Chicago Reflects on the 1919 Race Riots

FAIN: GW-261139-18

Newberry Library (Chicago, IL 60610-3305)
Donald Bradford Hunt (Project Director: January 2018 to September 2018)
Karen Christianson (Project Director: September 2018 to October 2022)

Implementation of a city-wide series of eleven public programs and development of digital resources exploring the history and aftermath of the Chicago race riots of July 1919 on the centenary.

The Newberry Library, in partnership with ten Chicago cultural organizations, seeks an NEH Community Conversations grant to support Chicago Reflects on the 1919 Race Riots. This city-wide series of 11 conversations and four digital resources will address the searing events of Chicago’s summer of 1919, when white fear of black migration, coupled with volatile economic conditions, sparked violence. Our proposal joins, for the first time, major cultural institutions and several smaller, award-winning, community-based non-profits. Together, we propose a varied and creative lineup of community conversations proposed aimed at racially, ethnically, and generationally diverse audiences across the city. Our events encompass a wide range of formats, including thoughtfully mediated conversations, film premieres, youth poetry slams, and a bike tour. Each provides opportunities to consider how humanistic work from past and present has responded to 1919 and reflected upon its legacies.

Media Coverage

'Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots' looks to bring city to terms with a chilling summer 100 years ago (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Steve Johnson
Publication: Chicago Tribune
Date: 1/18/2019
Abstract: One hundred years ago this summer, a black teen on a raft crossed an imaginary line into a “white” section of a Lake Michigan beach, was stoned by white bathers and drowned. The interracial battle on city streets that followed caused 38 deaths and set the stage for decades of segregation, discrimination and civic dysfunction. Yet if you search the city for a commemoration of the Chicago Race Riots, as the events of July 1919 are known, you’ll find just one small marker, according to organizers of an upcoming series of events. The city’s collective neglect of this dark and seminal moment in its history is a topic that the Newberry Library and 13 other Chicago institutions hope to address with the yearlong project “Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots,” an initiative that the partners in the project will announce formally next week.
URL: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/museums/ct-ent-chicago-1919-race-riots-project-0122-story.html

Chicago 1919 Program Will Honor The 100-Year Anniversary of Chicago’s Race Riot (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Katherine Newman
Publication: Weekly Citizen
Date: 1/30/2019
Abstract: The Newberry Library, a world-renowned independent research library in Chicago, and its project partners recently announced Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots which is a year-long initiative that will honor the 100-year anniversary of the Chicago race riots. The year of programming will begin Saturday, Feb. 23, at the DuSable Museum of African American History. The Chicago 1919 project was made possible through funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is being coordinated by the Newberry Library in partnership with 13 other Chicago institutions, including the Chicago Urban League which was established in 1916 and supported Chicago’s African American population before, during and after the race riots of 1919.
URL: http://thechicagocitizen.com/news/2019/jan/30/chicago-1919-program-will-honor-100-year-anniversa/

Celebrate Chicago’s Black History (Every) Month (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Karen Hawkins
Publication: Chicago Reader
Date: 2/7/2019
Abstract: In February: The Newberry Library, in partnership with 12 other Chicago institutions, is holding a year of events to examine the race riots of July 1919 that left 38 people dead and 520 injured, the vast majority of them black. The first event of the year is Saturday, February 23, at the DuSable Museum of African American History (740 E. 56th Pl.) and includes a multimedia presentation about the riots, breakout conversations about police brutality and other topics, and a reading by Eve Ewing from her new book of poems about what happened in 1919. All year: The opening event is sold out, but more programming is planned throughout 2019 about race and journalism, segregation and public education, literature, and more.
URL: https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/celebrate-chicagos-black-history-every-month/Content?oid=67523878yy;y;oo;o

Impact of Chicago Race Riots Of 1919 Still Felt 100 Years Later (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jim Williams
Publication: CBS Chicago Newscast
Date: 2/24/2019
Abstract: One hundred years ago this summer, one of the most tragic chapters in Chicago history started on a beach and spread three miles. Race riots killed nearly 40 Chicagoans and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. This year the Newberry Library and 13 other cultural institutions, including the DuSable Museum, are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Chicago race riots explaining how its impact is still felt today.
URL: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/02/24/impact-of-chicago-race-riots-of-1919-still-felt-100-years-later/

