanged numbers of anarchists in
the Haymarket riot for very much less complicity in bomb outrages than these men
are guilty of. Hatred can never be counteracted by hatred. We cannot put any stop to
the bombings of Negro homes by going out and bombing homes of white persons.

The Negro press severely condemned the bombings, and the Negro
population in general felt that the apathy of city authorities and even the
influential public was responsible for continuance of the outrages. Protests
were sent to the governor of the state. The mayor, chief of police, and state's
attorney were persistently importuned to stop the destruction of Negroes'
property and remove the menace to their lives. Negroes pointed out, for
example, that the authorities had shown ability to apprehend criminals, even
those suspected of bomb-throwing. They cited the bombing of the home of
a professional white "gunman," when eleven suspected bombers were
caught in the dragnet of the state's attorney within thirty hours. Yet in fifty-
eight bombings of Negro homes only two suspects were ever arrested.
In March, 1920, a Commission from the Chicago Church Federation
Council sent a delegation to Mayor Thompson, Chief of Police Garrity, and
State's Attorney Hoyne, to demand action on the bombing of Negroes'
homes. Prominent white and colored men comprised this delegation. A
prominent Negro, testifying before the Commission, said that he, with other
Negroes, both from the local branch of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, and from other organizations, had carried
their grievances to city officials. He said:
We have been to the mayor's office, we have been to the state's attorney's office, we
have sent representatives to both these offices, and nothing has been done—possibly
something is being done, but nothing of great moment. I think that the colored people

feel that they are so insecure in their physical rights that rather than take any chance
they're going out and paying whatever the charge is for insurance against bombing.

Another delegation of Negroes in June, 1919, twice attempted to register a
complaint with the mayor against bomb outrages. The mayor's secretary,
however, refused them an audience with the mayor.
The editors of local daily papers have also been visited by mixed white and
Negro delegations in an endeavor to arouse public opinion.
The effect of these delegations and protests has been small. One joint
conference with the mayor, chief of police, and state's attorney brought out
the information that it was beyond the state's attorney's province to make
arrests. The mayor, after some discussion, instructed Chief of Police Garrity
to do what he could toward putting a stop to the bombing of Negroes'
homes. The chief of police, after explaining the shortage of patrolmen, said
he would do so.
The bombing question began to figure in local politics. Charges were made
before the primary election of September, 1920, that the city administration
had not given Negroes the protection it had promised. The matter of
apprehending the "nefarious bomb plotters" was included in the platforms
of Negroes running for office, and in those of white candidates seeking
Negro votes.
The Commission had neither authority nor facilities for accomplishing what
all public agencies had signally failed to do. It could, however, and did, go
over the trail of the bombers and collect information which shows that the
sentiment aroused in the contested neighborhoods was a factor in
encouraging actual violence. Whatever antagonisms there were before the
agitation were held in restraint, even though Negroes were already
neighbors. Other districts, like Woodlawn and sections of the North Side,
undergoing almost identical experiences as those of Hyde Park, have had no
violence; the absence of stimulated sentiment is as conspicuous as the
absence of violence. In the Hyde Park district, between Thirty-ninth and
Forty-seventh streets and State Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, four-fifths
of the bombings occurred. All but three of those happening outside the
district were against real estate men accused of activities affecting the Hyde
Park District. It seemed, especially in the first bombings, that the bombers

had information about business transactions which the general public could
not ordinarily get. Houses were bombed in numbers of cases long before
their occupancy by Negroes. Each of the bombings was apparently planned,
and the opportune moment came after long vigil and, as it would seem, after
deliberately setting the stage. The first bombing of Binga does not appear to
have been the result of resentment of neighbors in the vicinity of his home,
for it was his office on State Street that was bombed. His office is in a
neighborhood around which there is no contest.

4. OTHER MEANS EMPLOYED TO KEEP OUT NEGROES

The Grand Boulevard Property Owners' Association officially decided that
its object should be "the acquisition, management, improvement and
disposition, including leasing, sub-leasing and sale of residential property to
both white and colored people within the said district heretofore described."
This district was to include the area from Thirty-fifth to Sixty-third streets,
and from the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad tracks to Lake Michigan.
In August, 1920, the manager of the Association cited an instance in which
it had functioned. On Vernon Avenue a white man had sold property direct
to Negroes. The next-door neighbor had arranged a similar sale to potential
Negro buyers. The neighbor next to him, a widow, loath to lose her home,
appealed to the Association. After a conference with the possible Negro
buyers, their money was returned to them, the Association purchased the
house in question, and the whole matter was thus amicably arranged.
During April, 1920, inquiries were made by the Commission into the unrest
caused by rumors that 800 Negro families intended to move into Hyde Park.
It developed that May 1, the customary "moving day," was feared both by
whites in Hyde Park and by Negroes in and out of Hyde Park. Negroes
living there feared that an attempt would be made to oust them by canceling
or refusing to renew their leases, and whites thought Negroes might get
possession of some of the properties vacated on that date. The Commission
found, however, only eighteen instances where leases were canceled on
houses occupied by Negroes who were having difficulty in finding other
places to live.

