Red Summer of 1919

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Red Summer, coined by author James Weldon Johnson, is used to describe the summer and autumn of 1919. Race riots erupted in several cities in both the North and South of the United States. The three most violent episodes happened in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Elaine, Arkansas. These were part of a series of 20 or more race riots occurring in the U.S. where African Americans were the victims of hostile attacks, including:

1919 - Charleston Race riot, May 10, Charleston, South Carolina
1919 - Washington, DC Riot 1919, July 19, Washington, D.C.
1919 - Chicago Race Riot, July 27 - Aug. 2, Chicago, Illinois
1919 - Knoxville Race riot, Aug. 30, Knoxville, Tennessee
1919 - Longview Race Riot, Longview, Texas
1919 - Omaha Race riot, Sept. 28, Omaha, Nebraska
1919 - Elaine Race Riot, Oct. 1, Elaine, Arkansas

The riots were sparked by racism, unemployment and inflation. Rapid demobilization and a lack of price control had led to inflation and unemployment, which resulted in competition, especially between whites and blacks, for jobs. White workers did not want African Americans competing equally for jobs with them.

The unrest was intensified by the Red Scare; African Americans who wanted racial equality were branded as radicals. The Communist Jamaican poet Claude McKay wrote his poem "If We Must Die" in response to the situation.

Unlike earlier race riots in U.S. history, these riots were among the first where there was an organized black response--black leaders promoted self-defense by any means necessary.

There were similar riots in Great Britain - Glasgow, South Shields, Liverpool, Cardiff and London. There, racial tension had erupted into violence because of fear of political movements, such as the Red Clydeside, which was at the time campaigning for the forty-hour workweek.

[edit] References

Red Summer - A Season of Fear
Erickson, Alana J. Red Summer. In Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1996.
Repression Against the IWW
Dray, Philip. At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, New York: Random House, 2002.
Zinn, Howard. Voices of a People's History of the United States. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2004.