1919 Race Riots in Chicago: A Look Back 100 Years Later (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Tonya Francisco
Publication: WGN News
Date: 2/26/2019
Abstract: This year marks 100 years since the Chicago Race Riot—a tragic event that has shaped politics and race relations in the city. Many Chicagoans do not know the whole story, but there is a push to educate and explore solutions to problems today that are similar to that very difficult period in the city's history. Now, the Chicago Urban League is one of 14 cultural institutions across the city, including the Newberry Library taking part in a year-long exploration of the history and legacy of the 1919 Race Riot.
URL: http://https://wgntv.com/2019/02/25/1919-race-riots-in-chicago-a-look-back-100-years-later/?fbclid=IwAR3nuggiXAKy_ut_h5uzna6dJztyuLiBKShLKpfGENAwTb6LwtEjZUjaTnA

“‘Chicago 1919’ explores racial tension, from Eugene Williams to Laquan McDonald (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Maudlyne Ihejirika
Publication: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 3/10/2019
Abstract: [on the front page] On July 27, 1919, Juanita Mitchell was 8 years old and only just arrived with her mother and sister from New Orleans to her uncle’s home in Bronzeville, before the city imploded. It’s 100 years later. The south suburban woman is 107.
URL: http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/chicago-1919-race-riots-explores-racial-tension-eugene-williams-laquan-mcdonald/

"To Remember the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, Commemoration Project Looks to Public Art (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jason Daley
Publication: SmartNews: Smithsonian.com
Date: 7/30/2019
Abstract: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project is currently raising money to install public works of art around the city to commemorate where 38 people were killed during a racially motivated massacre 100 years ago.
URL: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/100-years-ago-red-summer-race-riots-gripped-america-180972763/

Commemorating Chicago's Red Summer of 1919 (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Pat Nabong
Publication: Belt Magazine
Date: 7/30/2019
Abstract: This story was recounted by Peter Cole, a historian at Western Illinois University and the co-director of Chicago Race Riots Commemoration Project, a new initiative to acknowledge a history that he says seems to have been erased from Chicago’s collective memory. Through this project, Cole hopes that people will remember. “Forgetting the past has not resulted in racial justice and racial equality and racial harmony,” he said. And the past is tethered to the present, added Franklin Cosey-Gay, the co-director of Chicago Race Riots Commemoration Project. “The 1919 Chicago Race Riots is the origin story to help us understand the structural constraints that exist at the housing, education, economic, justice and health systems in Chicago,” he said.
URL: https://beltmag.com/1919-race-riots-chicago-photos/

Hundreds of Black Americans Were Injured in Chicago's 'Red Summer' of Race Riots (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Pat Nabong
Publication: Associated Press
Date: 7/24/2019
Abstract: It happened 100 years ago, in the "Red Summer" of race riots that spread across the United States. But the terror of those days still reverberates in a city that continues to grapple with segregation, housing discrimination, and deep tension between residents and police.
URL: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/24/chicagos-red-summer-segregation-still-issue-after-race-riots/1812339001/

It’s Been 100 Years: Is Chicago Finally Ready To Reckon With the City’s 1919 Race Riots?+ (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: Block Club Chicago
Date: 7/23/2019
Abstract: Not talking about the 1919 race riots has been the Chicago Way for 100 years, but ignoring one of the ugliest periods in the city's history is hampering its present and future.
URL: https://blockclubchicago.org/2019/07/23/its-been-100-years-is-chicago-finally-ready-to-reckon-with-the-citys-1919-race-riots/

The Red Summer of 1919 (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Julius L. Jones
Publication: Chicago History Museum Blog
Date: 7/26/2019
Abstract: This Saturday marks one hundred years since the Chicago Race Riot, which began on July 27 and ended on August 3, 1919. In this photo essay, CHM assistant curator Julius L. Jones recounts the events of that tumultuous week, as well as the legacy of activism that came from it. All images are from the collection of the Chicago History Museum.
URL: https://www.chicagohistory.org/chi1919/

