creditable achievements of consequence by Negroes; (2) their efforts
toward a higher cultural and social life, and (3) their improvement of the
physical conditions of their own communities; (4) the common obligation
of all citizens of all races to recognize in their interrelations the
supreme duty of strict obedience to the law, in spirit as well as in
deed; (5) verification, so far as practicable, of all news concerning
Negroes and their activities by reference to recognized Negro agencies
or responsible representative Negroes.
We further recommend the capitalization of the word "Negro" in racial
designation, and avoidance of the word "nigger," as contemptuous and
needlessly provocative.
HANDLING OF NEWS INVOLVING NEGROES AND WHITES
59. To the Negro press we recommend greater care and accuracy in reporting
incidents involving whites and Negroes, the abandonment of sensational
headlines and articles on racial questions, and more attention to
educating Negro readers as to the available means and opportunities of
adjusting themselves and their fellows into more harmonious relations
with their white neighbors and fellow-citizens, and as to the lines of
individual conduct and collective effort which will tend to minimize
interracial friction, promote their own social and economic development,
and hasten interracial adjustment.
CHICAGO, December 6, 1921
ROBERT S. ABBOTT
EDGAR A. BANCROFT
_Chairman_
WILLIAM SCOTT BOND
EDWARD OSGOOD BROWN
GEORGE C. HALL
GEORGE H. JACKSON
HARRY EUGENE KELLY
VICTOR F. LAWSON
ADELBERT H. ROBERTS
JULIUS ROSENWALD
FRANCIS W. SHEPARDSON
_Vice-Chairman_
LACEY KIRK WILLIAMS
GRAHAM ROMEYN TAYLOR
_Executive Secretary_
CHARLES S. JOHNSON
_Associate Executive Secretary_
APPENDIX
A. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA OF MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
ROBERT S. ABBOTT, Editor.
Born, Savannah, Georgia; graduate, Hampton Institute; graduate,
Kent College of Law; owner and publisher, the _Chicago
Defender_.
EDGAR ADDISON BANCROFT, _Chairman_, Lawyer.
Born, Galesburg, Illinois; graduate, Knox College; graduate,
Columbia Law School; ex-president, Chicago Bar Association,
Illinois State Bar Association; trustee, Knox College, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, and Tuskegee Institute;
Senator of Phi Beta Kappa.
WILLIAM SCOTT BOND, Real Estate Dealer.
Born, Chicago, Illinois; graduate, University of Chicago;
graduate, Kent College of Law; member, real estate firm William
A. Bond & Company; trustee, University of Chicago.
EDWARD OSGOOD BROWN, Lawyer.
Born, Salem, Massachusetts; graduate, Brown University;
graduate, Harvard Law School; for ten years judge of the
Illinois Appellate Court, First District; for some years
president, Chicago Branch of National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
GEORGE CLEVELAND HALL, Physician and Surgeon.
Born, Ypsilanti, Michigan; graduate, Lincoln University;
graduate, Bennett Medical College; trustee, Provident Hospital;
vice-president, Chicago Urban League; orator at dedication of
Booker T. Washington memorial monument at Tuskegee, 1922.
GEORGE H. JACKSON, Real Estate Dealer.
Born in Canada; graduate, Cincinnati Law School; former
member, Ohio Legislature; president, Pyramid Building and Loan
Association.
HARRY EUGENE KELLY, Lawyer.
Born, Des Moines, Iowa; graduate, State University of Iowa;
former member, Colorado Legislature; for some years United
States district attorney for Colorado; former president, Denver
Bar Association; attorney for Interstate Commerce Commission;
regional counsel at Chicago for Director General of Railroads.
VICTOR F. LAWSON, Editor.
Born, Chicago, Illinois; graduate, Phillips Academy, Andover,
Massachusetts; owner, editor, and publisher, _Chicago Daily
News_ since 1876; ex-president and now a director, Associated
Press; founder, Daily News Fresh Air Fund and Daily News Free
Lectures; called "father of postal savings bank in America."
EDWARD H. MORRIS, Lawyer.
Born in Kentucky; for two terms representative in Illinois
General Assembly; member of Illinois Constitutional Convention,
1920-21; for eleven years Grand Master of the Colored Odd
Fellows of America.
ADELBERT H. ROBERTS, Lawyer.
Born in Michigan; student, University of Michigan; graduate,
Northwestern University Law School; for two terms representative
in Illinois General Assembly.
JULIUS ROSENWALD, Merchant.
Born, Springfield, Illinois; president, Sears, Roebuck &
Company; philanthropist, stimulated construction and contributed
$325,000 toward total cost of Y.M.C.A. buildings for Negroes
in thirteen cities; contributed over $1,000,000 toward rural
schools for Negroes in fourteen southern states; trustee,
Tuskegee Institute, University of Chicago, Rockefeller
Foundation.
FRANCIS WAYLAND SHEPARDSON, _Vice-Chairman_, lately Director of
Registration and Education, State of Illinois, under Governor
Lowden.
Born, Cincinnati, Ohio; graduate, Denison University;
postgraduate, Yale University; former professor of history,
University of Chicago; Senator of Phi Beta Kappa.
LACEY KIRK WILLIAMS, Minister.
Born, Eufaula, Alabama; graduate, Arkansas Baptist College;
pastor, Olivet Baptist Church, Chicago, since 1916 (largest
Protestant Church in America); president, Illinois General
Baptist State Convention; vice-president, Colored National
Baptist Convention.
B. THE STAFF OF THE COMMISSION
In selecting the staff to assist in carrying through the investigation
and the preparation of the report careful effort was made to find persons
well qualified by educational background and practical experience in
social work. The staff averaged fifteen in number during the eighteen
months of its existence. In all, thirty-seven people, twenty-two white
and fifteen Negro, were engaged, some of whom served throughout the
entire period and others for varying briefer periods. The personnel was
as follows:
_Executive Secretary_
GRAHAM ROMEYN TAYLOR. A.B., Harvard, 1903; resident, Chicago
Commons Social Settlement 1904-12; member, editorial staff,
the _Survey_ magazine 1905-16; special agent, United States
Census Bureau, 1910; author, _Satellite Cities, A Study of
Industrial Suburbs_, 1915, and many magazine articles; special
assistant to American ambassador to Russia, 1916-19.
_Associate Executive Secretary_
CHARLES S. JOHNSON. A.B., Virginia Union University, 1916;
Ph.B., University of Chicago, 1917; graduate student in social
science at the University of Chicago; special investigator of
migration of Negroes from the South for the Carnegie Foundation
for International Peace; director of the Department of Research
and Records of the Chicago Urban League.
INVESTIGATION
_Investigators with Supervisory Duties_
MADGE HEADLEY. New York School of Philanthropy 1910; assistant
secretary, Tenement House Committee, Charity Organization
Society, New York City, 1910-15; made studies of housing
conditions in Providence, Rhode Island, New York City, Sullivan
and Ulster Counties, New York; of rural juvenile delinquency
in Ulster County, New York, for Federal Children's Bureau;
and of industrial and garden cities in England; served with
American Red Cross in France housing and feeding refugees,
1917-19.
ALBERT E. WEBSTER. Ph.B., Alfred University, 1909; graduate
student, University of Chicago, 1909-12; Anti-saloon League
investigator, New York state, 1906-7; United Charities,
Chicago, 1911-16; unemployment study, Calumet district, 1914;
supervised Red Cross relief work in Indiana flood disaster,
1913; assisted in supervising relief work in Eastland disaster,
Chicago; directed various surveys in Chicago 1918-20; assistant
superintendent and field secretary, Juvenile Protective
Association, Chicago.
_Investigators_
H. H. ALLEN. Teacher of sociology three years, Northern Texas
Normal School; newspaper experience; graduate student University
of Chicago, studying for Ph.D.
RUTH ARNETT. University of Illinois; volunteer girls' workers,
War Camp Community Service; investigator for Red Cross, East
St. Louis riot relief.
ELSIE BALL. Attended Leander Clark College two years; Chicago
School of Civics and Philanthropy one year; resident director,
District Neighborhood House, 1915-17; American Red Cross,
1917-20.
ELIZABETH BENHAM. Teaching experience; worked on Federal Census,
1920; resident, University of Chicago Settlement; secretary,
Inter-racial Committee, Chicago Woman's City Club.
ELLA G. BERRY. Enumerator in Chicago for Federal Census, 1920;
Chicago School Census, 1918.
ANGELINE BROCKMEIER. A.B., University of Illinois, 1917; Chicago
School of Civics and Philanthropy, 1918; Federal Children's
Bureau, 1918-20; study of infant mortality in Gary, Indiana;
study of courts and children's cases; statistical experience.
