The events in Ferguson, Missouri, which began after a police officer shot and killed black Michael Brown, once again show that the famous "melting pot" of the American nation is not working very well. And if the same black man feels himself to be "one hundred percent American" today in the States, it is not a fact that the same white American considers him to be his "equal". So what happened in Fergusson shouldn't surprise anyone! As the Minister of the Interior and the chief of the gendarmes (1911 - 1912) A. A. Makarov (1857 - 1919) said: "This is how it was, and it will be so!" Well, how they had it, the events of "red July" 1919 will tell.
The burning of Will Brown, lynched by the mob.
The First World War ended and American soldiers, returning home from Europe, faced the problem of housing and work. But the African American soldiers were the first to feel these problems. Having gone through all the hardships of the war with the whites, they expected to be able to take full advantage of the rights of citizenship, which they had to defend in the struggle, defending their homeland. But it was not there! One thing is the "front-line brotherhood" of whites and blacks in the trenches, and another is relations in peacetime. "Black does the black work, white does the white!" At the time, it was an axiom of American existence.
The reason was not only the end of the "front brotherhood". These are primarily economic reasons. The call to the front of a huge number of workers, and besides, the flow of immigrants from Europe dried up. The industrial North and the farms of the American Midwest experienced severe labor shortages. And the owners of factories in the North had to recruit workers in the South. As a result, there is a significant outflow of labor force migrated from the South to the North. By 1919, there were more than half a million such migrants. This was the beginning of the "great migration". Blacks took the jobs of whites. In some cities they were hired as strikebreakers (the strike of 1917 is a striking example of this). All this led to an increase in the hostility of the white population. And then there was the rapid demobilization of the military, which gave a sharp increase in cheap labor in the cities. But, alas, nobody wanted to be engaged in their employment. As, however, they did not control the prices of goods. The result is unemployment, inflation and increased competition for jobs in production. And then there are the negroes who are ready to work for half the price. What else could they do? Families need to be fed! Not surprisingly, in the spring and summer of 1919, racial riots broke out in 22 American cities and towns. The most massive and bloody events took place in Chicago.
On Sunday, July 27, several white bathers attacked young black Americans who were swimming in Lake Michigan near one of the "white beaches." As a result, an African American boy died. And so it began … For five days there were pogroms, during which 23 blacks and 15 whites became victims, more than 500 were wounded, many citizens were left homeless. On August 2, the Chicago Defender newspaper published an article about the beating of a black woman and her child by unknown persons. After that, events began to develop with the speed of a hurricane. Every hour murders and arson were committed in the city, many of the 500 wounded did not survive. Victims lay on every street.
It was necessary to bring 4,000 soldiers of the Eighth Regiment of the National Guard into the city. The city's funeral homes refused to accept dead whites. White-owned funeral homes did not accept blacks. The patrols did not pick up the corpses, as they did not know where to take them. One of the Chicago newspapers wrote that "every hour patrol cars with wounded approach the hospitals." But there were not enough ambulances. Trucks, carts, hearses were used. “It’s enough to be in the wrong area for your brains to drain onto the dirty sidewalk,” another newspaper lamented. An unidentified black man, a young woman and a three-month-old child were found dead on the street at the intersection of 47th Street and Wentworth Avenue. The woman was trying to get into the car when the crowd grabbed her, stabbed her with knives, and the baby hit her head on a telegraph pole. All this time, there were several police officers in the crowd, but they made no attempt to save the family. In the afternoon, all traffic south of 22nd Street and north of 55th Street, west of Cottage Grove and east of Wentworth Avenue, was stopped. Large groups of whites gathered and entered this area. The black population greeted them with sticks and stones. Even the mounted police could do nothing. The riots culminated in a nightly battle between whites, police and blacks. Crowds of people rushed to the Negro neighborhoods. They shot not only the blacks, but also the police. African Americans, having seized white cars, drove through the streets and shot at rare white passers-by.
In the early morning, a thirteen-year-old Negro boy was standing on the porch of a house and was shot by a white man who tried to leave but ran into a crowd of African Americans …
At 8:00 pm, more than fifty police officers, horse and foot, in an attempt to disperse the crowd, opened fire at close range on African Americans. The wounded were taken to nearby hospitals. In total, the riots lasted 13 days. The most active were immigrants from Ireland, since their territory had a common border with the Negro ghetto.
Knoxville, Tennessee. The reason for the riot is the suspicion of the murder of a white woman by mulatto Maurice Mayes. Then the brutal crowd rushed in search of the suspect. With a powerful charge of dynamite, they tore down the doors of the city prison and took it by storm. Not finding the person they needed, the rioters freed 16 white prisoners from their cells and seized weapons. Then the crowd went to the ghetto, where there was a shootout between whites and negroes. The riots continued throughout the day. The riot was suppressed with the help of National Guard soldiers.
End of September. White riots in Omaha, Nebraska. A huge crowd of "whites" demanded that the police extradite the black W. Brown. The reason is the same - the suspicion of the rape of a white woman by a Negro. An attempt by the police to disperse the crowd with water cannons led nowhere. The courthouse was burned by the mob, and Brown was lynched. The weapons captured during the riot were used against the police. Seven were injured during the exchange of fire. Events began to develop rapidly and took a dangerous turn. The mayor of the city, E. Smith, was captured. Miraculously, the police saved him, otherwise the gallows would have been waiting for him. The riot was suppressed the next day.
The most recent riot took place in Elaine, Arkansas. The riots resulted in the deaths of 200 blacks. Blacks were accused of trying to create a "socialist" trade union and the threat of massacre for whites. As a result, 12 blacks were sentenced to death.
The reaction of the newspapers was lightning fast: articles began to appear with sentimental headlines: "Negroes captured in the Arkansas Riots confessed to a widespread conspiracy", "The massacre of whites was planned for today." FBI agents conducted an investigation and found out that there was no "conspiracy of blacks".
In light of the past events, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Populations decides to send a protest to President Wilson, which read: “… shame on the hordes of attackers, including soldiers, sailors, marines, who attacked harmless and innocent blacks in the US capital. Men in uniform attacked blacks on the streets of the city, and also pulled them out of trams to beat them. The crowds reportedly … targeted any passing negro … The effect of such riots in the capital would be to increase the violence and danger of riots elsewhere. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People urges you, as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, to make a statement condemning mob violence and to enforce war laws as the situation requires.
"The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People asks you how long the Federal Government, with the assistance of your administration, intends to endure anarchy in the United States?"
NASPTSN telegram to President W. Wilson
August 29, 1919
And here are the statistics. During the summer-autumn 1919 period, 38 riots were identified. As a result, 43 blacks were lynched. 16 were sentenced to hanging, the rest were shot. The US government then adopted a passive policy of racial riots.
Well, the term "red summer" was introduced by the Negro activist and writer D. Johnson. Secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, he opened many local chapters of this association in the United States, organized peaceful protests against racism.
Source: Chicago Defender, September 2, 1929
