View video-recorded excerpts of this event.
The Chicago 1919 race riots, the most violent week in Chicago history, were sparked by the murder of Eugene Williams, an African American teenager stoned and drowned by a white man for floating his raft over an invisible line into a whites-only South Side beach. The police refused to arrest the white perpetrator, and the city erupted in several days of arson and looting leading to 38 deaths, 23 black, 15 white, until the National Guard was called in to restore order. The riots inflicted lasting scars on the city, still visible in the lines of segregation and oppression throughout the city’s built environment, schools, media, and selective policing.
This Opening Event of our year-long series of conversations on the history and legacy of the 1919 race riots poses questions we will explore throughout the year:
- What happened one hundred years ago on a Chicago beach during a sweltering summer day?
- How and why did violence erupt across the city?
- How did the riots continue to affect Chicago over the ensuing decades?
- And what can we learn from the past that might help us imagine a better future?
Schedule
2:00 What Happened in 1919? Multi-Media Presentation About the 1919 Chicago Riots
Illinois Black Legislators Auditorium
- Jabari Chiphe as Eugene Williams
- Narrated and directed by Robin Robinson
2:45 Interactive Breakout Sessions
Locations Across the Museum
Join a session for hands-on, active discussion of one of the topics below, led by experts in their fields. Each breakout session will occur twice, starting at 2:45 and again at 3:25.
- Housing and Color Lines, facilitated by Lee Bey, Illinois Black Legislators’ Community Lobby
- Policing and Violence, facilitated by Robin Robinson and Officer Michael Chuchro, Illinois Black Legislators Auditorium, Upper Level
- Media and Race, facilitated by Christopher Benson, Ames Auditorium
- World War I and Chicago’s Black Soldiers, facilitated by Christopher Reed, Harold Washington Skylight Gallery, Level 1
- An Artifact and Archival Show-and-Tell of the DuSable Exhibit, Two Colored Women in the US Expeditionary Forces: The Story of Kathryn Johnson, led by Armand Gonzalzles, Studio A
- Young Adult Book Reading and Discussion, A Few Red Drops, with author Claire Hartfield, Studio B
- Video Booth: Record Your Own Great Migration or Family Migration Story, Drs. Charles V. and Dona C. Hamilton Institute for Research and Civic Involvement Reading Room and Library
4:10 What Have We Learned, and Where Do We Go from Here?
Illinois Black Legislators Auditorium
- Breakout sessions debrief, led by Robin Robinson
- Eve L. Ewing, reading from 1919, her forthcoming book of poems about the riots
Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots
Visit this page for a complete list of Chicago 1919 public programs.
This event is part of the Newberry's year-long initiative, Chicago 1919: Confronting the Race Riots. It has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor, and by generous support from Edith Rasmussen Ahern and Patrick Ahern. Our Youth Engagement Sponsor is Allstate.
Collaborative partners in Chicago 1919 include the Black Chicago History Forum, Black Metropolis Research Consortium, Blackstone Bicycle Works, Chicago Architectural Club, Chicago Collection Consortium, Chicago History Museum, Chicago Public Library, Chicago Urban League, City Bureau, Kartemquim Films, Middle Passage Production, and Young Chicago Authors.
The project received the 2020 Outstanding Public History Project Award from the National Council on Public History.
Speakers and Facilitators
Christopher Benson, JD, Journalist, Lawyer, Screenwriter, and Associate Professor at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism
Lee Bey, Architectural Critic, Writer, and Photographer
Officer Michael Chuchro, Policing Historian
Dr. Eve L. Ewing, Writer, Visual Artist, and Assistant Professor in the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration
Dr. Armand Gonzalzles, Author, Doctor, and Teacher
Erica Griffin, Director of Education, DuSable Museum of African American History
Claire Hartfield, Education Policy Specialist and Coretta Scott King Award Winning Author
Dr. Christopher Reed, Emeritus Professor of History at Roosevelt University
Robin Robinson, Special Advisor for Community Affairs at the Chicago Police Department, and former Chicago news anchor
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Past Public Programs
Check out video recordings of past Newberry public programs on our YouTube channel.