JOSEPH H. COLLINS. Business course, Central Y.M.C.A.,
Philadelphia, 1904-5; inspector, Railway Audit and Inspection
Company, Philadelphia, 1907-16; assistant industrial secretary,
New York Urban League; welfare worker, Bush Terminal Company,
New York City, and American International Shipbuilding
Corporation, 1918-19.
ESTHER FULKS. Carnegie Technical Institute, Pittsburgh; special
courses in social science, University of Chicago, New York
University, and Hampton Institute; National Training School,
Y.W.C.A., New York; supervisor of physical training, public
schools, Charleston, West Virginia; industrial secretary,
Y.W.C.A., East St. Louis, Illinois; made surveys of industrial
opportunities, educational and recreational facilities, and
social agencies for Negroes in East St. Louis.
HENRY W. HAMMOND. A.B., New York University, 1909; secretary,
Goff Street branch, Y.M.C.A., New Haven, Connecticut, 1911-13;
boys' work secretary, Wabash Avenue branch, Y.M.C.A., Chicago,
1914-16; probation officer, juvenile court, Chicago, 1916-20.
DAN H. KULP. Graduate student, University of Chicago;
investigated recreation facilities, Providence, Rhode Island,
and prepared statistics; investigated industrial and racial
conditions in China; general director, Yangtsepoo Social
Center, Shanghai.
KATE F. MARKOVITZ. Assistant matron, Montana State Orphan
Asylum, 1911-12; Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy,
1913; officer, Chicago Juvenile Protective Association, 1913-16;
director, jail division, Cook County Bureau of Social Service,
1916-18; overseas secretary, Y.W.C.A., 1918-19; volunteer,
Hull-House, 1912-20.
LUCIUS L. MCGEE. Teacher, four years, Virginia Union University;
experience investigating Negro conditions, Richmond, Virginia;
graduate student, University of Chicago, studying for Ph.D.
EDITH W. RIDDLE. A.B., Vassar, 1898; assistant superintendent,
Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society, 1905-6; resident,
Hull-House; boys' school and farm work, Michigan, 1907-10; club
organization, Goodrich Social Settlement, Cleveland, 1913-17;
Federal Children's Bureau, 1918; Association for Crippled and
Disabled Children, Cleveland, 1919.
PHILIP SHERMAN. A.B., Carleton College, 1919; one year Harvard
Law School; campaign auditor, Y.M.C.A. Building Fund, Sioux
Falls, 1919.
ALONZO C. THAYER. A.B., Fisk University, 1904; experience as
reporter, manager, and editor of newspaper, also experience
in real estate; assisted in industrial work of the Chicago
Urban League.
CHARLES H. THOMPSON. A.B., Virginia Union University, 1917;
M.A., University of Chicago, 1920; field work, neighborhood
study, Richmond, Virginia, 1917; comparative educational study,
Moseley School, Chicago, 1920.
PREPARATION OF REPORT
_Assistants in Compilation of Data_
LUCIEN V. ALEXIS. A.B., Harvard, 1917; assistant organizer,
colored work, War Camp Community Service, Trenton, New Jersey,
1919-20; director of education, South Side Division, Community
Service, Chicago, 1920.
HENRY A. RABE. University of Wisconsin, 1903-5; business
experience, Chicago, 1905-19; student, University of Chicago,
specializing in economics and sociology and investigating
industrial conditions in Chicago.
OLIVE H. RABE. Business experience, eight years; graduate,
Northwestern University Law School, 1916; practiced law three
years; student, University of Chicago, two years, specializing
in economics and sociology.
WINIFRED RAUSCHENBUSH. A.B., Oberlin College, 1916; organization
work, Ohio Suffrage Association, 1917; graduate student,
sociology, University of Chicago, 1918; prepared material for
book on foreign-language press by Professor Robert E. Park,
University of Chicago, 1918-20; prepared maps and graphs for
book by Professor W. I. Thomas, 1919.
NORMAN L. RITCHIE. Newspaper work, twenty years, New York,
Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Saratoga, and Plattsburg, New
York; editorial writer, _Chicago Daily News_, nine years;
director of education and information, Community Service,
Chicago, 1920.
FLORENCE TAYLOR. A.B., Vassar College, 1921; publicity,
research, and field studies, National Child Labor Committee,
New York City, 1913-18; personnel-management study, Collegiate
Bureau of Occupations, Chicago, 1920.
ELIZABETH WAGENET. A.B., University of California, 1914;
investigator, California State Commission on Social Insurance;
investigator, California Industrial Welfare Commission, having
charge of cannery investigation; assistant, department of
economics, Washington State University under Professor Carleton
Parker; on staff of War Labor Policies Board, Washington, D.C.
_Clerks_
GERALDINE DISMOND. A.B., University of Chicago, 1915; teacher,
Chicago public schools; special work for Chicago Urban League.
MARCELLE V. LAVAL. A.B., University of Illinois, 1920; editor,
State Water Survey Division, Department of Registration and
Education, State of Illinois, 1918-19.
JOSEPHINE TAYLOR. A.B., Smith College, 1920; volunteer, social
service department, Cook County Hospital, Chicago, summer of
1919.
C. EPITOME OF FACTS IN RIOT DEATHS
I. Deaths due to mob violence, and in which the coroners' jury recommended
members of the unknown mob be apprehended and held to justice, and in
which none of the members were so apprehended. The cases listed in this
category do not include all those due to mob violence, but only those
qualified as stated:
1. Eugene Williams
Race Negro
Date of death July 27
Approximate time of death Probably 4:00 P.M.
Place where death occurred Lake Michigan at foot of Twenty-
ninth Street
Manner in which death occurred Drowning
Quarrel arose on beach between Negroes and whites in regard to the use
of the beach. Many stones were thrown on both sides. Williams, in the
water, was prevented from landing because of stone-throwing and drowned
as consequence.
2. John Mills
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 5:35 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Normal Avenue, 150 feet
south of Forty-seventh
Street
Manner of wound Skull fracture; beating
Mob of 300 or 400 white people, all ages, attacked east-bound
Forty-seventh Street car, pulled the trolley from the wire, stopped the
car. White passengers alighted, Negro passengers hid under seats. From
twenty-five to fifty white men boarded car and beat the Negroes with
bats, clubs, bricks. Driven out from the refuge of the car, they ran for
their lives, chased by the mob. Mills ran from Forty-seventh Street into
Normal Avenue. A brick hit him in the back, halted him, and before he
could run again a young white man hit him on the head with a scantling.
He was left unconscious. Four other Negroes from this car were beaten
but not fatally.
3. Oscar Dozier
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 5:55 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-ninth Street and
Wallace Avenue
Manner of wound Stabbing; external violence
Dozier worked for the Great Western Smelting and Refining Works. The
foreman warned negroes not to try to go home till adequate protection
could be furnished. In spite of the warning Dozier was seen to crawl
over the fence around the works at 5:45 P.M. He was next seen breaking
away from a mob of 500 to 1,000 white men at Thirty-ninth Street and
Parnell Avenue. He ran west on Thirty-ninth toward Wallace, the crowd
throwing stones. Halfway down the block he fell. When rescued by the
police immediately afterward he was found to have a stab wound two inches
long over his heart.
4. Henry Goodman
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 7:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-ninth Street and
Union Avenue
Manner of wound External violence
Goodman, with other Negroes was returning from the Stock Yards on an
east-bound Thirty-ninth Street car. A truck stalled across the track
at Thirty-ninth Street and Union Avenue brought the car to a stop and
allowed white men to force an entrance through the front door and beat
the Negroes off the rear of the car. The chief weapon was the iron lever
used for opening the front door of the car. The Negroes tried to run east
to Halsted Street where there were police officers. The crowd pursued,
knocked Goodman down, and beat him. Apparently Goodman recovered from
the violence, but a week later it was necessary to remove him to the
hospital, where a skull fracture, with a small pebble imbedded in the
wound, was discovered. He died of tetanus on August 12. The wound was
first treated by Dr. William W. Bradley on the evening the deceased
was injured. The coroner's jury said, "Tetanus would probably not have
developed had the wound been thoroughly examined and properly cleaned."
5. Louis Taylor
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 9:40 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Root Street and Wentworth Avenue
Manner of wound Scalp wounds; skull fracture due
to external violence
Taylor, employed by the Chicago & Great Western Railway Co., had just
come off his run and was returning home on a south-bound Wentworth Avenue
car. Cars, both north and south bound, were attacked at Root Street
and Wentworth Avenue by a mob of 100 white people armed with clubs and
bricks. Taylor was found unconscious on the sidewalk, his watch and
suitcase missing, when the police arrived. He died August 1.
6. B. F. Hardy
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 11:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Forty-sixth Street and Cottage
GroveAvenue
Manner of wound External violence
Hardy was the only Negro passenger on a north-bound Cottage Grove Avenue
car crowded with white people. At Forty-seventh Street some of these
alighted. A mob of whites in the street saw the Negro and jerked the
trolley from the wire. The car came to a stop at Forty-sixth Place.