In the summer of 1920 the Kenwood and Hyde Park Property Owners'
Association stated that sixty-eight Negro families had been moved through
cancellation of leases and mortgage foreclosures.
Incidental to the general plan of opposition to the entrance of Negroes in
Hyde Park was the sending of threatening letters. For example, in August,
1919, a leading Negro real estate agent and banker received this pen-printed
notice by mail:

Headquarters of the White Hands
Territory, Michigan Ave. to Lake Front

You are the one who helped cause this riot by encouraging Negroes to move into good
white neighborhoods and you know the results of your work. This trouble has only
begun and we advise you to use your influence to get Negroes to move out of these
neighborhoods to Black Belt where they belong and in conclusion we advise you to
get off South Park Ave. yourself. Just take this as a warning. You know what comes
next.

Respect.
Warning Com.

This man's home and office have been bombed a number of times. Efforts
were made to buy out individual Negroes who had settled in the district, as
well as to cause renters to move out. There are numerous incidents of this
nature, with indications of many others. A Negro woman who was living in
the district, told one of the Commission's investigators that she and her
husband had formerly lived in the 3800 block of Lake Park Avenue. White
neighbors caused them so much trouble that they had moved and bought the
apartment house in which they are now living, renting out the second and
third flats. Almost immediately white people began to call and inquire
whether she was the janitress, or whether she was renting or buying the
place. When she gave evasive answers, letters began to arrive by mail. One
letter was slipped under the door at night. These letters informed her that
she was preventing the sale of the adjoining house because she would not
sell and no white person would live next door to her. She was advised that it
would be best for her to answer and declare her intentions. Two white
women called and offered her $1,500 more than she had paid for the
property. She refused and a few days later she received a letter demanding

an immediate answer, to the Kenwood and Hyde Park Property Owners'
Association.
Later three white men in overseas uniforms inquired as to the ownership of
the property, asking if she was the janitress and if she knew who the owner
was. She answered in the negative. One of the men tore down a "For Sale"
sign on the adjoining property, and another informed her that it was the
intention to turn the neighborhood back to white people and that all
Negroes must go.
This woman is the president of a neighborhood protective league, including
the Negroes in several of the blocks thereabouts. She received a letter from
the Kenwood and Hyde Park Property Owners' Association asking the
purposes and intentions of this league.
This woman also reported that a man had been going about the
neighborhood under the pretext of making calling cards, advising Negroes
to sell out and leave the neighborhood, as it was better not to stay where
they were not wanted. Another white man who had been about the
neighborhood selling wearing apparel, told her that two Negro families in
the neighborhood would be bombed. She inquired how he knew this and
was told to wait and see. Within two weeks these bombings had taken place.

IV. TREND OF THE NEGRO POPULATION

In considering the expansion of Negro residential areas, the most important
is the main South Side section where more of the Negro population lives.
This group is hemmed in on the north by the business district and on the
west by overcrowded areas west of Wentworth Avenue, called in this report
"hostile." During the ten years 1910-20 business houses and light
manufacturing plants were moving south from the downtown district,
pushing ahead of them the Negro population between Twelfth and Thirty-
first streets. At the same time the Negro population was expanding into the
streets east of Wabash Avenue. This extension was stopped by Lake
Michigan, about eight blocks east. Negro families then began filtering into
Hyde Park, immediately to the south.

In 1917 the Chicago Urban League found that Negroes were then living on
Wabash Avenue as far south as Fifty-fifth street east of State Street, where
they had moved from the district west of State Street. From Thirty-first to
Thirty-ninth streets, on Wabash Avenue, Negroes had been living from nine
to eleven years, and the approximate percentage of Negroes by blocks
ranged from 95 to 100; from Thirty-ninth Street to Forty-seventh Street they
had been living from one to five years and averaged 50 per cent. The
movement had been almost entirely from the west and north.
On Indiana Avenue, from Thirty-first to Forty-second streets, a similar trend
was revealed. In the 3100 block, Negroes had been living for eight years, in
the 3200 block for fourteen years; in the more southerly blocks their
occupancy had been much briefer, ranging down to five months. In the most
northerly of these blocks Negroes numbered 90 per cent and in the most
southerly only 2 per cent.
On Prairie Avenue, farther east, two Negro families bought homes in the
3100 block in 1911, but the majority of the Negroes had come in since
1916. The percentage of Negroes in that block was 50. From Thirty-second
to Thirty-ninth Street the blocks were found to have more than 90 per cent
Negroes. One family had been there five years and the average residence
was one and one-half years. No Negroes were found from Fortieth to Forty-
fourth Street on Prairie Avenue. There were two families in the 4500 block,
and none south of that.
On Forest Avenue, from Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth Street, 75 per cent of
the families were Negroes and had lived there less than six years.
On Calumet Avenue, the next street east of Prairie, Negroes had begun to
live within four years. The population was 75 per cent Negro from Thirty-
first to Thirty-ninth Street. None live south of Thirty-ninth Street, except at
the corner, where they had been living for five months.
A similar situation was found on Rhodes Avenue, still farther east, from
Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth Street. Negroes had lived in Vincennes Avenue,
the next street east, less than two years, and in Cottage Grove Avenue, still
farther east less than one year.

