Red Summer Archives - Zinn Education Project

Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America

Book — Non-fiction. By Cameron McWhirter. 2012. 368 pages. A chronicle of white supremacist violence in major U.S. cities across the nation after World War I.

1919

Book — Non-fiction. By Eve L. Ewing. 96 pages. 2019. Poetic reflections on the Chicago Race Riots of 1919 — part of 'Red Summer' — in a history told through Ewing's speculative and Afrofuturist lenses.

1919, The Year of Racial Violence White Rage (Book Cover) | Zinn Education Project

1919, The Year of Racial Violence: How African Americans Fought Back

Book — Non-fiction. By David F. Krugler. 2015. This book details the wave of racist violence that swept the United States in 1919, through the lens of Black armed resistance and freedom struggle.

The Killing Floor

Film. Directed by Bill Duke. 1985. Digitally restored in 2020. 118 minutes. Set during World War I, two African-American men deal with racism in the workplace and the labor union.

Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism

Book - Non-fiction. By James Loewen. 592 pages. 2018. Documents the history of towns across the United States that exclude African Americans (and other racial/ethnic groups) after sundown.

Bogalusa, La. lumber mill | Zinn Education Project

Nov. 22, 1919: Bogalusa Labor Massacre

The Bogalusa Labor Massacre was an attack on interracial labor solidarity.

Robert Hill Elaine Massacre | Zinn Education Project

Sept. 30, 1919: Elaine Massacre

Black farmers were massacred in Elaine, Arkansas for their efforts to fight for better pay and higher cotton prices. A white mob shot at them, and the farmers returned fire in self-defense. Estimates range from 100-800 killed, and 67 survivors were indicted for inciting violence.

Sept. 28, 1919: The Omaha Courthouse Lynching and Riot

A white mob of between 5,000 to 15,000 lynched African American Will Brown. The Army arrested mob ringleaders. Even though photographs identified them, all of the suspects were eventually released.

Sept. 1, 1919: Lynching of WWI Veteran Clinton Briggs

Decorated WWI veteran Clinton Briggs was killed in Arkansas.

Aug. 30, 1919: The Knoxville Riot

In Tennessee, a group of whites rioted after forming a mob to lynch Maurice Mays, a Black man in custody on for the alleged (with no evidence) murder of a white woman.

Riot Sweeps Chicago | Zinn Education Project

July 27, 1919: Red Summer in Chicago

Sparked by a white police officer's refusal to make an arrest in the murder of a Black teenager, Chicago's Red Summer violence lasted almost a week. At least 38 people were killed and thousands of Black homes were looted and damaged.

soldiers at a YWCA Hostess House | Zinn Education Project

July 19, 1919: White Mobs in Uniform Attack African Americans — Who Fight Back — in Washington, D.C.

White mobs, incited by the media, attacked the African American community in Washington, D.C., and African American soldiers returning from WWI. This was one of the many violent events that summer and it was distinguished by strong and organized Black resistance to the white violence.