White passengers in a panic demanded to be let off. When the front door
was opened Hardy tried to hide in their midst and leave the car. He
was seen by the waiting mob, knocked down, and pounded with fists until
unconscious. He died the next day.
7. John Simpson
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 7:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-first Street between Wabash
Avenue and "L" alley
Manner of wound Bullet wound
Several accounts have been given of the killing of Simpson. The coroner's
jury says: "... Thirty-first Street near the said elevated station, being
well filled with a rioting and disorderly mob, mainly colored people,
a white man being pursued east on Thirty-first Street, at that time,
and that deceased was a police officer of the City of Chicago, and was
engaged as a police officer in preserving the peace in and about the
point indicated, and that a number of shots were fired from revolvers
held in hands of men unknown to this jury." Another account says Simpson
was shot by the Negro keeper of a poolroom on account of a previous
quarrel. Simpson did not regain consciousness after being shot.
8. Henry Baker
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 10:00 or 11:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 544 East Thirty-seventh Street
Manner of wound Bullet wound in skull
The bullet which caused Baker's death was one of a number fired on the
streets at the time. Baker was not on the street but in a second-story
window. It is not known whether this shot was one fired by white men from
a passing automobile or by one of a crowd of Negroes at Thirty-seventh
Street and Vincennes Avenue. The majority of witnesses gave the time
of the shooting of Baker as 11:00 P.M., but the coroner in his report
names 10:00 P.M. as the hour.
9. David Marcus
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 9:30 or 10:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 511 East Thirty-seventh Street
Manner of wound Bullet
Only one eyewitness, a white companion of Marcus, testified. He said
a Negro walked up to Marcus and shot him. The witness stopped to pick
up his friend, was advised by Negroes to get out of danger, but when
he persisted in lifting the wounded man, he himself received a bullet
wound in the arm. A bullet also pierced the window of a laundry at this
time. The coroner gives the time of shooting as 8:45, though most of the
testimony seems to indicate that it occurred about fifteen or twenty
minutes after the first shooting from automobiles which occurred at
approximately 9:15 to 9:30. The police report gives 10:45 as the hour.
10. Eugene Temple
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 5:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 3642 South State Street
Manner of wound Stab wound
Temple, owner of a laundry at the above address, left his place of
business to enter his automobile which stood at the curb. His wife and
another young woman accompanied him but were the width of the sidewalk
from him when he was attacked by three Negroes, robbed, and stabbed. The
murderers escaped in the crowd of Negroes which immediately gathered.
It was testified that Temple employed both Negroes and whites and had
never had any difficulties of a racial nature with his workers.
11. William J. Otterson
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 7:10 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash
Avenue
Manner of wound Skull fracture due to external
violence
A mob of about 500 Negroes at Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash Avenue was
stopping cars, beating white people, and throwing bricks. An automobile
bearing Otterson as a passenger turned from Thirty-fifth Street to go
south on Wabash Avenue. One of the stones and bricks hurled at the motor
car hit Otterson on the head, and he immediately became unconscious. He
was seventy-four years old and a plasterer by trade.
12. Stefan Horvath
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving wound 9:00 or 9:35 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Root and South State streets
Manner of wound Bullet wound
At the time Horvath was shot, there was a crowd of fifty to seventy-five
Negroes on the sidewalk, but only about three on the corner where the
shooting occurred. The only eyewitness who testified was a policeman
who saw the shooting from a distance of 400 feet. The three Negroes ran
after firing the shot, and could not be found later.
13. Edward W. Jackson
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 9:00 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound Fortieth and Halsted streets
Manner of wound Shock and hemorrhage due to beating
Jackson had started to walk to work. At Fortieth and Halsted streets he
was attacked by four or five white men and beaten. He ran to Thirty-ninth
Street, where he was found by the police. No further information could
be obtained in this case.
14. Samuel Bass
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound Between 7:00 and 9:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Twenty-second and Halsted Sts.
or Union Ave.
Manner of wound External violence
Samuel Bass, on account of the street-car strike, was walking the five
and one-half miles from his work to his home when a gang of white men
knocked him down three times, and cut gashes in his nose and cheeks
with their shoes. Bass hid behind freight cars till a Jewish peddler
took him in his cart to State Street. A doctor was visited, but when he
learned that Bass had no money, he turned him away without treatment. He
was picked up by a passing patrol and taken to the hospital, where his
treatment was cursory. Apparently he recovered, but in two weeks gave
evidence of a hemorrhage on the brain from which he died September 5.
15. Joseph Lovings
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound About 8:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 839 Lytle Street
Manner of wound Bullet wound, stab wounds,
skull fracture
Lovings, returning home from work on a bicycle, rode through an Italian
neighborhood whose residents were much excited because it had been said
earlier in the evening that a Negro employee of a mattress factory near-by
had shot a little Italian girl. A mob filled the streets when Lovings
was sighted. He tried to escape by running down an alley between Taylor
and Gilpin streets, and then jumped back fences and hid in a basement.
The mob dragged him out, riddled his body with bullets, stabbed him, and
beat him. It was afterward rumored that his body had been burned after
being saturated with gasoline. This was proved not to be true.
II. Deaths due to circumstances creating no criminal responsibility:
1. Nicholas Kleinmark
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound About 6:58 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-eighth Place and Ashland
Boulevard
Manner of wound Stab wound
Scott, Brown, and Simpson, Negroes, were returning by street car from
work in the Stock Yards when the car was boarded by a mob of white men
who attacked the Negroes with clubs and bricks. Scott defended himself
with a pocketknife, while Kleinmark tried to beat him with a club. One
of the blows with the knife went home, and Kleinmark staggered from
the car mortally wounded. Scott was jailed and charged with murder. The
coroner's jury commented as follows: "It is the sense of this jury that
the conduct of the police at the time of the riot at this point, during
the subsequent investigation, and at the preliminary hearing at which
Joseph Scott was bound over to the grand jury without counsel, was a
travesty on justice and fair play."
2. Clarence Metz
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 11:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Forty-third Street between
Forrestville and Vincennes
avenues
Manner of wound Stab wound
Metz was one of an assaulting party of whites which roamed the streets
from Forty-third to Forty-seventh streets and from Grand Boulevard to
Cottage Grove Avenue on the night of the twenty-eighth. Three Negroes,
one of them Lieutenant Washington, U.S.A., were returning from a theater
with three Negro women by way of Forty-third Street. At the place
mentioned they were attacked by a mob of whites and beaten with fists and
clubs. One of the Negroes was shot in the leg. Lieutenant Washington,
threatened with an ax handle, defended himself with his pocketknife.
Metz was stabbed as a result. The coroner's jury said: "We find that
the group of colored people, en route to their home, were acting in an
orderly and inoffensive manner, and were justified in their acts and
conduct during said affray."
3. Berger Odman
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 8:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Sixtieth and Ada streets
Manner of wound Bullet wound
This shooting occurred just inside the Negro neighborhood near Ogden
Park. One of the numerous mobs threatening this neighborhood began to
move into it from Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth streets and Racine Avenue.
The vanguard, composed of young boys, went a few feet inside the Negro
area and fired directly at a Negro named Samuel Johnson. He returned
the fire with a rifle. Other Negroes also fired in the direction of the
boys. One of the latter, Odman, was fatally wounded. The coroner's jury
said: "We believe and find that the action of Samuel R. Johnson was
fully justified and recommend his discharge from police custody."
4. James Crawford
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 27
Time of receiving death wound 6:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Twenty-ninth Street and Cottage
Grove Avenue
Manner of wound Bullet wound
A mob of about 1,000 Negroes congregated at Twenty-ninth Street and
Cottage Grove Avenue, whence they had chased Officer Callahan, supposed
to have refused to arrest the alleged slayer of Eugene Williams.
Other policemen attempting to disperse the mob were assaulted. James
Crawford, Negro, fired a revolver directly into the group of policemen.
They retaliated and Crawford ran. A Negro policeman followed Crawford,
attempting to stop him by firing. Crawford was wounded and died on July
29. The coroner's jury asserted: "We further find that the shooting was
justifiable on the part of the police officer."
5. Thomas Joshua
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 7:00 or 7:30 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound Fifty-first Street and Wabash
Avenue
Manner of wound Bullet wound
About 7:30 A.M., July 29, Lieutenant Day of the Police Department, his
son and daughter, and Policeman Mitchell rode down Fifty-first Street
in an automobile. As the automobile reached Wabash Avenue a colored boy
pointed a gun toward it. Day sprang out, drawing his pistol. It is said
that the boy fired and Day returned a shot. The boy ran, and Day fired
two more shots. A crowd of Negroes running from State Street came upon
the scene. The police escaped in a Yellow taxicab. Joshua was shot by
Lieutenant Day. While the testimony was a mass of contradictions, the
coroner's jury said: "We are of the opinion that Thomas Joshua came to
his death from revolver shots fired by the police officer in the discharge
of his duty."