South Park Avenue and its continuation, Grand Boulevard (south of Thirty-
fifth Street) was the most recent street into which Negroes had moved in
large numbers. This had occurred within the years 1915-17. The first Negro
families had moved into the 3400 block less than four years previously. The
percentage of Negroes between Thirty-first and Thirty-fifth streets was less
than 50. Within five months two Negro families had moved into the hitherto
exclusively white 3500 block.
Few Negroes had moved from east of State Street to west of that street.

A NEGRO CHORAL SOCIETY

V. OUTLYING NEIGHBORHOODS

The Commission's investigation being confined to the city of Chicago, the
growing Negro colonies in such suburbs as Evanston and Glencoe were not
studied, but attention was given to two southwestern outlying
neighborhoods in the east part of Morgan Park, just inside the city limits,
and the village of Robbins, wholly Negro, just outside.

1. MORGAN PARK

In 1910, 126 Negroes lived in Morgan Park, with a total population of
5,269. In 1920 the area had been incorporated in the city of Chicago, and
there were 695 Negroes in a total population of 7,780 occupying
approximately the same area.
In its early days Morgan Park was the site of a theological seminary, which
in 1892 became part of the University of Chicago. The first Negroes there
were servants, mostly from the South, working in the households of the
professors. The colony remained, and its more recent increase was due in
considerable measure to the influx of well-to-do Negroes from farther north
in Chicago, many of whom bought houses. In some cases Negroes in
congested Negro residential areas sold out to Negroes arriving in the
migration and re-established themselves in much better dwellings and
surroundings in Morgan Park.
Less prosperous Negroes also came, despite the feeling of some home
owners that too great an influx of that type would injure property values and
render the neighborhood less desirable. Many of these work in the South
Chicago steel mills and the shops at Pullman. Some work in the Stock
Yards.
A number of Negroes of Morgan Park are employed at the Chicago City
Hall. Some are porters on Pullman cars. Only a small number are laborers.
Many of the women sew or work as car cleaners and seem reluctant to do
housework even at day wages.
Physically Morgan Park is attractive with comfortable homes and large
grounds. Several churches, a number of schools, and an attractive park all
add to the desirability of the place as a "home town." The lots are deep,
affording plenty of space for gardens, and many vacant lots are cultivated.
The opportunity for garden patches is an attraction for many Negroes. There
are two Negro churches, Methodist and Baptist, and a Colored Men's
Improvement Association which has provided a social hall for the Negro
population.

School facilities are inadequate, and the buildings are old and overcrowded.
Because of this congestion, it becomes necessary for children in the sixth
and higher grades to go three miles to a school on Western Avenue. About
twenty Negroes attend the high school. In the Esmond Street school
approximately 25 per cent of the children are Negroes. The Negroes have
repeatedly requested enlarged school facilities. They want a new building
conveniently situated for their children.
The white people of Morgan Park are not unfriendly toward their Negro
neighbors, though there seems to be a common understanding that Negroes
must not live west of Vincennes Road, which bisects the town from
northeast to southwest. A Negro once bought a house across the line but
found he was so unwelcome that he promptly sold again. More recently the
owner of a three-story brick flat building rented to Negroes the twenty flats
above his stores. A protest was made by both white and Negro house
owners, so that he was forced to eject the Negro tenants.
The demand for homes is shown in the numbers of Negroes who go to
Morgan Park on Sundays by automobile, street car, and train. In the spring
of 1920 a number of houses were being erected for Negro occupancy in
what is known in Morgan Park as "No Man's Land," east of Vincennes
Road from 109th to 112th streets. This swampy tract of land was being
reclaimed. Streets had been surveyed and laid out, though with little paving.
Water, light, and gas were available, and some efforts at drainage had been
made, leaving some stagnant pools. Other plans involved the building of
eighty five-room bungalows by a Chicago contractor. Six of these were
under construction at the time of the investigator's visit, and five had been
sold, corner-lot houses at $4,550, houses on inside lots at $4,330.
Morgan Park Negroes appear to be progressing financially. An officer of a
local trust and savings bank said that they met their obligations promptly,
only occasionally defaulting or suffering foreclosure and then only because
of illness, death, or loss of employment. The same officer said savings
accounts of Negroes were increasing in number, though small in amount.
Whites and Negroes maintain a friendly attitude. During the 1919 riots a
number of conferences took place between Negroes and white people of

