segregation in the north
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Claim: there specific areas of the beath reserved for
white-only
Evidence:
Cook
County (Ill.). Coroner.The Race Riots: Biennial
Report 1918-1919 and....
Page
Images: Page
27
Segregation
on the beac h
Evidence:
ãIt
appears to me that the best information at hand indicated
that this had its origin in or was occasioned by the same
old thing, race prejudice, race restriction, which essayed
to express itself by stopping two colored boys from bathing
or swimming in a certain locality supposed to be pre-empted
by white bathers,ä said Dr. Williams to-day. ãIt
was but another expression of force to take away from the
members of my race the right granted to us by law. Let the
best white and colored people come together and form a
program that will protect us all and save this cityâs
fair name.ä - Pastor Dr. K. L. Williams from Chicago
Daily News riot report
Claim: segregration was backed by law enforcement in the
north
Evidence:
"In all
parts of the city, white mobs dragged from surface cars,
black passengers wholly ignorant of any trouble, and set
upon them. An unidentified man, young
woman and a 3 month old baby were found dead on the street
at the intersection of 47th street and Wentworth
avenue. She had attempted to board a car there when the mob
seized her, beat her, slashed her body into 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 pole,
triumphantly, while the crowd hooted gleefully. All the time
this was happening, several policemen were in the
crowd, but did not make any attempt to make rescue until too
late." - Chicago Defender report on the race riot
Evidence:
"The
segregation line on the bathing beach was drawn by the
police. Then when a boy got over the line and trouble arose,
the police immediately spread their men out through the
district. Wherever colored people were in the habit of
congregating peacefully squads of policemen were placed.
They drew the color line and followed a policy precisely as
the authorities do in Georgia." - Dr. George C. Hall quote
after the 1919 Chicago Race Riot
Claim: blacks were forced to live in segregated areas
consisting of subpar housing and poor environments
Evidence:
Mr.
Aö thinks there would be no housing problem if
prejudice were not so marked. He mentioned a subdivision
east of Stony Island Avenue where it is specifically stated
that Negroes are not desired. Homes there are being sold for
prices within the reach of Negroes, and he feels that at
least 500 Negroes would be glad to pay cash for such homes
anywhere in Chicago if they were given the opportunity. He
feels that proper protection should be given Negroes against
bombers. - from a Charles Johnson interview
Evidence:
There
were some complaints of political exploitation and of being
obliged to live in proximity to gambling and vice that were
encouraged by political bosses in their neighborhoods. -
from an analysis of the causes of the 1919 Chicago Race
Riot by Charles Johnson
Evidence:
Conditions
are not all that they would like. They would like to see
Negroes allowed to live anywhere they choose without
hindrance, they would suppress moving pictures that reveal
murder, drinking, and similar acts that lead young people to
commit crimes. They would also like to see newspapers
abandon their habit of printing articles that are derogatory
to the Negro, thus creating prejudice, and of printing items
unfit for children. Also they would like to see better homes
for Negroes. - from an interview conducted by Charles
Johnson in his analysis of the 1919 Chicago Race
Riot
Claim: often whites resisted housing integration in the
north
Evidence:
The
white people of the neighborhood objected to having the
building occupied by Negroes. White boys of the neighborhood
stoned the building, and its tenants were obliged to call
upon the police for protection. This antagonism now seems to
have disappeared. The white and Negro children play together
amicably. - from a Charles Johnson interview
Evidence:
Although many Negroes had been living in ãwhiteä
neighborhoods, the increased exodus from the old areas
created an hysterical group of persons who formed
ãProperty Ownersâ Associationä for the
purpose of keeping intact white neighborhoods. Prominent
among these was the Kenwood-Hyde Park Property Ownerâs
Improvement Association, as well as the Park Manor
Improvement Association. Early in June the writer, while in
Chicago, attended a private meeting of the first named at
the Kenwood Club House, at Lake Park Avenue and 47th Street.