Bike Ride: Visualizing the 1919 Chicago Race Riots in Today's City (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: Programming Librarian
Date: 7/22/2019
Abstract: This event was a large-scale (approximately 140 people), 10-mile bike ride through Chicago's South Side neighborhoods, where violence erupted during the Chicago Race Riots of July 1919. Facilitated by Blackstone Bicycle Works, a community-based nonprofit, and in partnership with other community-based groups, the tour started at the only marker of the riots in the city — at 29th Street and the lakefront — and then moved through the neighborhoods of Bronzeville, Bridgeport, the Stockyards and back to the lake. We made eight stops at historic points to learn some history, hear from our partners and reflect on the events of 100 years ago.
URL: http://www.programminglibrarian.org/programs/bike-ride-visualizing-1919-chicago-race-riots-today%E2%80%99s-city

Chicago Residents Commemorate 100th Anniversary of Red Summer Race Riots (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: ABC 7 Eyewitness News
Date: 7/28/2019
Abstract: On this day 100 years ago, the race riots of the Red Summer of 1919 rocked Chicago, setting the city on a course of racial segregation that still remains. Dozens of people were killed, all because a young boy crossed an imaginary boundary at 31st Street Beach. To mark the 100th anniversary, residents gathered Saturday at the beach near a small marker noting where the unrest began. They held a ceremony, sponsored by the Bronzeville Historical Society, to bring to light one of Chicago's most violent racial conflicts.
URL: https://abc7chicago.com/society/chicago-commemorates-100th-anniversary-of-red-summer-race-riots/5423376/

Annual Bughouse Square Debates Held in Washington Park (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: CBS 2 Sunday News
Date: 7/28/2019
Abstract: Footage of Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaking at the Newberry Library's program, "The Bughouse Square Debates: Legacies of 1919," on July 27, 2019.
URL: http://mms.tveyes.com/MediaView/?c3RhdGlvbj02ODAmU3RhcnREYXRlVGltZT0wNyUyZjI4JTJmMjAxOSswNSUzYTM0JTNhNTcmRW5kRGF0ZVRpbWU9MDclMmYyOCUyZjIwMTkrMDUlM2EzNiUzYTEwJiYmZHVyYXRpb249MTM5Njk5JnBhcnRuZXJpZD03MzEzJiZoaWdobGlnaHRyZWdleD0lNWNibmV3YmVycnkrbGlicmFyeSU1Y2ImbW9kZWRpdG9yZW5hYmxlPXRydWUmbW9kZWRpdG9yZGVzdGluYXRpb25zPTQmJmV4cGlyYXRpb249MDglMmYyNyUyZjIwMTkrMDUlM2EzNCUzYTU3LjAwMCZpbnN0YW50UGxheT1UcnVlJnNpZ25hdHVyZT0yNmI3OGJiYmVmMTQ0OWE2N2NlZDQzNTFlZTM2MTY5NQ==

Newberry Library Hosts Bughouse Square Debates (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: WBN Weekend Morning News
Date: 7/28/2019
Abstract: News coverage of the Newberry Library's program, "The Bughouse Square Debates: Legacies of 1919," July 27, 2019.
URL: http://mms.tveyes.com/MediaView/?c3RhdGlvbj0yNzQwJlN0YXJ0RGF0ZVRpbWU9MDclMmYyOCUyZjIwMTkrMDglM2EwOCUzYTM3JkVuZERhdGVUaW1lPTA3JTJmMjglMmYyMDE5KzA4JTNhMDklM2EwNSYmJmR1cmF0aW9uPTMwMDczMyZwYXJ0bmVyaWQ9NzMxMyYmaGlnaGxpZ2h0cmVnZXg9JTVjYm5ld2JlcnJ5K2xpYnJhcnklNWNiJm1vZGVkaXRvcmVuYWJsZT10cnVlJm1vZGVkaXRvcmRlc3RpbmF0aW9ucz00JiZleHBpcmF0aW9uPTA4JTJmMjclMmYyMDE5KzA4JTNhMDglM2EzNy4wMDAmaW5zdGFudFBsYXk9VHJ1ZSZzaWduYXR1cmU9ODA1Y2YwYWU0NTU3YTg3OTMwMjhmMDYyZTFkN2FkMzg=

100 Years Later, Shadow of Red Summer of 1919 Race Riots Still Hangs over Chicago (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: ABC 7 Chicago
Date: 7/26/2019
Abstract: News story about the Chicago 1919 race riots, their legacy, and upcoming commemorative activities around the city.
URL: https://abc7chicago.com/society/100-years-later-shadow-of-red-summer-race-riots-still-hangs-over-chicago/5422281/

