The East St. Louis race riot of 1917 stands as one of the darkest moments of racial violence in American history. What began as economic and racial tension soon spiraled into brutal carnage.
The Great Migration saw millions of African Americans move from the rural South to the urban North. The first wave took place from around 1916 to 1940, driven by factors such as racial violence, Jim Crow laws, and the search for better economic opportunities, especially in industrial jobs that became available during World War I.
As thousands of African American workers migrated to Illinois, seeking employment in war industries, racial tensions boiled over. The city’s white laborers, already frustrated by strikes and harsh economic conditions, resented the influx of African American workers, seeing them as a threat to their livelihoods. By July 1, 1917, these tensions exploded. White mobs, fueled by rumors of violence from the African American community, unleashed terror on East St. Louis’ Black residents.
In scenes of unthinkable brutality, homes were set ablaze, and those fleeing the flames were met with gunfire. Some tried to escape by swimming across the Mississippi River, but many drowned in the desperate attempt. By the time the violence subsided, as many as 100 Black people had lost their lives, their neighborhoods reduced to smoldering ruins.
Nine years earlier, the 1908 Springfield Race Riot erupted after a white woman, Mabel Hallam, falsely accused a Black man, George Richardson, of rape. When authorities secretly moved Richardson and another Black man, Joe James, from jail, a white mob of 5,000 attacked Black neighborhoods in Springfield, Illinois. The rioters lynched Black residents, looted their homes, and destroyed over 40 houses and businesses in the Levee and Badlands districts. The violence left at least nine Black people dead and prompted many to flee. This riot was a catalyst for the founding of the NAACP in 1909.
Both events are grim reflections of a nation struggling with unresolved racial tensions. In these race riots, we see not just the devastation wrought by hate but the complex intersections of race, economics, and justice in early 20th-century America.
These attacks were not isolated acts of hate in America but a stark reminder of the racial divide that persisted, not just in the South but in northern cities like East St. Louis and Springfield.
References: springfield1908.org, smithsonianmag.com, wikipedia.org, theguardian.com