1919Main MenuTimelineProhibition is RatifiedThe 18th Amendment, which prohibited "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory," was ratified on this day.Seattle General StrikeTens of thousands of workers in Seattle joined a five day strike that would be followed by waves of labor unrest across the nation. In the next two years almost four million workers across the U.S. went on strike.8th Illinois Regiment Returns from WarThis all African American unit fought in France during the First World War. Soldiers from the 8th returned to Chicago and marched down Michigan Ave in February 1919.The Red ScareA wave of labor unrest and persecution of radicals and those deemed un-american shaped the political climate in 1919.365th Infantry ParadeThe 365th all African American infantry unit returned to Chicago in March 1919 after fighting in France. Wartime service gave soldiers new perspectives that shaped their views of events in Chicago in 1919.Mayor Thompson Re-electedWilliam Hale Thompson is re-elected Mayor of Chicago.Red SummerIn dozens of cities African American communities were targets of white mob violence that left untold numbers of people dead, injured, and displaced.19th Amendment Approved by CongressCongress approves the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote.Treaty of VersaillesTreaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, ending World War I and creating the League of Nations.Wingfoot Air Express CrashWingfoot Air Express, a dirigible operated by Goodyear Tire, caught fire and crashed into the skylight of the Illinois Trust and Savings Building at LaSalle and Jackson.Eugene Williams DrownedRiots erupted after an African American swimmer was stoned to death by a white man on the beach.Angelus Building RiotViolence broke out at the Angelus apartment building (3501 S. Wabash), the only white occupied apartment building on an all-Black city block, in a largely Black neighborhood.Mayor Requests State MilitiaMayor William H. Thompson called for activation of the Illinois state militia.Housing Conditions and SegregationHow can housing conditions and segregation in 1919 help us understand the riots?Black Migration to ChicagoHow can migration patterns in 1919 help us understand the riots?Communist Party USA FoundedThe 1918 October Revolution led to the rise of a Left Wing who valued revolutionary socialism within the Socialist Party USA. The Left Wing was unable to gain control of the Socialist Party and split off to form the Communist Party USA.The Great Steel StrikeU.S. Steel Corporation workers in Chicago joined iron and steel workers across the country in a strike that shut down half of the nation's steel industry.White Sox Play World SeriesThe Chicago White Sox played in the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds.About the Exhibit
Labor Conflict and Race
12019-07-24T14:03:17+00:00Kate Flynn7a93418b93b9db509597a67ae6311be88dcb38d6132How can labor conflicts in 1919 help us understand the riots?image_header2019-07-24T21:01:40+00:0008/02/1919Gretchen Neidhardtf8aac65083dd8407d9238044a16c756173f4d1dd
When World War I halted immigration from Europe, employers sought a new source of labor. Consequently, factories opened their doors to African American men. African American women were also being increasingly hired for domestic work. While many African Americans were certainly receiving higher wages and more opportunities for employment in the North, shop floors were still tense as various ethnoracial groups competed for employment and labor rights. Many historians and journalists have now noted how labor conflicts throughout the early 20th century can help explain the Chicago Race Riot of 1919.
Typically, tensions were created between white and Black workers over union membership. At the time of the 1919 Riot, a majority of African Americans were not union members, or were nowhere close to the proportion of whites who were union members. The reason was that unskilled laborers were not included in many of the unions that existed at that time and African Americans were often only able to obtain unskilled positions because of discrimination. As a result, many of the unions were homogeneously white. Already placed under precarious conditions and limited employment opportunities in Chicago, Black laborers throughout the early 20th century were sometimes forced to serve as strikebreakers. Consequently, white union workers began to increasingly conflate “scabs” with African Americans throughout the early 20th century. These conflations would have violent ends. For example, in 1904 a Black man and his ten-year-old child were tragically mauled by a mob of 500 white laborers because the mob believed the man and his son were strikebreakers. Following World War I, the forces of demobilization touched all levels of the economy—especially Black Chicagoans, whose employment security was in large part attributable to the government’s demands for war products. In comparison to white workers, Black women and men were typically the first workers to be let go. Nonetheless, white workers also felt the constraints of the post-wartime economic shift. By July 1919, upwards of 250,000 workers in Chicago were on strike or threatening to strike. One of the most infamous strikes occurred in the stockyards, located in Chicago’s South West side. Ninety percent of the whites in the stockyards were unionized, while three-fourths of the Black workers, or 9,000 people, were not unionized due to the racial antipathy that barred them from union membership. Having been barred, segregated, and ridiculed, Chicago’s Black workers in the stockyards could not identifywith the labor movement. As white union members went on strike, African Americans were hired as strikebreakers, amplifying the tensions that already existed in the South Side of Chicago. These tensions would eventually emerge through the Chicago Race Riot of 1919.
