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Eugene Williams was a 17-year-old Black teenager whose death helped spark the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, one of the deadliest events of the Red Summer. On July 27, 1919, he was swimming in Lake Michigan when his raft drifted into a section unofficially reserved for white people. A white man threw a rock at Eugene, hitting him in the head and causing him to drown. When police refused to arrest the white attacker, tensions exploded, leading to days of deadly riots between Black and white residents. His death became a key moment in the Red Summer, symbolizing the racial violence and injustices that Black communities faced across the U.S.

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Soldiers confront a Black man during the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, a time of deep racial tension and violence."

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The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 was one of the deadliest events of the Red Summer. It began on July 27, 1919, when a Black teenager, Eugene Williams, drowned after a white man threw a rock at him for drifting into a whites-only swimming area in Lake Michigan. When police refused to arrest the white attacker, tensions exploded. White mobs attacked Black neighborhoods, burning homes and businesses, while Black residents fought back. The violence lasted for a week, leaving 38 people dead, over 500 injured, and thousands of Black families homeless. The riot exposed deep racial divisions in Chicago and symbolized the growing racial tensions in America during the Red Summer.

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Red Summer | Voice of Freedom | American Experience | PBS

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A political cartoon exposing how the wealthy use racism to keep the working class divided, while they profit from the struggle

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The Tulsa Race Massacre began when a Black teenager, Dick Rowland, was falsely accused of assaulting a white woman. A white mob gathered to lynch him, but armed Black men, including war veterans, stepped in to protect him. Violence broke out, and white mobs, with help from police and the National Guard, attacked Greenwood, a wealthy Black neighborhood known as "Black Wall Street." They burned homes, looted businesses, and even used planes to drop bombs. Around 300 Black residents were killed, thousands were left homeless, and Greenwood was completely destroyed.

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Map Showing Lynching Across the U.S. (1889–1921) and Opposition to Anti-Lynching Laws

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The Omaha Race Riot happened on September 28–29, 1919, when a white mob accused a Black man, Will Brown, of attacking a white woman without any real evidence. Thousands of angry white people surrounded the courthouse where Brown was held, set it on fire, and forced police to hand him over. They brutally beat and lynched him, then dragged his body through the streets and burned it. The mob also attacked Black neighborhoods, destroying businesses and homes. The National Guard was sent in to restore order, but by then, at least three people were dead, many were injured, and Black communities were left in ruins.

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Newspaper headlines from the Red Summer of 1919 capture the deadly race riots that shook cities across the U.S., exposing deep racial tensions

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O.W. Gurley and J.B. Stradford were important Black business owners in Greenwood, Tulsa, also known as "Black Wall Street." Gurley owned land and built businesses, including the Gurley Hotel, one of the best Black-owned hotels in the area. Stradford owned the Stradford Hotel, the largest Black-owned hotel at the time. Both men helped make Greenwood a wealthy and successful community. But during the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, white mobs attacked the area, burning down homes and businesses, including Gurley and Stradford's hotels. Stradford was accused of starting the violence and had to flee Tulsa, while Gurley lost everything and moved to Los Angeles. Their businesses and contributions to Black success were destroyed, but they remain symbols of Black achievement.

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“We had been living in a fool’s paradise, thinking that the world was getting better. The so-called war to end all wars did not end the war between races; it only made it more intense.”

— James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, 1920.