6. Ira Henry
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 30
Time of receiving death wound 1:30 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound 4957 South State Street
Manner of wound Bullet wound
Policemen Keal and Sullivan were accompanying three Jewish families
from their residence on South State Street to the Fourth Precinct
police station. As the party passed 4957, Officer Sullivan saw a Negro
in an alley. He ran back to search him and received a bullet wound. He
returned fire. Keal ran to his assistance and fired other shots. Henry
was killed instantly. A Negro woman who was with Henry testified that
the first shot was fired by Sullivan, but this was not substantiated.
The coroner's jury said: "We are of the opinion that the officers were
fully justified, owing to the circumstances, in shooting the deceased."
III. Deaths due to the Angelus riot as to which no recommendations were
made by the coroner's jury:
1. Joseph Sanford
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 8:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash
Avenue
Manner of wound Bullet wound
2. Hymes Taylor
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 8:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-fifth Street and Wabash
Avenue
Manner of wound Bullet wound
3. John Walter Humphrey
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 8:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-fifth Street between Wabash
Avenue and the "L"
Manner of wound Bullet wound
4. Edward Lee
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 8:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound Thirty-fifth and State streets
Manner of wound Bullet wound
The Angelus riot centered at the intersection of Thirty-fifth Street and
Wabash Avenue, the location of the Angelus apartment house, occupied
at the time by whites; Thirty-fifth Street was crowded all the way to
State Street. It was at Thirty-fifth and State streets that a secondary
riot occurred, an aftermath of the Angelus riot, yet almost simultaneous
with it. The crowd of Negroes on these corners had been growing during
the afternoon, and stone-throwing had been prevalent. The rumor which
raised the mob to riot pitch was that a Negro boy had been shot by a
white tenant of the Angelus building. A search by the police failed to
produce a culprit. By eight o'clock a mob of about 1,000 to 1,500 Negroes
massed on the streets. To cope with the mob were between sixty to 100
policemen on foot and about twelve mounted officers.
About eight o'clock a Negro either threw some missiles or fired a shot
at a policeman. Immediately there followed a massing of the police at
the north of the intersection of the two streets. Evidence of an order
to fire was not produced, but simultaneously with the massing came a
volley. During this fire Sanford and Taylor were killed while trying
to escape into the entrance of the Angelus building. Shots followed at
Thirty-fifth Street and the "L," where a large number of the Negroes ran
for protection. Several were wounded, and Humphrey was killed. Almost
at the same time shots were fired at Thirty-fifth and State streets,
where Lee received his death wound.
The Lee case is the only one in which suspicion of deliberate shooting
rested upon anyone. Atrus Lee, brother of the deceased, accused Mounted
Policeman Brooks of firing directly at his brother. Brooks said that
shots were fired at him from north of the intersection, and that he fired
in the air and ran east. Drs. Anderson and Teffner, white, who saw the
shooting from Dr. Anderson's office windows, bore him out. The corner's
jury concluded: "We find that deceased was wounded by one of the shots
fired at Officer Brooks."
IV. Deaths in circumstances which seemed to involve specific persons
named by the coroner's jury for further investigation, but as to which
no indictments followed:
1. Joseph Schoff
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 30
Time of receiving death wound 5:00 or 5:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 4228 South Ashland Avenue
Manner of wound Stab wound
Schoff, walking on Ashland Avenue, accosted Jose Blanco repeatedly, "Are
you a Negro?" Receiving no response he swung at Blanco with his fist.
The latter stabbed Schoff under the heart, then walked on. As he was
about to enter the house of a friend the police arrested him. He admitted
that he had stabbed a man, but said he had done it in self-defense.
The coroner's jury reported: "We, the jury, are unable to agree as to
whether the accused, Jose Blanco, should be held to the grand jury upon
a charge of manslaughter.... We recommend that the coroner present this
evidence to the grand jury for consideration and determination."
2. Samuel Banks
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 30
Time of receiving death wound 11:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 2729 Dearborn Street
Manner of wound Bullet wound
At 11:00 P.M., July 30, three policemen patrolling State Street at
Twenty-eighth Street, heard a shot on Dearborn Street. At Twenty-sixth
Place they met about a dozen Negro ex-soldiers acting as police reserves
under doubtful orders and asked them to accompany them. They all went
into Dearborn Street. Sixteen-year-old Sam Banks saw them and ran for
refuge, dodging under the house steps at 2729. His running was taken
as evidence of guilt. The officers halted in front of the house. One
Francis, a Negro, also believing that because the boy ran he was guilty,
opened his door and pointed out the hiding-place of young Banks. The boy
ran into the passageway between the houses. A shot fired by one of the
officers took effect. Suspicion rested upon Patrolman O'Connor of the
Police Department and two of the ex-soldiers, Adams and Douglas. The
coroner's jury stated: "The jury is unable to determine whether one or
more individuals of the group was acting criminally and is not able to
determine which individual fired the shot.... We find that two of said
volunteers, Ed. Douglas and Charles Adams, are held on a charge of murder
in connection with the death of deceased. We find there is evidence of
the presence of Ed. Douglas, but no satisfactory evidence of the presence
of Charles Adams at the scene of the shooting. We recommend the discharge
of Charles Adams from police custody on the charge of murder."
3. Theodore Copling
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 30
Time of receiving death wound 10:00 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 2934 South State Street
Manner of wound Bullet wound
A gang of Negro boys passing 2920 South State Street saw the white man
and came back. A Negro, one Partee, was sitting outside the store. He
warned the watchman to get inside. Almost immediately shots were fired.
The only person injured was young Copling, who apparently was not in the
crowd but on the outskirts as a sightseer. Suspicion rested upon four
persons--Baker, Negro, leader of the gang; Partee, Negro, who warned
the watchman and was opposed to the gang; Torcello, white watchman; and
Graise, Negro, step-father of Copling, who had on previous occasions
threatened to kill the boy because of disagreements between them. The
coroner's jury said: "We recommend that the said Hanson Baker, and the
said Norman Partee, and the said Dan Torcello, and the said Louis Graise
be held to the grand jury on a charge of murder until discharged by due
process of law."
4. George Flemming
Race White
Date of receiving death wound August 5
Time of receiving death wound 9:00 or 9:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 549 East Forty-seventh Street
Manner of wound Wound (inflicted by bayonet)
The coroner's jury report said: "We find that deceased, in company with
several other young men, was at Forty-seventh Street and Forrestville
Avenue when they were ordered to move away by a police officer and that
they obeyed and were walking east; that the group were followed by one
Edgar D. Mohan, a soldier, armed with a rifle, bayonet fixed; that said
Mohan commanded the young men to move faster, accompanying the command
by twice stabbing and wounding one Thomas J. Fennessey in the right hip
and scrotum; and that he immediately after plunged the bayonet into the
back of deceased, the bayonet penetrating through the body. We recommend
that the said Edgar D. Mohan be held to the grand jury upon a charge of
manslaughter, until discharged by due process of law.
"Being informed by the attorney general of Illinois that the military
authorities of the state of Illinois have jurisdiction over acts of
the said Edgar D. Mohan while in the military service, and have in fact
assumed jurisdiction, a court martial being now in progress, we, the jury,
hereby amend the last paragraph of our verdict of September 12, 1919, to
read that 'Edgar D. Mohan be held to a court martial' instead of 'Edgar
D. Mohan be held to the grand jury.'" The court martial exonerated Mohan.
Statements made in the office of the state's attorney show that Flemming
was implicated in attacks in the neighborhood upon Negroes earlier in
the riot period and was known as the leader of an unruly group who made
a certain poolroom their hangout.
V. Deaths for which specific persons were subsequently indicted by the
grand jury:
1. Casmere Lazzeroni Race White Date of receiving death wound July 28
Time of receiving death wound 4:50 P.M. Place of receiving death wound
3618 South State Street Manner of wound Stab wound
The defendants were four Negro boys, Charles Johnson, eighteen; Frank
Coachman, sixteen; John Green, fourteen; and Walter Colvin, sixteen.
Lazzeroni, a sixty-year-old Italian peddler, driving a banana wagon on
State Street, was pursued by boys throwing stones who overtook him, jumped
on his wagon, and stabbed him with pocketknives. All except Johnson were
alleged to have confessed, and the confessions were given before the
grand jury by Policeman Deliege as he remembered them. They were not
read. The boys who confessed implicated the one who did not, Johnson.
Mrs. Dolly Herrmann identified all of the boys as being implicated.
The four boys were indicted and tried and on September 19, 1919, a verdict
of guilty was rendered against Colvin and Johnson. They were sentenced
to the penitentiary for life on December 17, 1919; the cases of Green
and Coachman were stricken off with leave to reinstate.
