Chicago Race Riot
by Dylan Galloway
Race riots brak out in Chicago after a black teen is killed by a white man.
A young black male Eugene Williams drowned after being hit by a rock thrown by a white man. Witnesses pointed out the killer to a policeman, who refused to make an arrest. Then a black mob attacked the officer. Then riots broke out. White mobs began pulling black people off trolley cars, attacking black businesses, and beating victims with baseball bats and iron bars. Black people then fighting back. the city closed down the street car system, but the rioting continued. A total of 23 blacks and 15 whites were killed.
Other riots
In May of 1917, 3,000 white men gathered in downtown East St. Louis and attacks on blacks began. With mobs destroying buildings and beating people, the Illinois governor called in the National Guard to prevent further rioting.
On July 2, a car occupied by white males drove through a black area of the city and fired several shots into a standing group. An hour later, a car containing four people, including a journalist and two police officers was passed through the same area. Black people thought they were the original suspects, opened fire on their car, killing one officer and wounding another. Later that day, thousands of white spectators who came to view the detectives' bloodstained car marched into the black section of town and started rioting and setting fire to buildings. After using the water hoses of the fire department, the rioters burned entire sections of the city and shot inhabitants as they escaped the flames