Morgan Park. The Negroes kept rather close to their own neighborhood,
and the only difficulty the police had was in controlling rowdy white boys.
Younger children of the two races play together in the school yards. A
teacher in the Esmond Street school declared that no distinction was made
between Negroes and whites in that school. It was noted, however, that
when games were played, this teacher directed the little Negroes to take
little Negro girls as partners. Some prejudice is discernible among whites in
the community, but there is an evident desire to be fair and to give the
Negroes every reasonable opportunity to exemplify good citizenship so
long as they do not move from their own into the white neighborhoods.
Those familiar with the Morgan Park settlement believe that it offers
unusual inducements as a home community for Negroes. The contractor
who is already building for Negroes there has confidence in the venture. He
has dealt before with Negroes and found them satisfactory clients.

2. ROBBINS

This village is the only exclusively Negro community near Chicago with
Negroes in all village offices.
Robbins is not attractive physically. It is not on a car line and there is no
pretense of paved streets, or even sidewalks. The houses are homemade, in
most cases by labor mornings, nights, and holidays, after or before the day's
wage-earning. Tar paper, roofing paper, homemade tiles, hardly seem
sufficient to shut out the weather; older houses, complete with windows,
doors, porches, fences, and gardens, indicate that some day these shelters
will become real houses. In 1920 the village took out its incorporation
papers, and while there are some who regret this independence and talk of
asking Blue Island to annex it, in the main the citizens are proud of their
village and certain of its future. There are 380 people all told, men, women,
and children, living in something more than seventy houses. It is a long
mile down the road to the street car, but daily men and women trudge away
to their work, taking with them the feeling of home ownership, of a place
for the children to play unmolested, of friends and neighbors.

These men and women find many kinds of work in the neighboring towns
—at the mills, on the railroads, in the factories. Many of the women work in
the factory of Libby, McNeil & Libby. Their wages go into payments for
their homes. Men and women together are living as pioneer families lived
—working and sacrificing to feel the independence of owning a bit of
ground and their own house.

C. THE NEGRO COMMUNITY

I. THE BEGINNING OF THE NEGRO COMMUNITY

Negroes have been living in Chicago since it was founded. In fact, Jean
Baptiste Point de Saible, a San Domingan Negro, was the first settler and in
1790 built the first house, a rude hut on the north bank of the Chicago River
near what is now the Michigan Boulevard Bridge.
There are records of Negroes owning property in Chicago as early as 1837,
the year of its incorporation as a city. In 1844 there were at least five Negro
property owners and in 1847 at least ten. Their property was in the original
first and second wards of the city, one on Lake Street, others on Madison,
Clark, and Harrison, and Fifth Avenue. In 1848 the first Negro church
property was purchased at the corner of Jackson and Buffalo streets,
indicating the presence of the first colony of Negroes. In 1850 the passage
of the Fugitive Slave Law caused many to flee for safety to Canada, many
of the property owners disposing of their holdings at a great loss. In 1854
Negroes held two pieces of church property in the same general locality.
Although the great majority lived on Clark and Dearborn streets north of
Harrison Street, there was a tendency among the property-owning class to
invest in outlying property. Some of them bought property as far south as
what is now Thirty-third Street.
The year of the Great Fire, 1871, Negroes owned four pieces of church
property. That fire stopped at Harrison Street and did not consume all of the
Negro settlement. A second large fire in 1874 spread northeast and burned
812 buildings over an area of forty-seven acres. With the rebuilding of the
city they were pushed southward to make room for the business district.

In 1900 the most congested area of Negro residence, called the "Black
Belt," was a district thirty-one blocks long and four blocks wide, extending
from Harrison Street on the north to Thirty-ninth Street on the south,
between Wabash and Wentworth avenues. Although other colonies had been
started in other parts of the city, notably the West Side, at least 50 per cent
of the 1900 Negro population of 30,150 lived in this area. As this main area
of Negro residence grew, the proportion of Negroes to the total Negro
population living in it increased until in 1920 it contained 90 per cent of the
Negroes of the city.