2. Joseph Powers
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 6:00 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound Root and Emerald streets
Manner of wound Stab wound
A Negro, William Henderson, was walking west on Root Street on the
morning of July 29 going to work at the Stock Yards. He was overtaken
by another Negro whom he did not know, but who accompanied him down the
street. As they crossed Emerald Avenue they were met by two white men
walking east. One of these was Joseph Powers. He walked slightly behind
the other white man, whose identity was never discovered. It was not
known whether Powers was with this man or not. As the unknown white man
passed the two Negroes he struck out at them. The unknown Negro walking
with Henderson struck back, evidently with a knife in his hand, and hit
Powers, who was then abreast of the group, mortally wounding him. All the
participants ran except Powers. Henderson was the only one overtaken.
He was chased through alleys and brought down with stones and bricks
and severely beaten. From the description of the second Negro given by
Henderson, and the fact that another had been found wounded near this
spot, it was supposed at first that the second man was one Henry Renfroe.
The coroner's jury said: "We believe that William Henderson was guilty
of no wrong doing, and that if the unknown colored man should prove to
be Henry Renfroe, that he was acting in self-defense. We recommend their
immediate discharge from police custody. We further recommend that the
white men guilty of assault on William Henderson and his companion be
apprehended and punished."
Later Judge Tate, Negro, was identified as the companion of Henderson.
Both Negroes were indicted by the grand jury. On December 13, 1919, a
verdict of not guilty was returned against Tate and the case of Henderson
was nolle prossed.
3. Walter Parejko
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 7:30 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound Fifty-first Street near Dearborn
Street
Manner of wound Bullet wound
4. Morris I. Perel
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 8:15 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound Fifty-first and Dearborn streets
Manner of wound Stab wound
The same three defendants appear in both these cases, three young Negro
boys, Ben Walker, William Stinson, and Charles Davis.
There were no eyewitnesses in either case except the defendants involved,
and they did not appear in person before the coroner's jury, but
statements by them were either read or repeated by officials in charge.
Davis and Stinson declared that Walker shot Parejko. When the statements
were read to Walker, who had so far refused to make a confession, he
said Stinson stabbed Perel.
Parejko and his friend Josef Maminaki, laborers on the Grand Trunk
Railway, were going to work. According to Stinson the boys were sitting
on a bread box in front of a store when they saw the two white men.
Walker said, "Let's get this guy." Stinson answered, "Not me." Walker
said, "Stand aside now, boys; I will do my stuff." He fired and Parejko
was mortally wounded and Maminaki slightly wounded. Walker denied the
shooting. However, he told where the weapon could be found, and it was
brought before the coroner as evidence.
Perel was walking to his place of business going west on Fifty-first
Street. Near Dearborn Street four or five Negro men or boys jumped on him
and stabbed him. When he was found, it was discovered that his gold watch
had been forcibly severed from the chain and was missing. Someone said a
crowd of boys had been seen running south. According to the statement of
Ben Walker, "Fat Stinson jumped on him and stabbed him and hit him with
a club at the same time.... After he stabbed and hit him the whole gang
jumped on him." Afterward Stinson is reported by Walker to have said,
"I surely hit that guy," and to have displayed a pearl-handled knife.
The coroner's jury said in the Parejko case: "We recommend that the
said Ben Walker, the said William Stinson, and the said Charles Davis be
held to the grand jury upon a charge of murder until discharged by due
process of law." In the Perel case the jury said: "We recommend that the
said William Stinson be held to the grand jury upon a charge of murder
until discharged by due process of law."
They were indicted by the grand jury, and on January 9, 1920, a verdict
of not guilty was returned in each case.
5. Harold Brignadello (see p. 27)
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 10:30 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound 1021 South State Street
Manner of wound Bullet wound
Harold Brignadello was one of a crowd of white men who wandered south
on State Street and halted at No. 1021 and stoned the house. It was not
brought out whether the stone-throwing was done because Negroes lived in
the house, or was provoked by taunts from Negroes in the second-story
window. A Negro woman and two men appeared at the window, and when the
throwing did not stop, the woman raised her arm. A shot was fired into
the crowd, fatally wounding Brignadello. Police officers found in the
flat and arrested Emma Jackson, Kate Elder, John Webb, Ed Robinson, and
Clarence Jones. The coroner's jury recommended that they be held to the
grand jury upon a charge of murder until discharged by due process of
law, and that members of the unknown white mob be apprehended. The five
Negroes named were indicted, and on September 20, 1919, a verdict of
not guilty was returned as to each.
6. G. L. Wilkins
Race White
Date of receiving death wound July 30
Time of receiving death wound 1:30 P.M.
Place of receiving death wound 3825 Rhodes Avenue
Manner of wound Bullet wound
Wilkins, an agent for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, on his
rounds collecting, entered the house at 3825 Rhodes Avenue where several
Negro families live. While he was inside three young Negro men approached
one of the tenants who was sitting on the front porch, and one of them
asked who the white man was. This youth is alleged to have said, "We
don't want no damned insurance man here. What money we have got we want
to keep it." When Wilkins appeared, two of the youths stood on the curb,
and one went between two houses which Wilkins had to pass. As he went
by he was shot. It was said that Spurgeon Anthony and Willis Powell were
the two who stood at the curb, and John Washington was the one who went
between the houses. The coroner's jury recommended that the three be held
to the grand jury upon a charge of murder, and the grand jury indicted
them. On December 16, 1919, a verdict of not guilty was returned as to
Powell, and Washington was found guilty and sentenced to twenty years
in the penitentiary.
7. Paul Hardwick
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 5:00 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound Wabash Avenue and Adams Street
Manner of wound Bullet wound
A mob of white civilians, soldiers, and sailors, who had been chasing
Negroes through the "Loop" district for the previous two or three hours,
beating and robbing them, and destroying property where Negroes were
not found, entered one of Thompson's restaurants where Hardwick was
breakfasting. Another Negro, one King, was also in the restaurant. The
mob set upon them, throwing food and dishes. Hardwick dodged into the
street and King hid behind a dish counter, where he was wounded with a
knife. Failing to catch Hardwick as he fled down Adams Street, one of
the rioters stepped to the curb and fired a revolver at him, bringing
him down. Several of the crowd robbed the corpse. At the time of the
coroner's jury hearing the only one of the mob identified was Ray
Freedman, aged seventeen. He was apprehended and charged with murder,
malicious mischief, and inciting to riot, but was not indicted. Later
Edward Haines was connected with the case, indicted, and on February
21, 1920, sent to Pontiac.
8. Robert Williams
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 29
Time of receiving death wound 6:15 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound At or near State and Van Buren
streets
Manner of wound Stab wound
The murder of Williams was the second riot killing in the heart of
Chicago's business district on the morning of July 29. Before Williams
died he said he had been assaulted by white men at State and Van Buren
streets. An eyewitness, a Negro, said he saw Williams running west on
the car track on Van Buren Street, followed by a mob of about 200 white
men. One of them, whom he positively identified as Frank Biga, stabbed
the deceased twice, but Williams continued to run for a distance after
that. A white man who saw Williams picked up at Harrison and State streets
also identified Biga as a man who all during the morning had led gangs
chasing Negroes. A woman went to a policeman and pointed out Biga as the
leader of riot mobs. The coroner's jury recommended that Biga be held to
the grand jury upon a charge of murder. At the time of the identification
of Biga by the woman the policeman arrested him, found a broken razor
in his possession, and had him booked for disorderly conduct, for which
he was fined $5 and costs in the boys' court and sent to the House of
Correction. The next day he broke out of the House of Correction and was
not again apprehended until he was implicated in the murder of a shoe
merchant, Fred Bender, on August 8, 1919. He killed Bender with a blow
on the head from an iron pipe. On February 18, 1920, Biga was sent to
the penitentiary for life.
9. William Dozier
Race Negro
Date of receiving death wound July 31
Time of receiving death wound 7:15 A.M.
Place of receiving death wound Stock Yards, Exchange Avenue about
Cook Street
Manner of wound External violence
Dozier, Negro, approached a meat curer employed in the superintendent's
office of Swift & Co. to ask if the Negroes were not going to have
protection in the Yards that morning. A white worker stepped out of the
crowd and struck at Dozier with a hammer. Dozier dodged and caught the
blow on the neck. He started to run east on Exchange Avenue. As he ran
he was struck with a street broom and shovel and other missiles; near
the sheep pens a brick felled him. The meat curer above mentioned and
an assistant identified one Zarka as the man who wielded the hammer.
Joseph Scezak was identified as the man who used the broom. The coroner's
jury recommended that these two be held to the grand jury on a charge
of manslaughter and also that the unknown participants be held upon the
same charge. Zarka and Scezak were indicted for murder, and on May 6,
1920, a verdict of not guilty was returned as to each.