Church will Present 3-Day Program on Chicago's 1919 Race Riots (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Mrinalini Pandey
Publication: Hyde Park Herald
Date: 6/25/2019
Abstract: The Interfaith Council of the Augustana Lutheran Church in Hyde Park is organizing three days of events from June 25-27 commemorating the 1919 riots in partnership with the Baha’i community of Hyde Park. The aim of the event is to revive 1919 riots in the collective memory, with a view that this provides an understanding of the city and the racial inequalities that still beset it.
URL: https://hpherald.com/2019/06/25/church-swill-present-3-day-program-on-chicagos-1919-race-riots/

Race Riot Anniversary to be Marked July 27 (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: Windy City Times
Date: 6/21/2019
Abstract: In Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, the 100th anniversary of day that ignited the 1919 Chicago Race Riot ( CRR19 ) will be commemorated with a couple events on Saturday, July 27.
URL: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Race-Riot-anniversary-to-be-marked-July-27/66602.html%3cbr%20/%3e

Editorial: Chicago’s race riots of 1919 and the epilogue that resonates today (Media Coverage)
Author(s): The Editorial Board of the Chicago Tribune
Publication: Chicago Tribune
Date: 6/19/2019
Abstract: Throughout this year, the Newberry Library and other Chicago institutions are sponsoring events and educational efforts to acquaint today’s Chicagoans with that violent week and what sparked it.
URL: https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/editorials/ct-editorial-race-riots-chicago-1919-20190719-mchp4rs7dvbilaf6m27i2kuzxy-story.html

"Ready to Explode": How a Black Boy's Drifting Raft Trigged a Deadly Week of Riots 100 Years Ago in Chicago (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: Chicago Tribune
Date: 6/19/2019
Abstract: One hundred years ago, 7-year-old Juanita Mitchell should have been playing with other children in the streets during that summer’s heat wave and getting to know her new home on Chicago’s South Side. But instead, Mitchell and other relatives were trapped inside a stifling upstairs room, sometimes huddled behind a piano, as angry mobs of young white men and boys roamed the so-called black belt looking to maim, kill or set fires. Mitchell — one of the last living eyewitnesses to Chicago’s most violent racial conflict that began on July 27, 1919 — still recalls her uncle Cecil’s signal that white men armed with guns had crossed Wentworth Avenue, the racial dividing line, and entered their neighborhood.
URL: https://www.chicagotribune.com/history/ct-1919-chicago-riots-100th-anniversary-20190719-k4dexppvd5c6bkqbfwhgxfiacy-story.html

Eve L. Ewing on ‘1919,’ her new poetry collection about Chicago’s little-known race riot (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: Chicago Tribune
Date: 6/19/2019
Abstract: Eve L. Ewing would like folks to spend 20 minutes Wikipedia-ing ‘Chicago race riot of 1919,’ the violent conflict that erupted across the city a century ago — the deadliest in a wave of race riots that swept the United States that year. “At the bare minimum, I just want people to Google ‘Red Summer,’” says the acclaimed author of “Electric Arches” and “Ghosts in the Schoolyard,” when asked how she hopes readers will respond to her new poetry collection, “1919.”
URL: https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-eve-ewing-1919-0623-20190619-pt54dvj225gurl5gnjllkjfmli-story.html

Learn how public art shaped Chicago through walking tour series (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: Curbed Chicago
Date: 4/30/2019
URL: https://chicago.curbed.com/2019/4/30/18524213/public-art-newberry-library-chicago-history-seminar

Things to do in Chicago this weekend: Chicago 1919 series: ‘Migration and Housing’ (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Adam Lukach
Publication: Chicago Tribune
Date: 5/3/2019
Abstract: Chicago 1919 is a conversation series that will host events throughout 2019 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the city’s historic race riots. “Migration and Housing” is the first program, a conversation led by writer Lee Bey, Dr. Tanesha House and Brad Hunt from the Newberry Library.
URL: https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-things-to-do-in-chicago-this-weekend-20190501-story.html

Race talks grow as 100th anniversary of race riots nears (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: The Crusader Newspaper
Date: 3/14/2019
Abstract: Chicago’s 1919 race riots barely register in the city’s current consciousness, yet they were a significant turning point in shaping the racial divides seen today. The Newberry Library and 13 other Chicago institutions have organized Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots, a year-long initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, engaging in public conversations about the legacy of the most violent week in Chicago history.
URL: https://chicagocrusader.com/race-talks-grow-as-100th-anniversary-of-race-riots-nears/