II. THE ORGANIZATION OF THE NEGRO COMMUNITY

In the discussion of race contacts attention is called to the peculiar
conditions which compel Negroes of the city to develop many of their own
institutions and agencies. Partly from necessity and partly from choice, they
have established their own churches, business enterprises, amusement
places, and newspapers. Living and associating for the most part together,
meeting in the same centers for face-to-face relations, trusting to their own
physicians, lawyers, and ministers, a compact community with its own
fairly definite interests and sentiments has grown up.
The institutions within the Negro community that have been developed to
aid it in maintaining itself and promoting its own welfare, are of four
general types: (1) commercial and industrial enterprises; (2) organizations
for social intercourse; (3) religious organizations; (4) agencies for civic and
social betterment.

1. COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES

Commercial and industrial establishments conducted by Negroes are listed
by Ford S. Black in his yearly Blue Book, which serves as a directory of
Negro activities. They increased from 1,200 in 1919 to 1,500 in 1920. The
compilation lists 651 on State Street, the main thoroughfare, 549 on
principal cross streets, and more than 300 on other streets. The increase is
strikingly shown in the following figures: In 1918 Negro business places on
Thirty-first Street numbered nine and seventy-one in 1920; on Thirty-fifth

Street there were forty-seven in 1918 and seventy-seven in 1920. On
Cottage Grove Avenue, Negroes have only recently established themselves
in large numbers, yet between Twenty-eighth and Forty-fifth streets there
are fifty-seven Negro business places, including nine groceries, three drug-
stores, and two undertaking establishments.
A partial list of business places as listed in Black's Blue Book is given:
Art stores 14
Automobile schools and repair shops 10
Bakeries, wholesale and retail 13
Banks 2
Barbershops 211
Baths 2
Blacksmith shops 6
Book and stationery stores 6
Chiropodist 29
Cleaning, dyeing, and repairing establishments 68
Clothing stores 8
Decorators 12
Dressmaking shops 32
Drug-stores 31
Electricians and locksmiths 9
Employment agencies 15
Express and storage offices 71
Fish markets 7
Florists 5
Furnace and stove repairing 6
Groceries and delicatessens 119
Hairdressing parlors 108
Hotels 11
Ice-cream and confectionery stores 7
Insurance companies 3
Jewelers 5
Laundries 2
Medicine specialists 9
Millinery shops 15
Music and musical instruments 16
Newspapers and magazines 13
Musicians and music teachers 66
Notions 25
Optometrists 4
Orchestras 1
Photographers 4

Plumbers 4
Printers 20
Public stenographers 6
Real estate offices 52
Restaurants 87
Schools 4
Shoemaking and repairing shops 33
Shoe-shining parlors 26
Sign painters 4
Soft-drink parlors 11
Tailors 62
Toilet articles 10
Undertaking establishments 21
Vending machines 2

OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH
The largest Negro church in Chicago (old building), at Twenty-ninth and Dearborn streets.

ST. MARK'S M.E. CHURCH
Located at Fiftieth Street and Wabash Avenue, built by Negroes.

OLIVET BAPTIST CHURCH
The largest Negro church in Chicago, larger and more modern building, Thirty-first Street and
South Park Avenue, purchased recently by Negroes.

2. ORGANIZATIONS FOR SOCIAL INTERCOURSE

Various organizations for social intercourse and mutual helpfulness have
developed in the Negro community. Some are local lodges or branches of
national organizations, and others are purely local and independent. Some

are simply for social intercourse, and others have in addition benefit
features, professional interests, etc. Frequent reference is made in the family
histories given in this report to these various organizations.
Fraternal organizations.—Fraternal organizations are an old institution
among Negroes. In the South they rank next in importance to the church; in
the North they have considerable prestige. Membership is large and interest
is strong. Following is a list of the most active in Chicago:

Elks, Great Lakes Lodge No. 43, I.B.P.O.
Elks of the World (an independent order of Elks)
Ancient Order of Foresters
Catholic Order of Foresters
American Woodmen
Builders of America
Knights of Pythias
Mosaic Templars of America
Masons
Grand Court Heroines of Jericho of Illinois
Eastern Star
The Golden Circle
Odd Fellows (G.U.O. of O.F.)
Royal Circle of Friends
United Brotherhood of Friendship
Sisters of the Mysterious Ten

All of these organizations, although having their own rituals, serve as a
means of group control and of exchange of views and opinions. They are
also a guaranty against absolute friendlessness, and that is perhaps one of
the strongest motives for the establishment of the first organizations years
ago. Much charitable and relief work is carried on by these fraternal bodies
among their members.
Out of these associations have grown clubs with social activities among
wider circles. There are, for example, the Easter Lily Club, the Mayflower
Club, and the Masonic Progressive Club.