D. TABLE SHOWING NUMBER OF PERSONS INJURED IN
CHICAGO RIOT, BY DATE AND BY RACE
===============================================
| RACE |
DATE +-------+-------+---------+ TOTAL
| White | Negro | Unknown |
-------------+-------+-------+---------+-------
July 27 | 10 | 31 | 5 | 46
28 | 71 | 152 | 6 | 229
29 | 55 | 80 | 4 | 139
30 | 20 | 20 | 2 | 42
31 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 19
Aug. 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1
2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4
3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2
4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2
8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1
9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1
Date unknown | 4 | 44 | 0 | 48
+-------+-------+---------+-------
Total | 178 | 342 | 17 | 537
-------------+-------+-------+---------+-------
INDEX
Abraham Lincoln Center, 150
"Abyssinians," murders by, 59;
group, 60, 480, 537
Addams, Jane, 19, 55
Adler, Herman M., 35
Aftermath of riot, 46
Ages of rioters, 13, 22
American Federation of Labor, 405
American Red Cross, 45, 150
Appreciation of property, 211
Arms and ammunition, 21
Arrests in riots, 328
Associated Negro Presses, 521
Associated Press, 553
"Athletic" clubs, 11, 55;
grand jury recommendation on, 16
Athletic teams, 253
_Atlanta Constitution_, 84
_Atlanta Independent_, 81
Attitudes, in public opinion, 457
Automobile raids, 6, 18
"Back of the Yards" fire, 7, 20;
newspaper handling of, 539
Barrett murder, 64
Bathing-beaches, 274
Beliefs concerning Negroes, 437;
background of, 445, 451;
of fifteen Negroes, 493;
held by fifteen white men, 459;
primary, 438;
secondary, 443
Biographical notes of Commissioners, 625
Black Belt, 6, 8;
"cleaning up the," 567;
concentration of police in, 36;
housing in, 184.
"Black and tan" resorts, 323
Board of Education, 239, 256;
Quincy, 235;
recommendations to, 643
Boaz, Franz, 450
Bombings, 117, 122;
newspapers on, 532
Bubbly Creek rumor, 32
Cabarets, 344
_Chicago American_, 548, 554
Chicago Commission on Race Relations:
appointments by Governor Lowden, xvi;
biographical sketches, 652;
plan of work, xvii;
staff, 653
_Chicago Daily News_, 116, 202, 212, 524, 548
_Chicago Defender_, 87, 492, 557
_Chicago Evening Post_, 553
Chicago Federation of Labor, 406
_Chicago Herald-Examiner_, 524, 550
Chicago newspapers, an intensive study of, 531
Chicago Real Estate Board, 216, 219
Chicago Riot, 1, 595;
background, 2;
beginning, 4;
clashes before, 53;
coroner's jury recommendations on, 49;
factors of, 9, 25;
Negro press on, 488;
outstanding features of, 48;
police orders, 37
Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, 184, 218
_Chicago Searchlight_, 557
_Chicago Tribune_, 453, 476, 524, 551
Chicago Urban League, 45, 104, 135, 146, 185, 193, 365, 368
_Chicago Whip_, 557
Chief of Police, 36
Children of immigrants, 256
Children, participation in riot, 22
Chronological story of riot, 5
Churches, 142;
pastors, 140;
property, 145;
relief work by, 144
City Council, recommendations to, 642
Civil Rights Act, 232
Clashes, 9;
minor, 53;
in parks, 288;
types of, 17
Commercial enterprises, 140
Conclusions, 594
Contacts;
in public place, 309;
racial, 231
Contested neighborhoods, 117
Convictions in riot, 48
Co-operative racial efforts, 326
Coroner's jury, 47;
recommendations of, 49
Courts:
injustice in, 85;
Negro in, 332
Crime, 327;
authorities on, 345;
beliefs concerning Negro, 440;
and environment, 341, 621;
impressions of Negro, 328;
the press on, 524
Criminal statistics, 328
_Crisis_, 515, 518
Crowds, 22
Cultural contacts, 325
Death of riot, 1;
epitome of facts, 655
Defensive philosophy, 508
Defensive policies, 484
Depreciation of property, 194;
after coming of Negroes, 200;
general factors in, 196;
in Hyde Park, 205;
in a Prairie Avenue block, 212
Deputy sheriffs, 43
Deterioration of property, 196
Discrimination:
in arrests, 35;
in courts, 352;
in public places, 310;
in public schools, 234;
in recreation, 277;
in wages, 365;
in work, 391, 419
Domestic workers, 370
Duke, Charles, 34, 201
East St. Louis Riots, 71;
Congressional Committee report on, 72
Efficiency, of Negro labor, 374
Elementary schools, 246
Emotionality, beliefs concerning Negro, 442
Employers, recommendations to, 647
Employment agencies, 431
Establishments employing Negroes, 361
Exclusive neighborhoods, 115
Experiments with Negro women workers, 380
Factors influencing growth of riot, 9, 25
Family histories, group of, 170
Financial resources of Negroes, 227
Financial support of Commission, xvii
Fire "back of the Yards," 539
Fitzpatrick, John, 415, 426
Fraternal organizations, 141
Gambling, 344
Gangs, 3, 7, 11;
murders by, 55
Garvey, Marcus, 60, 493
Gompers, Samuel, 364
Grand Jury Recommendations, 51
Growth of riot, 7
High schools, 252
Home ownership by Negroes, 215
Hotel employees, 368
Housing of Negroes, 152;
financial aspects of, 215;
newspaper handling of, 528, 542;
physical aspects of, 184;
types, 186
Hyde Park, 117;
depreciation of property in, 205
Identification, Bureau of, 335
Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society, 150
Illiteracy, and race problems, 497
Immigrant children, 256
Incendiary fires, 20
Indictments in riot, 48
Industries:
attitude of Negroes toward, 385;
excluding Negroes, 391;
Negroes in Chicago, 357, 623;
relations of whites with, 393
Industry, recommendations, 647
Infective environment, 342
Injuries and deaths of riot, 10
Interracial efforts, 326
Investigators of Commission, 653
Italians, 19
Jones, Thomas Jesse, 82
Judges, testimony of, 345
Juvenile delinquency, 333
Kenwood and Hyde Park Property Owners' Association, 118, 132, 204,
210, 589
Labor turnover, 377
Labor Unions and Negroes, 403;
attitude of locals toward Negroes, 412-20;
attitude of Negroes, 420;
opinions of labor leaders, 432;
and race prejudice, 435;
recommendations to, 643, 647
Lake Park Avenue, 107, 159
Legal status of Negroes, 232
Lithuanians, 8, 21, 160
Loans to Negroes on property, 220
Lodgers, 162
"Loop" rioting, 8, 20
Lynchings, 582
McDowell, Mary, 20, 55, 415
Membership in unions, 411
Mencken, H. L., 443
Mental complexes, of Negroes, 502
Mentality, beliefs concerning, 430, 445, 459
_Messenger_ magazine, 489, 490
Migrants in Chicago, 93, 97, 117, 169
Migration from South, 79, 602;
efforts to check, 103;
the press on, 529
Militia, conduct of, 40;
distribution of, 41;
recommendations to, 640
Minor clashes, 53
Misrepresentation of Negroes in press, 521
Mississippi, appropriations for white and colored schools, 82
Mob, a Negro and a, 481
Mobs, 22, 33
Morality, beliefs concerning, 439, 447, 459
Morgan Park, 107, 137
Myths, 577;
concerning Negro mentality, 579;
rape, 582;
sex, 584
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 148, 575
National Urban League, 575
Negro children, scholarship of, 256
Negro community, 139-52
Negro families, 152;
histories, 170;
housing, 152-230;
living, 165
Negro labor: classification of workers, 364;
compared with white labor, 374;
domestic, 370;
employers' experience with, 372;
future in industry, 400;
increase in, 362;
organized, 403, 429;
southern, 363;
use of, to reduce wages, 398
Negro and a mob, 481
Negro population of Chicago, 106;
trend, 135
Negro press, 132, 304;
and crime publicity, 557;
handling of news, 556;
policy, 563;
on race riot, 488;
recommendations to, 650;
sources of news, 567
Negro problems, 505;
radicals, 574;
revolt, 540
Negro soldiers, newspaper handling of, 524
Negro teachers, 247, 251
Negro women in industry, 367, 378
Negroes: in Chicago industries, 358;
discriminations against, 234;
in labor unions, 412;
and leaders, 505;
legal status in Illinois, 232;
and public opinion, 475;
recommendations to, 645
Neighborhood improvement associations, 192
Neighborhoods of Negro residence, 108, 113, 115
Newspapers, 60;
attitude of Negroes toward, 521;
on bombing, 532;
handling of Negro news, 523;