Chicago Reflects on Bloody 1919 Race Riot, Seeking Direction from the Past (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Nader Issa
Publication: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 7/27/2019
Abstract: At multiple events Saturday for the 100th anniversary of the start of the riots, the city reflected on the dark chapter of its history and the legacy of the riots today.
URL: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/7/27/8933166/chicago-reflects-on-bloody-summer-1919-seeking-direction-from-past

How Chicago is Facing its Violent History (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jonita Davis
Publication: Yes Magazine
Date: 7/26/2019
Abstract: A century after the deadly riot, the Chicago Race Riots of 1919 Commemoration Project looks to build bridges in a city still grappling with its segregated past—and present.
URL: https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/chicago-race-riots-project-confronts-violent-history-20190726

Blood in the Streets (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Robert Loerzel
Publication: Chicago Magazine
Date: 7/23/2019
Abstract: A hundred years ago, Chicago experienced the worst spasm of racial violence in the city’s history. Here’s how the riot unfolded, in the words of those who lived it.
URL: http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2019/1919-Race-Riot/

Mapping Chicago’s 1919 race riots (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Jack Wang
Publication: UChicago News
Date: 7/22/2019
Abstract: Interactive map built by UChicago scholar and students sheds new light on riots.
URL: https://news.uchicago.edu/story/mapping-chicagos-1919-race-riots

Bike Tour Brings Riders Up Close To Chicago’s Race Riot History (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Mariah Woelfel
Publication: WBEZ 91.5 Chicago
Date: 6/30/2019
Abstract: Nearly 150 people took a bike tour through the city’s Bronzeville neighborhood Saturday for a firsthand look at an important part of Chicago history. WBEZ rode along on the tour to bring you a bit of history from each stop.
URL: https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/bike-tour-brings-riders-up-close-to-chicagos-race-riot-history/7a2c8ef8-3c83-460d-ba75-ae1b1e1364f3

The most violent week in Chicago history (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Terrence F. Chappell
Publication: Chicago Reader
Date: 4/30/2019
Abstract: Before there was Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Laquan McDonald, there was 17-year-old Eugene Williams.
URL: https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-most-violent-week-in-chicago-history-race-riots-1919/Content?oid=69973632

The Chicago Race Riots of 1919: violence that cemented the city's segregation (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Sher Watts Spooner
Publication: Daily Kos
Date: 7/7/2019
Abstract: Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots is a year-long initiative revolving around the history of the riots. The project is holding events throughout the city all year to teach current Chicagoans about the history that few of them know. The effort is being funded primarily by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and is being led by the Newberry Library with support from 13 other local institutions. Partner organizations include the DuSable Museum for African American History, the Chicago History Museum, and many others.
URL: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/7/7/1550079/-The-Chicago-Race-Riots-of-1919-violence-that-cemented-the-city-s-segregation

Segregation among issues Chicago faces 100 years after riots (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Noreen Nasir
Publication: Associated Press
Date: 7/24/2019
Abstract: It happened 100 years ago, in the “Red Summer” of race riots that spread across the United States. But the terror of those days still reverberates in a city that continues to grapple with segregation, housing discrimination, and deep tension between residents and police.
URL: https://apnews.com/d759f01363584b3a9aa232f07082475a?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

1919 race riots: the seminal Chicago event that many know almost nothing about (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Nader Issa
Publication: Chicago Sun-Times
Date: 7/26/2019
Abstract: “It has never been comfortable in this country to talk about race. People would rather not and would rather attribute a lot of the difficulties that we have to something other than race,” said Charles Whitaker, dean of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
URL: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/7/26/8932343/chicago-1919-race-riots-beach-100th-anniversary-red-summer

Was labor unrest at the stockyards to blame for the violence that erupted into the 1919 race riots? (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Deanna Isaacs
Publication: Chicago Reader
Date: 7/23/2019
Abstract: You may have heard about the instigating event of the 1919 Chicago race riot. On Sunday, July 27, Eugene Williams, a Black teenager, inadvertently floated across an invisible line into the "white section" of the water at the 29th Street Beach, where he was stoned by a white man and drowned. A week of rioting followed, ending with 38 more people dead and more than 500 wounded. What's not as well known is the convoluted history of Chicago labor tension that led up to the riot, says Concordia University professor David Bates, who's documented that history in a new book, The Ordeal of the Jungle.
URL: https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/newberry-library-1919-race-riot-bughouse-square/Content?oid=71907392

