1919 period of white supremacist terrorism and racial riots in many U.S. cities
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Red Summer
Part of the First Red Scare and nadir of American race relations
(clockwise from the top)
A white gang hunting African Americans during the Chicago race riot
An inflammatory newspaper headline during the Elaine race riot
Body of Will Brown after being burned by a white mob during the Omaha race riot
Motorcycle involved in the Washington, D.C. race riot
Article about the Putnam County arson attack
Soldiers with a black resident during the Washington, D.C. race riot
Date
1919; 105 years ago (1919)
Location
United States
Target
African Americans
Participants
Mostly white mobs attacking African-Americans
Outcome
White supremacist terrorist attacks, riots, and murders against black Americans across the United States
Deaths
Hundreds
Inquest
Haynes report
Lusk Committee
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Red Summer
April – June
Morgan County, WV (April 10)
Jenkins, GA (April 13)
Sylvester, Georgia (April 14)
Pickens, Mississippi (May 5)
Philadelphia (May 9)
Charleston, SC (May 10)
Sylvester, Georgia (May 10)
El Dorado, Arkansas (May 21)
Milan, Georgia (May 26)
Putnam County, GA (May 27–28)
New London, CT (May 30)
Monticello, Mississippi (May 31)
Macon, MS (June 7)
Memphis, Tennessee (June 13)
Bibb County, Alabama (June 18)
Annapolis (June 27)
Macon, Mississippi (June 27)
New London, CT (June 29)
July
Bisbee, AZ (July 3)
Dublin, Georgia riot (July 6)
Philadelphia (July 7)
Coatesville, PA (July 8)
Tuscaloosa, Alabama (July 9)
Longview, TX (July 10–12)
Baltimore (July 11)
Garfield Park, IN (July 14)
Port Arthur, TX (July 15)
Louise, Mississippi (July 15)
Washington D.C. (July 19–24)
New York City (July 20)
Norfolk, VA (July 21)
New Orleans, Louisiana (July 23)
Darby, PA (July 23)
Newberry, SC (July 24)
Hobson City, Alabama (July 26)
Chicago (July 27–August 3)
Newberry, South Carolina (July 28)
Bloomington, Illinois (July 31)
Philadelphia (July 31)
Syracuse, NY (July 31)
August – November
Whatley, AL (August 1)
Lincoln, Arkansas (August 3)
Hattiesburg, Mississippi (August 4)
Texarkana, Texas riot of 1919 (August 6)
New York City (August 21)
Austin, TX (August 22)
Laurens County, GA (August 27–29)
Knoxville (August 30–31)
Bogalusa, Louisiana (August 31)
Clarksdale, Mississippi (September 10)
Omaha (September 28–29)
Montgomery, Alabama (September 29)
Elaine, AR (September 30–October 1)
Baltimore (October 1–2)
Corbin, KY (October 31)
Macon, Georgia (November 2)
Ocoee, FL (November 2–3)
Magnolia, Arkansas (November 11)
Wilmington, DE (November 13)
Bogalusa, LA (November 22)
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First Red Scare
Red Summer (Jan 22 – Nov 13)
1918-1920 NYC rent strikes
US Strike wave of 1919
Seattle General Strike (Feb 6–11)
US anarchist bombings (Apr 29 – Jun 2)
Cleveland May Day riots (May 1)
Boston Police Strike (Sep 9)
Steel strike (Sep 22 – Jan 8)
Palmer Raids (Nov 7 – Jan 2)
Coal strike (Nov 1 – Dec 10)
Part of a series on the
Nadir of American race relations
Violence in the 1906 Atlanta race massacre
Historical background
Reconstruction era
Voter suppression
Disfranchisement
Redeemers
Compromise of 1877
Jim Crow laws
Segregation
Anti-miscegenation laws
Convict leasing
Practices
Common actions
Expulsions of African Americans
Lynchings
Lynching postcards
Sundown town
Whitecapping
Vigilante groups
Black Legion
Indiana White Caps
Ku Klux Klan
Red Shirts
Lynchings
Andrew Richards
Michael Green
Nevlin Porter and Johnson Spencer
Eliza Woods
Amos Miller
George Meadows
Joe Vermillion
Jim Taylor
Joe Coe
People's Grocery
Ephraim Grizzard
Alfred Blount
Samuel J. Bush
Stephen Williams
Frazier B. Baker and Julia Baker
John Henry James
Sam Hose
George Ward
David Wyatt
Marie Thompson
Watkinsville
Ed Johnson
William Burns
Walker family
Laura and L. D. Nelson
King Johnson
John Evans
Jesse Washington
Newberry Six
Anthony Crawford
Ell Persons
Jim McIlherron
George Taylor
John Hartfield
1920 Duluth
James Harvey and Joe Jordan
Joe Pullen
Massacres and riots
Opelousas massacre
Rock Springs massacre
Thibodaux massacre
Spring Valley Race Riot of 1895
Phoenix election riot
Wilmington insurrection of 1898
Pana riot
Robert Charles riots
Evansville race riot
Atlanta Massacre of 1906
Springfield race riot of 1908
Johnson–Jeffries riots
1912 racial conflict in Forsyth County
1917 Chester race riot
East St. Louis riots
Elaine massacre
Red Summer
Chicago race riot of 1919
Washington race riot of 1919
Ocoee massacre
Tulsa race massacre
Perry race riot
Rosewood massacre
Reactions
Anti-lynching movement
Exodusters movement
Great Migration
Back to Africa movement
Related topics
Black genocide
Civil rights movement (1865–1896)
Civil rights movement (1896–1954)
Mass racial violence in the United States
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Red Summer was a period in mid-1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots occurred in more than three dozen cities across the United States, and in one rural county in Arkansas. The term "Red Summer" was coined by civil rights activist and author James Weldon Johnson, who had been employed as a field secretary by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1916. In 1919, he organized peaceful protests against the racial violence.[1][2]
In most instances, attacks consisted of white-on-black violence. Numerous African Americans fought back, notably in the Chicago and Washington, D.C., race riots, which resulted in 38 and 15 deaths respectively, along with even more injuries, and extensive property damage in Chicago.[3] Still, the highest number of fatalities occurred in the rural area around Elaine, Arkansas, where an estimated 100–240 black people and five white people were killed—an event now known as the Elaine massacre.
The anti-black riots developed from a variety of post-World War I social tensions, generally related to the demobilization of both black and white members of the United States Armed Forces following World War I; an economic slump; and increased competition in the job and housing markets between ethnic European Americans and African Americans.[4] The time would also be marked by labor unrest, for which certain industrialists used black people as strikebreakers, further inflaming the resentment of white workers.
The riots and killings were extensively documented by the press, which, along with the federal government, feared socialist and communist influence on the black civil rights movement of the time following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. They also feared foreign anarchists, who had bombed the homes and businesses of prominent figures and government leaders.
^Erickson, Alana J. 1960. "Red Summer." Pp. 2293–94 in Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. New York: Macmillan.
^Cunningham, George P. 1960. "James Weldon Johnson." Pp. 1459–61 in Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. New York: Macmillan.
^The New York Times 1919.
^Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) 2018, p. Part 3.
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