intensive study of, 531;
on migration, 529;
on Negro crime, 524;
on Negro housing, 528;
on Negro in politics, 527;
policy, 547, 563;
and the riot, 26, 44
North migration to, 29
North Side, 108, 112
Occupations of Negroes, 263, 358
Ogden Park, 107
Opinion-making: instruments of, 635;
among Negroes, 514
Opinions: of Negroes, 475, 493, 630;
of whites, 459, 630
Opportunities for Negroes: in industry, 357;
training for recreation directors, 296
Organizations, of Negroes, 141
Other outbreaks, 53
Outlying neighborhoods, 136
Overage in public schools, 239
Overcrowding, 156
Parents, attitudes of, 250
Park boards, recommendations to, 642
Parks and playgrounds, 275
Parole and probation, 335
Penal institutions, 338
Philosophy, racial, 508
Phyllis Wheatley Home, 149
Police: conduct of, 4, 5, 21, 33, 38, 66;
distribution of, in riot area, 37;
distrust of, by Negroes, 35;
raids on Negro clubs, 16;
recommendations to, 640
Politics, 3, 39;
the press on Negroes in, 527
Population: Negro and white in Chicago, 106, 605;
working, 357
Press: of Chicago, 520, 523;
handling of Negro news, 524;
opinions of Negroes regarding, 485, 514, 521;
recommendations to, 650
Propaganda: charges of, by Negroes, 492;
defensive, 592;
malicious, 589;
and public opinion, 587;
racial educational, 587
Property: appreciation of, 211;
depreciation of, 194
_Property Owners' Journal_, 121, 590
Prostitution, houses of in Negro area, 344
Protective Circle, 130, 593
Provident Hospital, 150
Psychological basis of Negro crime, 342
Public, the, recommendations to, 644
Public opinion, 436, 630;
expressed by Negroes, 475;
and propaganda, 587;
and rumor, 568
Public schools, 238;
contact problems, 244;
elementary, 246;
physical equipment, 241;
social activities, 254;
technical high schools, 256
Pullman porters, 369, 390
Race consciousness, 487
Race friction among workers, 393
Race prejudice, 503
Race problems, 478;
and acquisition of wealth, 495;
and illiteracy, 497;
opinions of Negroes on, 493;
opinions on solution of, 495;
and religion, 500; and suffrage, 499
Race relations, 436, 494;
in industry, 392
Racial contacts, 231, 613;
newspapers on, 530
Racial solidarity, 509
Radical propaganda, 587
"Ragen's Colts," 12, 14, 55, 482
Raids on Negro clubs, 15
Railroad Men's International Benevolent Industrial Association, 409
Railroad workers, 369
Ravenswood, 108
Recommendations of Chicago Commission on Race Relations, 639;
to Board of Education, 642;
to city council and administration boards, 642;
to Negroes, 646;
to places of public accommodation, 649;
to police, militia, state's attorney, and courts, 640;
to the press, 650;
to public, 644;
to social and civic organizations, 643;
to street-car companies, 649;
to white members of public, 645
Recreation, 271;
centers, 273;
contacts in, of school children, 266;
facilities for, 272
Religion:
beliefs concerning Negroes', 449;
and race problems, 499
Religious organizations, 142
Rents, 162
Restoration of order, 43
Retardation, 239, 256;
causes of, 258;
of Negro children, 261, 439
Ridicule, by press, 545
Riot area, 8
Riot deaths, epitome of facts concerning, 655
Riot injuries, 667
Robbins, Illinois, 138
Rumor, 5, 6, 19, 21;
of atrocities, 576;
"Bubbly Creek," 570;
in East St. Louis Riot, 572;
and migration, 576;
within Negro group, 575;
and the press, 25;
and public opinion, 568
Scholarship, 256
Schools:
contacts in, 238;
physical equipment of, 241
Segregation:
opinions of Negroes, 509;
opinions of whites, 459, 473
Sentiment:
group, 456;
of Negroes, 478;
types of, 437, 451
Sex crimes, 332
Social agencies, 146, 193
Social and civic organizations, recommendations to, 643
Social waste in Negro employment, 392
South:
educational facilities for Negroes in, 239;
injustice in courts in, 85;
migration from, 79;
traditions of, 456
South Side, 107, 156, 184; property depreciation on, 198
Springfield riot, 67
Staff of Chicago Commission on Race Relations, 653
State's attorney, 8, 34;
recommendations to, 640
Stock Yards, 44, 66;
Negro workers in, 389;
strike of 1904, 430;
unions, 412
"Store Front" churches, 144
Street-car clashes, 7, 10, 17
Street-car companies, recommendations to, 649
Strike-breaking, 412, 427
Strikes, participation of Negroes in, 430
Suffrage and race problems, 499
Summary of findings by Commission, 595
Thompson, Mayor William Hale, 40
Traffic:
concentration of Negro, 298;
distribution, 300
Transportation contacts, 297;
attitudes on, 452;
recommendations on, 649
Unions, 403, 439;
Negro membership in, 411
Union League Club, 46
United Charities, 150
Vice, 342
Vice Commission report, 343
Voluntary grouping, 249, 285
Volunteers, 42
Wages, 365
War, opportunities created by, 357
Waukegan, racial outbreak, 57;
newspaper handling of, 541
Wealth of Negroes, 495
West Side, 108, 111, 156, 191
Williams, Eugene, 4
Women in industry, 367, 378
Women and riot, 17
Women's Trade Union League, 402, 414
Woodlawn, 107, 111
Y.M.C.A., 46, 147
Y.W.C.A. (Indiana Avenue Branch), 149
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
FOOTNOTES
[1] For biographical data see p. 652.
[2] The members of this staff, with the previous training and
experience of each, are listed in the Appendix, p. 653.
[3] In the final revision of the report, the Commission decided
that the police statistics were, as a rule, too unreliable to
be made a basis of conclusions.
[4] Pages _infra_.
[5] Carl Sandburg, _The Chicago Race Riots_, chap, i, p. 1.
Harcourt, Brace & Howe.
[6] Thirty-first, Thirty-fifth, and Thirty-ninth streets are
chosen for special notice because these are transfer points
for north and south cars to east and west lines. The figures
given are for the first three days of the riot only. Other
days showed too few injuries to allow accurate conclusions.
[7] Figures compiled from police reports, state's attorney
reports, hospital reports, and Olivet Baptist Church reports.
[8] Testimony before the coroner's jury.
[9] Chief of Police Garrity was out of the city at the time
the riot began on Sunday, but returned on Monday.
[10] For brief description of cases see Appendix.
[11] Redding had admitted having shot Rose, and evidence
against others for their participation in the killing, while
not conclusive, was rather convincing.
[12] At the trial of these men six months later, Grover
Cleveland Redding and Oscar McGavick were sentenced to hang
for the murder of Rose and Hoyt. The others held for trial
were released. Redding has since been hanged.
[13] This statement is based mainly upon the report of this
special committee appointed by Congress to investigate the
East St. Louis riots and upon the stenographic report of
the testimony taken by it. This testimony, comprising 6,000
typewritten pages, was placed at the disposal of the Commission
through the courtesy of the chairman of the Committee,
Representative Ben Johnson, of Kentucky, and the interest and
co-operation of Representative James R. Mann, of Illinois.
[14] Negro migration in 1916-17, _U.S. Department of Labor
Report_, p. 67.
[15] In 1,055 counties.
[16] See "Contacts in Public Schools."
[17] _Colored Missions_, January, 1921.
[18] Johnson, _Migration to Chicago_.
[19] See "Negro Population of Chicago," p. 107.
[20] See "Gangs" and "Clubs" under "Racial Clashes."
[21] See "Clashes."
[22] See p. 186.
[23] See "Family Histories," p. 170.
[24] See discussion of non-adjusted neighborhoods, p. 113,
and of bombings, p. 122.
[25] See pp. 342 and 346.
[26] See "Contested Neighborhoods," p. 116.
[27] Olcott's "Land Value Maps," 1910 and 1920.
[28] Civil-rights cases are: _Williams_ v. _Chicago &
Northwestern Railroad Co._, 55 Ill. 185; _Baylies_ v. _Curry_,
128 Ill. 287; _Cecil_ v. _Green_, 161 Ill. 265; _People_ v.
_Forest Home Cemetery Co._, 258 Ill. 36; _Grace_ v. _Moseley_,
112 Ill. App. 100; _Dean_ v. _Chicago & N.W. R.R. Co._, 183
Ill. App. 317; _Thorne_ v. _Alcazar Amusement Co._, 210 Ill.
App. 173; _White_ v. _Pasfield_, 212 Ill. App. 73.