Various plans were discussed for keeping the Negroes in
ãtheir part of the town,ä such as securing the
discharge of colored persons from positions they held when
they attempted to move into ãwhiteä
neighborhoods, purchasing mortgages of Negroes buying homes
and ejecting them when mortgage notes fell due and were
unpaid, and many more of the same calibre. The language of
many speakers was vicious and strongly prejudicial and had
the distinct effect of creating race bitterness. - Walter
White analysis of the causes of the 1919 Chicago Race
Riot
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Claim:
Evidence:
Claim:
Evidence:
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Claim: whites violently resisted housing
integration in Chicago in the war condition of a hiatus of
residential construction
Evidence:
Due
to a hiatus in residential construction during the war... -
Journal of Negro History 1966 Stanley B. Norvell
Evidence:
From
March, 1918, to the outbreak of the riot, 25 bombs rocked
the homes of blacks and the homes and offices of the
realtors of both races...Another was addressed to the black
tenants on Vincennes Avenue: "We are going to BLOW these
FLATS TO HELL and if you don't want to go with them you had
better move at once." - Journal of Negro History 1970 by
William M. Tuttle
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Black reaction to the race riot
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Claim: After the race riot, black in the north were
not willing to stand passively in the face of violent
discrimination, and would commit to physical self-defense if
necessary
Evidence:
"For three
centuries we have suffered and cowered. No race ever gave
Passive Resistance and Submission to Evil longer, more
piteous trial. Today we raise the terrible weapon
of Self-Defense. When the murderer comes, he
shall not longer strike us in the back. When the armed
lynchers gather, we too must gather armed. When the mob
moves, we propose to meet it with bricks and clubs and
guns.
But we must tread here with solemn caution. We must never
let justifiable self-defense against individuals
become blind and lawless offense against all white folk. We
must not seek reform by violence. We must not
seek Vengeance. Vengeance is Mine,ä saith the Lord; or
to put it otherwise, only Infinite Justice and
Knowledge can assign blame in this poor world, and we
ourselves are sinful men, struggling desperately with our
own crime and ignorance. We must defend ourselves, our
homes, our wives and children against the lawless without
stint or hesitation: but we must carefully and scrupulously
avoid on our own part bitter and unjustifiable
aggression against anybody." - W.E.B. Dubois after the race
riot
Evidence:
"There
are friends of the South who, having studied the evolution
of the new negro, harbor serious misgivings. No mere
fanciful bugaboo is the new negro. He exists. More than once
I have met him. He differs radically from the timorous,
docile negro of the past. Said a new negro,
ãCapân, you mark my words; the next time white
folks pick on colored folks, somethingâs going to
drop÷dead white folks.ä Within a week came race
riots in Chicago, where negroes fought back with surprising
audacity." - "The New Negro" : "When He's Hit , He
Hits Back." by Rollin Lynde Hart (a white congregational
minister) in 1921
Evidence:
ãBack
again, to be lynched, bombed, and riot-frenzied and
segregated!ä cries the Chicago Whip.
ãThe black man fought to make the world safe for
democracy; he now demands that America be made safe for
black Americans.ä - 1921
Evidence:
"I
once heard Booker Washington say, ãthe negro can
afford to be wronged; the white man canât afford to
wrong him.ä Patience was the watchword÷then. It is
seldom the watchword now. Entirely typical of widespread
negro sentiment today is this from the Crisis:
ãFor
three centuries we have suffered and cowered. No race ever
gave passive resistance and submission to evil longer, more
piteous trial. Today we raise the terrible weapon of
self-defense. When the murderer comes, he shall no longer
strike us in the back. When the armed lynchers gather, we
too must gather armed. When the mob moves, we propose to
meet it with bricks and clubs and guns. If the United States
is to be a land of law, we would live humbly and peaceably
in it; if it is to be a land of mobs and lynchers, we might
as well die today as tomorrow.ä
So,
likewise, the New York Age:
ãEvery day we are told to keep quiet. Only a fool
will keep quiet when he is being robbed of his birthright.
Only a coward will lie down and whine under the lash if he
too can give back the lash. America hates, lynches and
enslaves us, not because we are black, but because we are
weak. A strong, united negro race will not be mistreated. It
is always strength over weakness, might over right.ä
Meanwhile a colored preacher writer in the Cleveland
Gazette: ãdonât start anything, but
when something is started make it hot for them and finish
it.ä - "The New Negro" : "When He's Hit, He Hits
Back"
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Claim: blacks organized to advocate for effective
police protection
Evidence:
African-Americans
in these neighborhoods organized among themselves to
advocate
for
effective police protection, as the Chicago police had done
little to protect against and investigate the bombings. -
"Deeds of Mistrust: Race, Housing, and Restrictive
Covenants
in Chicago, 1900-1950" by Wendy Plotkin
Evidence:
Claim: black resistance during the riot
Evidence:
jstor
description of two-sided violence
Evidence:
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