TIMELINE of Events for the 1919 Chicago Riots (causes & effects) by Sara Khan

July 29th, 1919

2026-01-22 18:05:01 UTC

On July 29th, White arsonists from the Lorraine Club

and Ragen’s Colts started many fires in the Black Belt, rendering Black residents homeless. The cause of this arson was the tension between black and white residents of Chicago, and resulted in dozens homeless.

July 27 1919

2026-01-22 18:05:50 UTC

Ethan

This event talks about how on a segregated beach, a teenage boy and his friends accidentally float over to the white side of the beach and get rocks thrown at them, ultimately killing a boy named Eugene. When asked to arrest the white man that did this, the police officer refused and instead asked for backup and shot and killed other onlookers.

August 2nd 1919

2026-01-22 18:06:13 UTC

The Ragens colts decided that they were going to become ghetto and burn 49 Lithuanian and polish homes to force them to go forward with hatred against black people. 1 effect was that many of the Lithuanians and polish people that got their homes burned thought that the Ragens Colts were bad people. They probably started loosing respect for them.

July 29 1919

2026-01-22 18:07:33 UTC

This event recognizes when

the violence started to disrupt

regular commutes. White

arsonists, mostly

from the Lorraine Club

and the Ragen’s Colts, started

fires in the Black Belt

making many innocent

black people without a home.

The destruction

spread from the South

side to Bridgeport’s Irish

community in the west.

-Sophia k

July 27, 1919

adriannaharmon — 2026-01-22 18:07:45 UTC

A 17 year old boy was drowned after crossing an imaginary segregation border in a beach whilst on a raft with his friends.

What caused this event to occur was the relentless racism, which framed blacks as beings who are lower than whites. This made whites feel obliged to keep blacks out of what they determined was their space, and thus decided it would be a good idea to assault a child on a raft.

-Adrianna H.

June-July

kaelyncaldwell — 2026-01-22 18:07:51 UTC

Kaelyn

The bombing of Black American homes increased and two Black men were murdered.

The growing hatred for Black Americans led to the murder of Black Americans. One way they hurt these people by bombing their houses.

Lulu

2026-01-22 18:08:16 UTC

On August 8, 1919 The riots were ending and 138 people were accused of causing the riots, they were black. There were 500 injured, 15 white men dead, 23 black men dead and vandalism caused a loss of $250,000.

The effect was many people becoming homeless.

Siddharth

2026-01-22 18:08:25 UTC

August 2nd: An Irish athletic club that turned into street gang impersonated black people. While impersonating the Black people they set fire to forty-nine Lithuanian

and Polish homes to help encourage immigrant

hatred against Black Chicagoans.

Effect: This event likely increased the immense hatred that was already present in Chicago by making immigrants think that Black people had set fire to their homes

August 2 1919 Justin

2026-01-22 18:08:27 UTC

This event talks about how an Irish sports club that turned into a street gang set fire to forty-nine Lithuanian

and Polish homes in order to encourage immigrant

hatred and action against Black and the effect of this event made it so even the immigrant population disliked the black community in chicago

August 2, 1919

2026-01-22 18:08:52 UTC

An Irish gang burned almost 50 Lithuanian and Polish homes, encouraging hate/discrimination towards immigrants and Black Chicagoans. Later, it was discovered that the riots caused thousands of dollars to be lost in property damage because of arson.

August 8 1919

2026-01-22 18:08:55 UTC

Majority of the victims were black but they were still blamed for everything. One effect of this was that they studied what happened so it doesnt happen again.

1922

2026-01-22 18:09:00 UTC

A group of white and black men gathered to publish a study of the race riots in 1919. It provided overwhelming evidence of racial discrimination, however their recommendations were never implemented. This led to there still being problems.

August 2, 1919

2026-01-22 18:09:14 UTC

On this day, an Irish street gang names the Ragen's Colts decided to paint their faces black and set fire to 49 Lithuanian and Polish homes. This was to influence and persuade immigrants to hate Black Chicagoans.

The possible effect to this is that many Black Chicagoans got more hate due to the growth of immigrants. I can also imagine that many immigrants retaliated to a harsher extent as well.

July 28 1919

2026-01-22 18:09:17 UTC

White people were acting extremely violent towards people of color, so a line called a “dead line” that neither race could cross, which was caused by the unfairness and violence of the drowning boy.

1922

joonkim6 — 2026-01-22 18:09:18 UTC

In 1922, a research was made about the effects of the riots. Multiple people stepped forward to fix the racial inequality but almost all plans were rejected, not used, or forgotten. These plans being approved could have led to a better city where we all live nice lives.

July 28th 1919

2026-01-22 18:09:35 UTC

When black workers returned home from work they would get attacked by white groups. This made the number of murders grow. In response police set a dead line where black people cant go to one side of the town and white people can’t go to another side of town.

One effect was black workers couldn’t get to there job which had them cut there payments.

May 1919 and EARLIER

2026-01-22 18:10:20 UTC

The aftermath of WWI had caused rapid unemployment, which further put stress on working-class people, causing more crimes, riots, etc..

This helped fuel the racism already ingrained deep in Chicago, eventually sparking the race riots of 1919.

July 30, 1919

2026-01-22 18:10:23 UTC

The Mayor accepted help from the National Guard, while rain broke the heat and violence, making everyone stay inside. An effect of this event is that it reduced the violence occurring in Chicago.

July 27 1919

2026-01-22 18:12:45 UTC

On the beach, a colored 17 year old boy accidentally crossed the inviable line that separates white and black people. He was then attacked with rocks and drowned. The consequences was not put upon the rock throwers who were white, but out upon black people. This then caused a Race Riot that would be bloody and would kill a mass of people.