A Few Red Drops
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SPEECHES AND INTERVIEWS
Johnson, Charles S. “‘We Tho[ugh]t State Street Would Be Heaven Itself”: Black Migrants Speak Out. History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web. George Mason University. historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5337.
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Picture Credits
Chicago Daily News/Chicago History Museum/Getty Images: 14–15.
Chicago Daily News/public domain: 162.
Chicago History Museum: ICHi-06418, 134; ICHi-091385, 66; ICHi-12633, 42; ICHi-15016, 69; ICHi-21018, 53; ICHi-21355, 138–139; ICHi-28567, 93; ICHi-30315, 142; ICHi-31736, 154; ICHi-38004-A, 123; ICHi-40220, 103; ICHi-67641, 116; ICHi-89265, 101; ICHi-89266, 105; ICHi-89267, 112; 1CHi-89268, 114; ICHi-89269, 126; ICHi-89270, 127; ICHi-89271, 144; ICHi-89272, 145; ICHi-89273, 149; ICHi-89274, 155; ICHi-89275, 159; ICHi-89276, 158.
Chicago History Museum/Aaron E. Darling: ICHi-62485, 18; ICHi-89277, 22.
Chicago History Museum/Circuit Court of Madison Country (Ill.): ICHi-36297, 21.
Chicago History Museum/Chicago Daily News Negatives Collection: DN-0000502, 56; DN-0000716, 91; DN-0000884, 73; DN-0000889, 57; DN-0000906, 70; DN-0000923, 51; DN-0000954, 74; DN-0000967, 54; DN-0001027, 48; DN-0001520, 46; DN-0006679, 31; DN-0007198, 44; DN-0061768, 59; DN-0064311, 131; DN-0069075, 81; DN-0071295, 135; DN-0071299, 152; DN-0073280, 10.
Chicago History Museum/Getty Images: ii–iii, 2–3, 76–77, 118–119.
Chicago Public Library, Special Collections and Preservation Division, BNL 8.43/J. B. Wilson: 63.
Chicago Tribune: 8–9 (July 27, 1919 © 1919 Chicago Tribune. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited), 13 (public domain), 129 (February 18, 1919 © 1919 Chicago Tribune. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited).
Courtesy of the Chicago Defender: 80, 83, 87, 88, 95, 141, 166.
Courtesy of the University of Illinois at Chicago Library: 99 (Aldis Family Papers, box 1, folder 6, AFP_0001_0006_001a and AFP_ 0001_0006_00lb, Special Collections), 24 (The Negro in Chicago).
The Crisis/public domain: 62.
HarpWeek/Harper’s Weekly Magazine: 38.
HERB (herb.lw4.gc.cuny.edu): 108.
Public domain: 164.
University of Chicago Library, Special Collections Research Center: 27, 29.
Acknowledgments
WHEN I WAS A YOUNG girl growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I was lucky to share weekly visits with my Grammie, who lived nearby. She was a great storyteller, and it was from her that I first learned about life in Chicago around the time of the Great Migration. One story that has always stuck with me is her recounting of a harrowing ride on the streetcar as she made her way home from work during the Chicago race riot of 1919.
A few years ago, as I pondered topics that might be of interest to young adults, my Grammie’s streetcar story compelled me to learn more about what happened that summer of 1919 and why. As I began to uncover the history of nearly one hundred years ago, the parallels to America’s current struggles became eerily and painfully clear. I was struck by Carl Sandburg’s century-old observation that we make history and then we forget. I have written this book to encourage us to remember and, in doing so, to learn from our mistakes.
I want to thank the many people who have helped me bring this story to you.
For assistance with research, I am indebted to Lesley Martin, Michael Featherstone, Ellen Keith, and Michael Glass and Sarah Yarrito of the Chicago History Museum, and the staffs of the Chicago Public Library, University of Illinois Chicago Special Collections, University of Chicago Special Collections, and the Chicago Defender.
A huge thanks to my agent, Rosemary Stimola; to my editor, Dinah Stevenson; and also to Rachael Stein at Clarion, for their belief in this project and their sure-handed guidance.
Thank you to my family, who read and gave wise feedback on many drafts—Ronne and Robert Hartfield; Emily, Caroline, and Corinne Harris; Bruce Gillis; Phil Harris; and my dog, Rafa, who sat with me through the writing of every page.