Social clubs.—Many of the clubs and societies with social, educational, or
professional interests are modeled after those of the larger community.
There are, for example, the Arts and Letters Society, the University Society,
and Civic Study Club. There are also many smaller clubs organized for
various purposes, but designed principally to serve the Negro community.
There are more than seventy women's clubs, leagued in the Chicago
Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. There are also the Art and Charity
Club, Chicago Union Charity Club, Cornell Charity, Dearborn Centre,
Diana Charity, East End 30th Ward, East Side Woman's Club, Eureka Fine
Arts, Fideles Charity, Giles Charity, Hyacinth Charity, Ideal Embroidery
Art, Ideal Woman's Club, Imperial Art, Kenwood Center, Mental Pearls,
Mothers' Union, Necessity Club, New Method Industrial, North Shore,
North Side Industrial, Motley Social Uplift, Phyllis Wheatley Club,
Progressive Circle of Kings Daughters, 37th Ward Civic League, Volunteer
Workers, West Side Woman's City Club, and the Woman's Civic League.
Among the exclusive social clubs, perhaps the most important is the
Appomattox Club. Its membership includes the leading business and
professional men, and it has a well-appointed club building. Its membership
is limited and it carries civic and social prestige.
The Phalanx Club is an organization of government employees. Its
membership is large, though limited by occupational restriction. Its interests
are largely social. The Forty Club and Half Century Club are purely social
and still more exclusive.
Negro professional societies, sometimes formed because of the objections
of whites to the participation of Negroes in white societies of a similar
nature, include the Lincoln Dental Association, Physicians, Dentists and
Pharmacists' Association, a Bar Association, and a Medical Association.

3. RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS

Negro churches.—The church is one of the first and probably one of the
strongest institutions among Negroes. The importance of churches in the
Negro community lies not only in their large membership and religious
influence, but in their provision of a medium of social control for great

numbers of Chicago Negroes, and in their great value in promoting the
adjustment of newcomers.
In the South the churches are the principal centers for face-to-face relations.
They serve as a medium for the exchange of ideas, making and maintaining
friendships, community co-operation, collective striving, group
competition, as well as for the dissemination of information, assistance and
advice on practical problems, and the upholding of religious ideals. The
pastors know the members personally, and the church exercises a definite
control over individual behavior.
The church is often the only Negro social institution with an unhampered
opportunity for development. In most southern cities, Negroes have no
Y.M.C.A., public playground, welfare organizations, public library,
gymnasium, orderly dance halls, public parks, or theaters. The church in a
large degree takes the place of these and fills a vacancy created by the lack
of the public facilities ordinarily found in white communities. In many
instances it determines the social standing of the individual Negro. No one
can escape the opprobrium attached to the term "sinner" if he is not a
member of the church, however successful otherwise.
The minister is the recognized leader of the Negroes, and often their legal
adviser and school teacher. He is responsible for the social good behavior of
his people. No movement can get the support of the people unless it has his
sanction.
In the North the function of both Negro church and pastor is different.
Negroes can find other places than the church for their leisure time;
numerous urban and civic organizations with trained workers look after
their interests, probably better than the church. In the Y.M.C.A. they find
religion related to the development of their bodies and minds. In northern
cities enterprises and movements thrive without the good-will or sanction of
the clergy, and even against their protest.
The field wholly occupied in the South by the church is shared in the North
by the labor union, the social club, lectures, and political and other
organizations. Some of the northern churches, realizing this, have
established employment agencies and other activities of a more social
nature in response to this new demand.

Social activities.—The churches in Chicago serve as social-contact centers,
though not to the same extent as in the South. Frequently they arrange
lectures, community programs, fêtes, and meetings. Many of them, seeking
to influence the conduct of the group, have provided recreation and
amusements for their members. Several churches have social-service
departments, basket-ball teams, and literary societies. Olivet Baptist
Church, with a membership of 9,069, maintains an employment department,
rooming directory, kindergarten, and day nursery, and employs sixteen
workers; in its social organization there are forty-two auxiliary departments.
During the last five years it has raised $200,000, contributed $5,600 for
charitable relief, and found jobs for 1,100 Negroes.
Unique among such developments is the People's Church and Metropolitan
Community Center, organized by a group which withdrew from the Bethel
African Methodist Episcopal Church in October, 1920. Relying solely upon
its membership, it raised $22,000 during its first five months. Six persons
are employed to carry on the work, one a social-service secretary. Land for
a church building has been purchased, and plans have been made to buy a
community-center building to accommodate several thousand people.
Relief work.—The records of the United Charities, which assumes the care
of dependent children of the juvenile court, show a much smaller proportion
of appeals for aid from Negroes than might be expected. This is partly
explained by the work of the churches in relieving Negro families. A very
high proportion of families below the line of comfortable subsistence
belong to the churches, the small "store-front" churches. The number and
variety of denominational divisions and sects increases competition for
membership and sends pastors and members out into the community to
gather in the people. Forty-one churches, many of them small, reported a
total of $15,038 distributed during 1920 for the relief of the sick and
distressed.
Following is a summary of information collected by the Commission
concerning the churches in the Negro community:
Number of churches, regular and "store-front" 170
Number visited 146
Number of churches owning their property 49
Value of property owned $1,677,183.00