[29] _White_ v. _Pasfield_, 212 Ill. App. 73; 1918. A Negro
filed a bill in equity to enjoin the lessees of a public
pavilion and swimming-pool from excluding him therefrom. It
was held that a court of equity had no jurisdiction to enjoin
such a violation of the Civil Rights Act, but left the party
to his statutory remedies of either an action for damages or
criminal prosecution.
_Thorne_ v. _Alcazar Amusement Company_, 210 Ill. App. 173,
1918, was an action to recover the penalty provided by the
Civil Rights Act for refusing to permit a Negro woman to occupy
a theater seat for which she had purchased a ticket. Judgment
in favor of the plaintiff in the municipal court was reversed
in the appellate court on the ground that the municipal court
had no jurisdiction to impose penalties for criminal acts
occurring outside the city limits.
[30] School cases in Illinois are as follows: _Chase_ v.
_Stephenson_, 71 Ill. 383; _People_ v. _Board of Education
of Quincy_, 101 Ill. 308; _People_ v. _McFall and Board of
Education of Quincy_, 26 Ill. App. 319, affirmed, 124 Ill.
642; _People_ v. _Board of Education of Upper Alton School
District_, 127 Ill. 613; _Bibb_ v. _Mayor of Alton_, 179 Ill.
615; 193 Ill. 309; 209 Ill. 461; 221 Ill. 275; 233 Ill. 542.
[31] _Negro Education_, I, 33. Bulletin No. 38, 1916. Department
of the Interior, Bureau of Education. 2 vols.
[32] _Negro Education_, II, 14.
[33] _Ibid._, I, 23.
[34] _Ibid._, I, 28.
[35] _Ibid._, II, 15.
[36] Data obtained from _Directory of the Public Schools of the
City of Chicago_, 1919-20, published by the Board of Education.
[37] The figures after the name of the school throughout this
section refer to the percentage of Negro children in the school
in 1919-20.
[38] A preponderance of complaints from Negro parents could
easily be accounted for by a high proportion of Negro pupils.
[39] The figures in this column represent children who were
listed as being in "ungraded classes" in the Board of Education
records. They are not included with the column of "Retarded"
children because the grades of the "Retarded" children were
given in the board of Education records and were used in
determining the amount these children were retarded (see Table
XIV). The "Retarded Ungraded" children are included with the
"Retarded" children in determining the percentage of retarded
children.
[40] Many so-called southern "colleges" include elementary and
high school, as well as college work. The term is general and
does not mean necessarily an institution of the same academic
standing as a northern college.
[41] See illustration facing this page.
[42] Missing
[43] Of these 19,000 about 200 use the beaches, 4,100 the
playgrounds, 700 the recreation centers, and 14,000 the large
parks.
[44] See p. 12
[45] See _Report of Chicago Crime Commission_, p. 8.
[46] See "Racial Contacts"--"Physical Equipment of Schools,"
p. 241.
[47] _City Council Crime Committee Report_, pp. 40-41.
[48] See "Recreation," p. 272.
[49] In 1910 the number of Negroes gainfully occupied was
27,317, or 61.94 per cent of the total Negro population. The
percentage gainfully occupied in 1920 would be higher because
of the large number of men without families who migrated from
the South.
[50] Census Bureau, _Negro Population in the United States,
1790 to 1915_, p. 503.
[51] _Negro Population in the United States, 1790 to 1915_,
p. 90.
[52] _Ibid._, p. 503. Negroes gainfully occupied in the South,
4,592,353; in agriculture, 2,845,163.
[53] Emmett J. Scott, _Negro Migration during the War_, p.
92. "Carnegie Economic Studies," No. 16.
[54] "In many cases the Negro does not dare ask for a
settlement. Planters often regard it as an insult to be required
even by the courts 'to go to their books.' A lawyer and planter
cited to me the planter's typical excuse: 'It is unnecessary
to make a settlement when the tenant is in debt.' As to the
facts in the case, the landlord's word must suffice." From
report by W. T. B. Williams in _Negro Migration in 1916-17_,
p. 104. Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Labor, Division of
Negro Economics.
[55] Thirteenth Census, 1910, Vol. IV, Table VIII, pp. 544-47.
[56] The total number of establishments (manufacturing and
non-manufacturing) reported but not considered is fifty-nine,
employing a total of 111 Negroes, or less than ½ per cent of
the total number reported.
[57] This company formerly employed 200 Negroes.
[58] One mail-order establishment employing 350 Negroes is
omitted from this table owing to incomplete return of total
employees.
[59] This includes the following: public service, warehouse
storage, taxicab up-keep, telegraph, etc.
[60] Seven manufacturing establishments omitted on account of
insufficient returns.
[61] Two packing establishments employing 2,218 Negroes in
1920 have been omitted. They reported a large increase since
1914 but gave no definite figures.
[62] Five foundries employing a total of fifty men in 1920 have
been omitted owing to failure to report figures for preceding
years.
[63] Establishments omitted owing to insufficient returns.
[64] These figures include skilled and semi-skilled in three
packing establishments reporting that Negroes were employed
under each classification but giving no separate figures.
[65] Three establishments (lamp-shade, auto-cushion
manufacturing) not included. Failed to classify the employees
but reported that they had hand sewers and machine operators,
including skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled.
[66] Figures quoted for 1910 are taken from the Thirteenth
Census, 1910, Vol. IV, Table VIII, pp. 544-47.
[67] The contrast between these high wages and the wages which
Negroes coming from the South had previously earned is shown
in the study of family histories of migrant Negroes.
[68] The importation of these girls from the British West
Indies was noticed by the Commission after its period of
investigation had ended.
[69] Includes a scattering list of industries represented by
one to three establishments--Negro labor not important factor
in these industries.
[70] Includes three paper-box manufacturing plants with ten,
twenty, and 113 Negro employees, largely women; and cooperage
plant with ninety-six Negro employees and one sausage-casing
plant with ten Negro employees. These plants reported Negro
labor "slow," "lazy," or "unreliable."
[71] Representatives of a number of the 101 establishments
visited did not feel able to make a comparison between the
Negro and white workers.
[72] Of the eighty-seven establishments (employing five or more
Negroes) covered by the investigation but omitted from this
table, forty-two had no Negro women employees and forty-five
failed to classify Negro workers by sex.
[73] Missing
[74] One establishment failed to report total employees.
[75] F. E. Wolfe, _Admission to American Trade Unions_, pp.
113-17.
[76] It was impossible to get in communication with others
of the smaller scattered independent internationals besides
those mentioned. No directory is yet published.
[77] U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations, _Final Report
and Testimony_ (1916), p. 111.
[78] F. E. Wolfe, _op. cit._, p. 128, n. 3.
[79] James Harvey Robinson, _Mind in the Making_.
[80] See p. 493.
[81] The _Messenger_ is pronounced in its stand for woman
suffrage.
[82] See p. 59.
[83] Prospectus issued in 1921.
[84] "Statistical Statement of Negro Progress in Fifty-three
Years," from _Negro Year Book_, 1918-19.
[85] "Statistical Statement of Negro Progress in Fifty-three
Years," from _Negro Year Book_, 1918-19.
[86] "Statistical Statement of Negro Progress in Fifty-three
Years," from _Negro Year Book_, 1918-19.
[87] Circulation figures as of 1920.
[88] This statement is based upon the available files. The
February file of the _Chicago Herald-Examiner_ for 1919 was
unavailable at the time this study was made.
[89] See p. 44.
[90] See p. 540.
[91] See p. 476.
[92] See coroner's statement, p. 32.
[93] See p. 33.
[94] Charles S. Johnson, _The Migration of Negroes to Chicago_.
[95] "Reaction Time with Reference to Race," _Psychological
Review_, II, 475-86.
[96] "A Study in Race Psychology," _Popular Science Monthly_,
L, 354-60.
[97] See "1. Primary Beliefs--Criminality," p. 440. In
questionnaire, return to question: "What subjects of discussion
most frequently lead to the Negro?" The reply is given:
"Lynching, lying, stealing, and attacking of little girls."
In commenting on the proposition: "Prejudice has its principal
basis in fear," the statement is made: "I believe this is true
among women; not particularly among men. This is partly due
to the publicity given to all acts against women by Negroes,
in my judgment."
[98] Does not include the Negroes killed in East St. Louis.
[99] Congressional Committee on Immigration.
[100] See p. 541.
[101] See Barrett case, p. 64.
[102] See discussion of this campaign in section on "Bombings,"
pp. 115-22.
[103] The coroner's jury found that Williams had drowned from
fear of stone-throwing which kept him from the shore.
[104] _The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh_, published in 1918
under the supervision of the School of Economics, University
of Pittsburgh; U.S. Department of Labor Bulletin, _Negro
Migration in 1916-17_, published in 1919.
[105] These do not embrace the whole of each area commonly
included under such designations. The population figures are
those of 1920.
[106] The standard in Chicago is Grade 1 for children six
years of age.