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Washington D.C. Race Riot 1919
The Washington D.C. race riot was one of thirty race riots that occurred in the summer of 1919 across the country from May 10, 1919 to October 1, 1919. These riots are commonly known as the Red Summer. The race riots began on May 10th, 1919 in Charleston, South Carolina and the last one occurred on October 1st, 1919 in Elaine, Arkansas. The Washington D.C. riot occurred in the middle of the sequence of riots on July 19th, 1919. The end result of the Washington D.C. riot of 1919 which lasted four days claimed forty lives and left one hundred and fifty men, women and children wounded. The race riots began due to the growing competition in the job market. Labor shortages were due to the emigration of many blacks to the north during World War I as a result of demobilization and halt of the draft. Washington D.C. was the border between the North and South. Northerners and Southerners had different viewpoints on the African Americans living in Washington D.C. at the time. An article from the New York Times provides a perspective on both viewpoints. "A Northern man going there was surprised and pleased at their (African Americans) manners╔ To the Southern man a negro sitting beside him in the street car, without the least apology, seemed impudent.  The growing black population in the north led many of the white working class to blame the blacks for their lack of work. The riots stemmed from the aggression of the whites against the African American population. The aggression took on a violent form with whites attacking any African Americans they saw.

Table of Contents I. Race Relations Before World War I II. Race Relations Post World War I III. The Riot IV. Historical Context

Race Relations Before World War I In pre- World War I Washington, race relations between the African Americans and whites were mediocre. African Americans and whites were able to coexist together with the mutual understanding that the whites were superior to the African Americans. An account from someone who lived in Washington during this time gives an idea of the co-existence: ╥If a white man, seeing a white woman seated beside a negro in a street car, rose and offered to exchange seats with her, the negro did not resent it╔most of them (African Americans) admitted the superiority of the white race, and troubles between the two races were undreamed of.╙4

Race Relations Post World War I The Washington D.C. race riot was a result of the growing frustration of white people with the labor shortage. The African American population in Washington at the time was one of the most prosperous in the country. They had a small but successful middle class that consisted of teachers, ministers and other professions. After World War I Woodrow Wilson promised a new freedom for African Americans in Washington, which won popular support in the African American community. The new freedom that Wilson promised did not help race relations in Washington it in fact worsened them. Places that were previously not segregated became segregated. The Ku Klux Klan was being revitalized in both Maryland and Virginia. Seven African American soldiers all still in their military uniforms were lynched in the first half of 1919. Rumors that an African American man had sexual assaulted numerous white women including the wife of a Navy officer led to the Ku Klux Klan and other whites including sailors from the Navy and soldiers searching for any African Americans that they could find.

The Riot On Saturday, July 19, 1919 masses of white war veterans and white civilians gathered in Washington and began yelling at African Americans who passed them and then proceeded to attack and beat them. The riot then continued throughout the city, much of the riot taking place at the Center Market in the middle of Washington.5 A seventeen-year-old African American boy describes his experience: ╥a mob of sailors and soldiers jumped on the [street] car and pulled me off, beating me unmercifully from head to foot, leaving me in such a condition that I could hardly crawl back home.╙ By Monday and Tuesday the riot had reached its peak with African Americans responding to the attacks of the whites by traveling throughout the city in large groups. They carried with them weapons such as clubs, razors and guns.6 By Wednesday, July 23, 1919 the riot was so uncontrollable that many accounts provide evidence that not even the police could control the chaos. One such account from the New York Times describes a scene of an African American woman firing on police. Detective Wilson went to the house with policemen and soldiers in response to a call. For a while the negress held them off with her revolver. Then Wilson entered the house and went to the second floor, where she had barricaded herself in a room. Wilson, the first to enter the room, was shot, but his companions arrested the woman, who was herself wounded in the hip.╙7 Woodrow Wilson responded to the chaos by sending two thousand Federal troops and three hundred marines into the city to placate both the African Americans and the whites. The Federal troops and marines were able to bring order to Washington after the horrible events that had ensured days before. Many African American groups, especially the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wanted further investigation of the riot to take place. Several Southern congressmen would not allow for any further investigation because it could have provided more reason for a civil rights movement to occur sooner rather than later. Although the riot occurred in the nation╒s capital and was one of the worst of the Red Summer it is now forgotten by many.

Historical Context The Red Summer brought attention to the inequality that African Americans were experiencing during this time period. The riots marked the very beginning of the Civil Rights movement that later took off in 1955. African Americans began to take action, which lead to the formation of radical collective action groups. The most notable group to come out of these riots was the African Blood Brotherhood, which, was ╥a radical U.S. black liberation organization of the early 20th century╔the group was a propaganda organization built on the model of the secret fraternity.╙8

1 Race Riots of 1919, Global Security, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/riots 1919.htm (accessed March 24, 2010). 2 Ibid 3 RACE WAR IN WASHIGTON. 1919. New York Times (1857-1922), July 23,╩http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/╩(accessed March 24, 2010).

4 Suburban Emergency Management Project, ╥Murderous Washington, DC, and Chicago Race Riots, Summer,╙ http://www.semp.us/publications /biot_ reader.php ?BiotID=521http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader .php?BiotID=521 ╥RACE WAR IN WASHIGTON,╙ New York Times, July 23, 1919, http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/╩(accessed March 24, 2010).

5 ╥SERVICE MEN BEAT NEGROES IN RACE RIOT AT CAPITAL: Civilians Join to    Avenge Attacks on White Women- Police Reserves Called Out. FOLLOWS PREVIOUS RIOTING Similar Trouble Late Saturday Night and Early Sunday╤ Police Officer Shot,╙ New York Times (1857-1922). July 21, 1919 http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/╩(accessed March 24, 2010). 6Suburban Emergency Management Project, ╥Murderous Washington, DC, and Chicago Race Riots, Summer,╙ http://www.semp.us/publications /biot_ reader.php ?BiotID=521http://www.semp.us/publications/biot_reader.php?Bi otID=521 7 Suburban Emergency Management Project, ╥Murderous Washington, DC, and Chicago Race Riots, Summer,╙ http://www.semp.us/publications /biot_ reader.php ?BiotID=521http://www.semp.us/publications/biotreader.php ?BiotID=521 ╥SERVICE MEN BEAT NEGROES IN RACE RIOT AT CAPITAL: Civilians Join to    Avenge Attacks on White Women- Police Reserves Called Out. FOLLOWS PREVIOUS RIOTING Similar Trouble Late Saturday Night and Early Sunday╤ Police Officer Shot,╙ New York Times (1857-1922). July 21, 1919 http://www.proquest.com.ezproxy.bu.edu/╩(accessed March 24, 2010). 8 ╥African Blood Brotherhood,╙ Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African _Blood_Brotherhood, (accessed March 24, 2010)