Indebtedness on church properties being bought $325,895.91
Amount collected in 146 churches during 1919 $400,000.00
Membership of 62 of the 146 churches 36,856
Number in Sunday school in 57 of 146 churches 16,847
Number of persons in attendance in 64 of 146 churches
Morning 20,379
Evening 13,806

In a very few cases, Negroes are found to be members of white churches,
but the Negro churches have an entirely Negro membership with Negro
pastors.
"Store-front" churches.—The "store-front" church membership is merely a
small group which, for one reason or another, has sought to worship
independently of any connection with the larger churches. The
establishment of such a church may be the result of a withdrawal of part of
the membership of a larger church. They secure a pastor or select a leader
from their own number and continue their worship in a place where their
notions are not in conflict with other influences. Most frequently a minister
formerly in the South has come with or followed his migrant members and
has re-established his church in Chicago. Or again a group with religious
beliefs and ceremonies not in accord with those of established churches
may establish a church of its own. The groups are usually so small and the
members so poor as to make the purchase of a building impossible. The
custom has been to engage a small store and put chairs in it. Hence the
name "store-front" church.

NEGRO CHURCHES

Denominations.—The varieties of denominational divisions are wide and
interesting. A classification on the basis of information collected by the
Commission is given in Table VII.
TABLE VII

Denomination Regular "Store-Front"
Baptist:
Missionary Baptist 19 61
Free Will Baptist 2

Primitive Baptist 4
Methodist:
Methodist Episcopal 6
African Methodist Episcopal 9 6
African Methodist Episcopal Zion 3 1
Colored Methodist Episcopal 3
Independent Methodist Episcopal 6
Presbyterian 2 2
Episcopal 1
Congregational 1
Disciples of Christ 1
Saints, Holiness, and Healing Churches 20
Total 45 102

The steady growth in the number of churches is shown in the dates of
organization of sixty-five of them as given in Table VIII.
TABLE VIII

Year Number

1825-50 2
1850-80 2
1880-90 5
1890-1900 5
1900-1910 5
1910-15 12
1915-16 4
1917 3
1918 15
1919 6
1920 6

Total 65

Church property.—It was not easy to determine the amount of money raised
and handled by the Negro churches for any specific period, because only
the better-organized churches keep accurate accounts.
The total value of the property holdings of twenty-six of the larger and
better-organized churches is $1,677,183.02, with a total indebtedness on
nineteen of them of $318,595.91. In twenty of the twenty-six annual
collections aggregate $226,216.25.

Out of 100 "store-front" churches visited only seven own or are buying the
property they use. The total value of the property of these seven churches is
$44,300. Four of the seven have an indebtedness of $7,300; and the four
that kept records showed a total annual collection of $5,170.
The pastors.—A sharp division both as to education and experience is
found between the pastors of the regular churches and those of the "store-
front" churches. Generally the larger churches have the better-trained, more
experienced, and more highly salaried ministers. Exceptions are found in
the case of one or two "holiness" churches.
The ministers in these various churches represent a range of training from
that of such seminaries as Newton Theological and institutions like Yale
University, University of Chicago, and Northwestern University, down to
that of the sixth grade in grammar school. Some have had no schooling at
all. The number of specially trained ministers totals twenty-one. Six of
these are graduates of recognized northern institutions, while fourteen are
graduates of recognized Negro institutions such as Lincoln University,
Howard University, Virginia Union University, and Livingston College.
Four are graduates of standard high schools and four of other high schools
below the standard rating. The remainder fall below the sixth grade. Among
this last group it is not unusual to hear that "God prepares a man to preach;
he does not have to go to school for that. All he must do is to open his
mouth and God will fill it. The universities train men away from the Bible."
The range of active service in the ministry is from two months to forty-four
years. Here again the larger established churches have the ministers of
longer service. Typical examples are found in churches like Bethel African
Methodist Episcopal Church, whose pastor has had forty-four years of
service; Shiloh, thirty-seven years; Bethesda Baptist Church, thirty-seven
years; Grace Presbyterian Church, thirty-two years (all at this one church);
Original Providence, thirty-five years; Berean Baptist Church, thirty years.

4. SOCIAL AND CIVIC AGENCIES

Social agencies in the Negro communities are an expression of group effort
to adjust itself to the larger community. Within the Negro community there

are two types, those especially for Negroes and those which are branches of
the agencies of the larger community but located conveniently for use by
Negroes.