Associated Products

Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots (Web Resource)
Title: Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots
Author: Karen Christianson
Author: D. Bradford Hunt
Author: Liesl Olson
Abstract: "Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots" is a year-long initiative to heighten the 1919 Chicago race riots in the city’s collective memory, engaging Chicagoans in public conversations about the legacy of the most violent week in Chicago history. Funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities "Community Conversations" grant, the project is being coordinated by the Newberry Library in partnership with 13 other Chicago institutions. At the heart of Chicago 1919 are 11 dynamic public programs designed to activate audiences and encourage them to examine the mechanisms through which segregation and inequality have been created, solidified, and reinforced over the past 100 years. Each program will focus on a specific expression of institutionalized racism, from policing and education to housing and the media. Chicago 1919 aims to address difficult history, to come together in recognition and reconciliation, and to imagine possible ways forward.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: http://chicago1919.org/

Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots
Writer: Alex Teller
Director: Alex Teller
Producer: Alex Teller
Abstract: Historians along with staff from the Newberry Library and the DuSable Museum of African American History reflect on the 1919 Chicago race riots. Marking the 100th anniversary of the riots, the Newberry is coordinating a series of community conversations throughout 2019 that explore the legacy of the most violent week in Chicago history.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: http://youtu.be/a5iMG90XyTw
Access Model: Open access
Format: Video

Chicago 1919 Race Riot Bicycle Tour (Web Resource)
Title: Chicago 1919 Race Riot Bicycle Tour
Author: Newberry Library
Abstract: Vamonde web page and phone app for a 10-mile bike tour through the South Side neighborhoods where violence erupted during the summer of 1919. The tour starts at the only marker of the riots in the city--at 29th Street and the lakefront--and then moves through Bronzeville, Bridgeport, the Stockyards, and back toward the lake. Historical photographs of and information about sites of violence encourage riders to visualize the past. Where did the events of 1919 take place? How have neighborhoods changed over time? Where does one see boundaries and segregation while riding these streets? How can one see and feel history in the city’s built environment?
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://www.vamonde.com/adventure/link/1/774
Primary URL Description: Vamonde web page and phone app for a 10-mile bike tour through the South Side neighborhoods where violence erupted during the summer of 1919.
Secondary URL: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1X4Qj-WoL_4Kr6oreS88qK4Khu7jiRld1&ll=41.82900937564235%2C-87.62908246682639&z=13
Secondary URL Description: Google Map of the bike tour detailed in Vamonde.

Public Newsroom 102: Reporting on Race and Riots—1919 to Today (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Public Newsroom 102: Reporting on Race and Riots—1919 to Today
Writer: City Bureau
Director: City Bureau
Producer: City Bureau
Abstract: At this newsroom, we draw connections to how reporting on the 1919 riots relates to the coverage of segregation nearly half a century later and what, if anything, has changed today. Our featured guests for the evening are Ethan Michaeli, author of The Defender: How the Legendary Black Newspaper Changed America (2015), The Obsidian Collection Archives founder Angela Ford, and City Bureau Co-Founder Darryl Holliday. The evening’s conversation between Michaeli, Ford and Holliday is part of a year-long series, Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots, led by the Newberry Library.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://www.spreaker.com/user/citybureau/public-newsroom-102-reporting-on-race-an
Primary URL Description: Audio recording of the April 4, 2019, program Reporting on Race: From The Chicago Defender and Carl Sandburg to Chicago Journalism Today
Access Model: Open access
Format: Digital File

