The Great Migration

The Great Migration — page 3 — CHAPTER ONE

The Great Migration — page 4 — A RIOT ERUPTS On July 27 1919 temperatures Fahrenheit 32 C in Chicago soared above 90 degrees Illinois Seventeen-year-old Eugene Williams and his three friends wanted to cool down They headed for a beach along the shores of Lake Michigan The teens splashed in the water and then climbed onto a homemade raft As the teens floated the raft drifted across an invisible line White swimmers stayed on one side of the line Black swimmers remained on the other side Williams and his friends were African American They had floated into the white swimming area Tensions between white and black people had been simmering Bystanders leave the Lake Michigan beach in Chicago Illinois as the 1919 riot begins

The Great Migration — page 5 — PERSPECTIVES RACIAL TENSIONS After the 1919 Chicago riot civil rights activist Walter White wrote an article in the Crisis The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People NAACP publishes this magazine The NAACP works for equal rights and justice for African Americans In White’s article he summarized the causes of racial tensions in Chicago One cause was racial prejudice White people were prejudiced against black people There were many other causes Black workers competed for jobs with white workers Law enforcement often did not punish white people who committed crimes against black people Many white people refused to allow black residents to move into their neighborhoods all summer When the raft crossed the line those tensions turned into violence White swimmers threw stones at Williams and his friends Williams fell off the raft and drowned during the attack The fighting that followed injured many others Black swimmers identified the man who they believed had stoned Williams But the white police officer on duty refused to arrest the man The incident quickly

The Great Migration — page 6 — White National Guardsmen confront an African American man during the 1919 Chicago race riot escalated By midnight a full-scale riot had erupted in the South Side neighborhood of Chicago White rioters targeted this area because many black people lived there The riot involved shootings fistfights looting and fires The National Guard was called in after four days to stop the violence But fighting continued until August 3

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