12/27/2023 0 Comments Chicago fire department capitol riotWith the exception of statements made by organizers, who cannot be held to accountability because of their minor official connection, no statements have been made by the local union leaders, outside of high sounding, but meaningless, protestations of friendship for the Negro worker. He knows that if he does not, he is going to be met with the bitter antagonism of the unions. The Negro is between “the devil and the deep blue sea.” He feels that if he goes into the unions, he will lose the friendship of the employers. The Negro in Chicago yet remembers the waiters’ strike some years ago, when colored union workers walked out at the command of the unions and when the strike was settled, the unions did not insist that Negro waiters be given their jobs back along with whites, and, as a result, colored men have never been able to get back into some of the hotels even to the present day. On the other hand, the Negro workman is not at all sure as to the sincerity of the unions themselves. secretaries to prevent the colored workmen at the stockyards from entering the unions. John Fitzpatrick and Ed Nockels, president and secretary, respectively, of the Chicago Federation of Labor, and William Buck, editor of the New Majority, a labor organ, openly charge that the packers subsidized colored ministers, politicians and Y. Large numbers of Negroes were brought from the South by the packers and there is little doubt that this was done impart so that the Negro might be used as a club over the heads of the unions. With regard to economic competition, the age-long dispute between capital and labor enters. This same cause underlies each of the other seven causes. These have spread the virus of race hatred and evidences of it can be seen in Chicago on every hand. The exact figure is unknown, but it is estimated by men who should know that fully 20,000 of them are in Chicago. But equally important, though seldom considered, is the fact that many Southern whites have also come into the North, many of them to Chicago, drawn by the same economic advantages that attracted the colored workman. During their period of absorption into the new life, their care-free, at times irresponsible and sometimes even boisterous, conduct caused complications difficult to adjust. Outside of a few sporadic attempts, little was done to teach them the rudimentary principles of sanitation, of conduct or of their new status as citizens under a system different from that in the South. This was due in part to the introduction of many Negroes who were unfamiliar with city ways and could not, naturally, adapt themselves immediately to their new environment. Since that time, when the migratory movement from the South assumed large proportions, the situation has steadily grown more and more tense. Prior to 1915, Chicago had been famous for its remarkably fair attitude toward colored citizens. Some of these can be grouped under the same headings, but due to the prominence of each they are listed as separate causes. Political Corruption and Exploitation of Negro Voters. These causes, taken after a careful study in order of their prominence, are: That spark was contributed by a white youth when he knocked a colored lad off a raft at the 29th Street bathing beach and the colored boy was drowned.įour weeks spent in studying the situation in Chicago, immediately following the outbreaks, seem to show at least eight general causes for the riots, and the same conditions, to a greater or less degree, can be found in almost every large city with an appreciable Negro population. In this manner charges and counter-charges are made, but, as is usually the case, the Negro is made to bear the brunt of it all–to be “the scapegoat.” A background of strained race relations brought to a head more rapidly through political corruption, economic competition and clashes due to the overflow of the greatly increased colored population into sections outside of the so-called “Black Belt,” embracing the Second and Third Wards, all of these contributed, aided by magnifying of Negro crime by newspapers, to the formation of a situation where only a spark was needed to ignite the flames of racial antagonism. The city administration feels that the riots were brought on to discredit the Thompson forces, while leaders of the anti-Thompson forces, prominent among them being State’s Attorney Maclay Hoyne, are sure that the administration is directly responsible. Labor union officials attribute it to the action of the packers, while the packers are equally sure that the unions themselves are directly responsible. Many causes have been assigned for the three days of race rioting, from July 27 to 30 in Chicago, each touching some particular phase of the general condition that led up to the outbreak. Citation Information: Walter White, “The Causes of the Chicago Race Riot,” The Crisis, XVIII (October, 1919), p.
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