TRINITY M.E. CHURCH AND COMMUNITY HOUSE
Located at Prairie Avenue near Thirty-first Street, purchased recently by Negroes.

SOUTH PARK M.E. CHURCH
The congregation moved from a store-front church to this edifice at Thirty-second Street and
South Park Avenue in less than three years after the church was established.

PILGRIM BAPTIST CHURCH
Located at Thirty-third Street and Indiana Avenue. Formerly a Jewish synagogue, purchased
recently by Negroes.

A. AGENCIES ESPECIALLY FOR NEGROES

Chicago Urban League.—This organization is one of the thirty-two
branches of the National Urban League whose headquarters are in New
York City. It was established in Chicago in 1917 during the period of
heaviest migration of Negroes to the city. The numerous problems
consequent upon this influx guided the development of the League's
activities. Its executive board and officers are whites and Negroes of high
standing and influence in both the white and Negro groups, and it is
supported by voluntary subscriptions. Within four years this organization
has taken the leading place among all the social agencies working
especially among Negroes. It has a well-trained staff of twelve paid

workers, and its work is carried out along the lines accepted in modern
social work. The League has organized its activities as follows:
Administration Department, Industrial Department, Research and Records
Department, Children's Department, settlement work.
The work of the Administration Department involves, in addition to general
management, co-operation with other agencies and co-ordination of their
efforts for community improvement through interracial meetings,
conferences, and joint undertakings.
The Industrial Department during 1920 placed more than 15,000 Negroes in
positions, made industrial investigations in sixteen plants, provided lectures
for workingmen in plants and for foremen over Negro workers. It also
investigates complaints of workers, selects and fits men for positions,
secures positions for Negroes where Negroes have never worked before,
and assists in other ways the adjustment of Negroes in industry. More than
25,000 persons passed through the department during 1920.
The Department of Research and Records makes the investigations on the
basis of which the programs of the League are carried out. Its information is
a permanent and growing body of material useful to all agencies and
persons interested in obtaining reliable information concerning Negroes in
Chicago.
The Children's Department handles cases of boys and girls and co-operates
with the schools, juvenile protective organizations, the juvenile court and
probation department, and various other child-helping institutions. A total of
540 such cases were adjusted during 1920.
During 1919 a total of $28,659 was raised and used in the support of the
Chicago Urban League.
The Wendell Phillips Settlement on the West Side is under the supervision
of the League. The settlement has a day nursery and provides a center and
leadership for twenty-five groups in the West Side community.
Wabash Avenue Y.M.C.A.—This organization is a branch of the local Young
Men's Christian Association, but because of its location and the peculiar
social problems of its membership and vicinity, it has become one of the
strongest agencies of the community. Its work is among boys and young

men, many of whom are industrial workers in various plants. Community
work is vigorously promoted. In 1920 an enthusiastic group of 1,137 boys
was enlisted in a neighborhood clean-up campaign, and 100 community
gardens were put in operation. Moving pictures and community singing
were provided during the summer months. The following list gives some
statistics of activities for the first nine months of 1920.
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
Attendance at building 140,740
Attendance at reading-room 19,402
Attendance at Bible classes 1,514
Attendance at industrial clubs 5,394
Attendance at entertainments 6,542
Meals served 100,610
Dormitory attendance 71,396
Persons directed to rooms 614
Persons assisted 1,526
Persons reached through community work 10,406
Personal religious interviews 396
Men referred to churches 196
PHYSICAL WORK
Men used swimming-pool 3,604
Boys used swimming-pool 14,096
Men and boys used shower baths 24,332
Participated in leagues and tournament 3,906
Spectators 44,742
Men attended gymnasium classes 5,622
Boys attended gymnasium classes 17,106

In addition to the foregoing work this institution has promoted efficiency
and industrial clubs among Negro workers in industrial plants, three glee
clubs, noonday recreational programs, and nine baseball teams.
During 1919 the total contributions for support were $15,353, of which
$3,100 came from Negroes. The membership dues of the latter, however,
totaled $16,000 and receipts from operation amounted to $143,747.
Chicago Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.—This organization aims to carry out the general policies
of the National Association as far as they apply to Chicago. The national
purpose is to combat injustice against Negroes, stamp out race
discriminations, prevent lynchings, burnings, and torturings of Negroes,

and, when they do occur, to demand the prosecution of those responsible, to
assure to every citizen of color the common rights of an American citizen,
and secure for colored children equal opportunity in public-school
education.
In Chicago, the principal efforts of this organization have been in the line of
securing justice for Negroes in the courts and opposing race discriminations
in public accommodations. Its most active period followed the riots of
1919. With a number of competent attorneys, white and Negro, it gave legal
support to Negro riot victims and followed through the courts the cases of
many Negroes accused of participation in rioting.