Index
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Note: Page numbers in italics indicate images/pictures
A
Abbott, Robert, 62, 86, 87, 122
Abolitionists, 19, 22–24, 85
After-school clubs, 111
Alpha Suffrage Club, 33
Alschuler, Samuel, 124, 130
Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America, 68–75
Anderson, Louis B., 131
Argo corn refinery, worker walkout at, 138–139
Armour, Philip, 42
B
Back of the Yards, 52
Baltimore, race violence in, 168, 169
Barnett, Ferdinand, 26–29, 31, 34, 62, 86, 151–152
Binga, Jesse, 130
Binga, Jesse, Bank, 62, 62, 155
Black Belt, 5, 35; afterschool clubs in, 111; blacks in, 49, 60, 109, 111, 112, 125–126; bomb explosions in, 122–123, 126, 132; in Chicago race riot, 149, 150, 152–153; children in, 101, 112; churches in, 111; daycare centers in, 62; gangs in, 113, 147; housing needs in, 107–110, 133; living conditions in, 61–65, 152; Local 651 in, 123, 137–138; mobs in, 126; Packingtown and, 65–67, 136, 143; playground in, 126; police and, 113–114; political muscle and, 115; population growth in, 60, 107–108; property owners’ protective associations in, 109; rooming houses in, 107; schools in, 62–63, 112–113; streetcars in, 60–61, 100; strikebreakers in, 69–70, 73, 74; Thompson, “Big Bill” and, 115; tuberculosis as problem in, 108; women in, 111
Black Hand Society (Jewish gang), 57
Black Laws, 20, 25
Blacks: Abbott’s organization of, 86; assimilation of, 110–111; child care in, 33; clash between immigrants and, 1, 6, 10–11, 121–127, 135; destruction of southern cotton and, 85–86; dress of, 110; education for children, 92; in Eighth Infantry Regiment, 79–83, 127, 129; emergency pay for, following riot, 155–156; favoritism as problem and, 104; as firemen, 62; Great Migration of, 85–96; hiring of, in Union Stock Yard, 84; housing shortage for, 110; immigrants blame on for strike failure, 75; increase in numbers of, 125–126; jobs for, 20, 27, 102–106, 128; life expectancy of, 168; limits on freedom of, 20; lives of, 22; move to Chicago, 25, 98, 99, 100; as police, 62, 63; police protection of, during riot, 149; population of, in South, 86; pushback by, 109; reaching o
ut to, 124; reading of Chicago Tribune by, 111; return to work after riot, 156; rights of, 25, 26, 135; as soldiers, 128–130; strikers attacks on, 72; support for Thompson by, 132; Urban League and, 102–104; voting rights for, 33–34, 90; as waiters, 30–31; working conditions for, 168; in World War 1, 10, 79
Blackspots (Polish gang), 57
Bolling, Vivian, 9
Boll weevil, 85–86
Boundary Gang (Jewish gang), 57
Boys’ and girls’ clubs, 64
Bridgeport, 52
Bronzeville, 167
Browning, Lt., 148
C
Call, Homer, 75
Callahan, Daniel (police officer), 10–11, 140, 141, 163
Canaryville, 52, 58–59
Carey, Archibald, 115, 136–137
Case, Charles, 59
Catholic Churches, 52
Cayton, Howard, 71
Chicago: beaches in, 1, 2–3, 6–7, 10; blacks in, 17, 19–20, 22, 25, 86, 93, 97–106, 117, 132; black women’s club in, 32–33; choices for, following race riot, 162–163; growth of, 39; harbor in, 66; Illinois Central Railroad terminus in, 89, 97–98; incorporation of, 36; industrial base in, 30; Irish immigrants in, 37; meatpacking giants in, 36; move of Swift, G. F. to, 41–42; new businesses in, 39; Packingtown in, 35–36; prejudice in, 37–38; racial tensions in, 121–127; “Refined” in, 29; “Respectables” in, 30; “Riffraffs” in, 30; schools in, 92; skyline of, 14–15; transportation in, 36; transport of dressed meat from, 43; Union Stock Yard in, 39, 41; wage scale in; white immigrants in, 35
Chicago Harbor, 66
Chicago race riot (1919), 140–146; Barnett’s conference on, 151; Black Belt in, 149, 150, 152–153; black workers in, 149, 149, 150, 152; bringing in of soldiers, 153; bringing of justice following, 164–165; choices for Chicago following, 162–163; commission investigating, 163, 168–169; continuance of violence after, 165–166; deaths in, 148, 149, 150, 153, 161; destruction in, 157–160, 158, 159; gang actions in, 147, 150, 153, 157–158; grand jury following, 164–165; indictments in, 163; injuries in, 148, 150, 161; Lithuanian community in, 157–160; militia and, 151, 160; mobs with bricks in, 118–119; Packingtown in, 157, 158, 158–159; police actions in, 145, 145–146, 148, 150, 153–154, 157; private security guards in, 148–149; progress following, 167–168; rain in, 153; ratcheting up in, 147–150; Thomson’s tour of area, 151–152; union leadership and, 156; white youths in, 147, 148; wrecked house in, 152