Migration and Housing: A Century of Color Lines (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Migration and Housing: A Century of Color Lines
Writer: Newberry Library
Director: Newberry Library
Producer: Newberry Library
Abstract: During the 20th century African Americans, Latinos, and Asian-Americans migrated to Chicago from other parts of the country and the world. European-descended residents and recent immigrants responded to these migrations with policies and choices that segregated the city. The 1919 Race Riots in particular set in motion efforts to keep groups of people separate, utilizing a powerful combination of violence, intimidation, and law - from neighborhood associations and restrictive covenants to redlining and contract purchase schemes. Today we have still not solved how to break down the spatial boundaries that separate Chicagoans. Leading the conversation were Lee Bey, architectural critic, photographer, and writer; Dr. Tanesha House, speaker, educator, consultant, and west side activist; and Brad Hunt from the Newberry Library, a historian of housing in Chicago.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK1JgyhH46Y
Primary URL Description: Video recording of the May 4, 2019, program Migration and Housing: A Century of Color Lines
Access Model: Open access
Format: Video

Segregation and Public Education: Separate and Not Equal in 20th-Century Chicago (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Segregation and Public Education: Separate and Not Equal in 20th-Century Chicago
Writer: Newberry Library
Director: Newberry Library
Producer: Newberry Library
Abstract: This program explored how the legacy of the 1919 riots and the resulting hardening of segregation influenced the trajectory of Chicago’s education system. Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of A Political Education: Black Politics and Education Reform in Chicago Since the 1960s, provided an overview of the history of segregation in Chicago's public schools, and especially the relationship between segregation in housing and in schooling, from the early 20th century through the 1970s. Jen Johnson, Chief of Staff at Chicago Teacher's Union and Former CPS History Teacher, discussed how she dealt with teaching this aspect of the city's history to public school students; and also addressed the current state of school segregation and contemporary organizing. The two speakers then engaged in a wide-ranging conversation with each other and opened the discussion to questions and feedback from the audience.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KynboAUc6Mg
Primary URL Description: Video recording of the June 1, 2019, program, Segregation and Public Education: Separate and Not Equal in 20th-Century Chicago
Access Model: Open access
Format: Video

Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots Opening Event (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots Opening Event
Writer: Newberry Library
Director: Newberry Library
Producer: Newberry Library
Abstract: The Chicago 1919 Race Riots were the most violent week in Chicago history, sparked by the death of Eugene Williams, an African American teenager stoned and drowned by a white man for floating his raft over an invisible line into a whites-only South Side beach. The police refused to arrest the white perpetrator, and the city erupted in arson, looting, and thirty-eight deaths (23 black, 15 white), until the National Guard was called to restore order. The riots inflicted lasting scars on the city, still visible in the lines of segregation throughout the city's built environment, its schools, and its selective policing. The Opening Event of our year-long series of conversations on the history and legacy of the 1919 race riots. What happened one hundred years ago on a Chicago beach during a sweltering summer day? How and why did violence erupt across the city? What were the effects of the riots in the ensuing decades? And what can we learn from the past that might help us imagine a better future?
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IshlZiHIsZw
Primary URL Description: Video recording of the February 23, 2019, Opening Event for "Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots"
Access Model: Open access
Format: Video

Reflections of Youth: Spoken Word Performance and Conversation (Film/TV/Video Broadcast or Recording)
Title: Reflections of Youth: Spoken Word Performance and Conversation
Writer: Newberry Library
Director: Newberry Library
Producer: L Stop Media
Abstract: In this spoken word performance, held as part of the Newberry's year-long citywide event series "Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots," members of the Young Chicago Authors Bomb Squad shared new work reflecting on the 100-year legacy of the 1919 Chicago race riots. "Reflections of Youth" was held August 12, 2019 at the Harold Washington Library. This video was originally live-streamed courtesy of L Stop Media.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2tr8u-UsfA
Primary URL Description: Video of Reflections of Youth: Spoken Performance and Conversation, held August 12, 2019, at Chicago Public Library's Harold Washington Center.
Access Model: Open access
Format: Digital File

Race Riots and Chicago in 1919: A Digital Exhibition by the Chicago Collections Consortium (Web Resource)
Title: Race Riots and Chicago in 1919: A Digital Exhibition by the Chicago Collections Consortium
Author: David Greenstein
Author: Megan Keller Young
Author: Amara Andrew
Author: Francesco De Salvatore
Author: Erin Glasco
Author: Jonathan Kelley
Author: Ion Nimerencu
Abstract: One hundred years ago, a week of rioting tore open deep racial divisions in Chicago. This timeline of 1919 places Chicago’s race riots in the context of dramatic local and global events that year. Scroll through the timeline and select each entry to explore records that show how Chicagoans experienced explosive labor conflicts, soldiers returning from war, changing migration, a dirigible disaster, and other events that shaped the city in 1919.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://exhibits.chicagocollections.org/1919/index
Primary URL Description: A timeline with images and essays to provide the local and global context of the 1919 Chicago race riots.

Mapping the 1919 Chicago Riot (Web Resource)
Title: Mapping the 1919 Chicago Riot
Author: John Clegg
Abstract: Mapping the 1919 Chicago Riot is a collaborative project from researchers at the University of Chicago to visualise the 1919 riot combining original historical sources with modern geospatial technologies. They have compiled official reports and contemporary newspaper articles to map and detail incidents of deaths, injury, and arson that occurred during the riots, as well as geo-locating original photographs taken during that time.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://chicago1919.org/map
Primary URL Description: Interactive map visualizing the places where all deaths and injuries took place during the 1919 Chicago Race Riots.

The 1919 Race Riots: A Digital Collection for the Classroom (Web Resource)
Title: The 1919 Race Riots: A Digital Collection for the Classroom
Author: Megan Geigner
Abstract: Newspapers, public figures, and family stories have crafted lasting explanations of the violence in 1919 that are still popular. One account suggests that the riots were the result of white ethnic working-class Chicagoans feeling vulnerable in the wake of the Great Migration; in other words, white immigrant laborers felt threatened by black workers as they vied for jobs, housing, and cultural influence in the city. This narrative is an apology for white supremacy, however, and fails to account for the decades of black prosperity in Chicago prior to 1919 that did not result in violence. Archival items held at the Newberry Library tell a deeper story, one about racist housing and labor policies, incendiary newspaper articles, roving bands of violent white youths, and a pivotal moment when black Chicagoans demanded equal protection under the law.
Year: 2019
Primary URL: https://dcc.newberry.org/collections/the-1919-race-riots
Primary URL Description: The Newberry Library’s Digital Collections for the Classroom website is an educational resource designed for teachers and students featuring primary sources from the Newberry’s holdings, contextual essays, and discussion questions.

Chicago Reflects on the 1919 Race Riots (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Chicago Reflects on the 1919 Race Riots
Abstract: A city-wide series of eleven public programs and development of digital resources exploring the history and aftermath of the Chicago race riots of July 1919 on the centenary.
Author: Karen Christianson
Date: 2/1/19
Location: Chicago
Primary URL: http://www.chicago1919.org

Prizes

Outstanding Public History Project Award
Date: 1/1/2020
Organization: National Council on Public History

“Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots” Receives 2020 Outstanding Public History Project Award from the National Council on Public History (Blog Post)
Title: “Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots” Receives 2020 Outstanding Public History Project Award from the National Council on Public History
Author: Newberry Library
Abstract: The Newberry Library and the National Council on Public History (NCPH) are pleased to announce that "Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots" has earned the 2020 Outstanding Public History Project Award. The NCPH presents the award annually to a project “that contributes to a broader public reflection and appreciation of the past or that serves as a model of professional public history practice.” In 2019, the Newberry Library--in partnership with 13 cultural organizations in Chicago--led Chicago 1919, a year-long initiative commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Chicago race riots. The NEH-funded project engaged scholars, teachers, activists, poets, journalists, filmmakers, and citizens in a series of community conversations about the decisive role the riots played in cementing racial division in Chicago.
Date: 02/19/20
Primary URL: https://www.newberry.org/chicago-1919-confronting-race-riots-receives-2020-outstanding-public-history-project-award-national
Primary URL Description: Newberry Library blog post/press release
Blog Title: Follow the Newberry
Website: Newberry Library

Prizes

2020 Outstanding Public History Project Award
Date: 2/19/2020
Organization: National Council on Public History
Abstract: The Newberry Library and the National Council on Public History (NCPH) are pleased to announce that Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots has earned the 2020 Outstanding Public History Project Award. The NCPH presents the award annually to a project “that contributes to a broader public reflection and appreciation of the past or that serves as a model of professional public history practice.” In 2019, the Newberry Library—in partnership with 13 cultural organizations in Chicago—led Chicago 1919, a year-long initiative commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Chicago race riots. The NEH-funded project engaged scholars, teachers, activists, poets, journalists, filmmakers, and citizens in a series of community conversations about the decisive role the riots played in cementing racial division in Chicago.

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