The Red Summer of 1919 refers to a series of race riots that took place between May and October of that year. Chicago History Museum/Archive Photos/Getty Images
The summer of 1919 saw a burgeoning white nationalist reaction to blacks. George Edmund Haynes, the first executive director of the Urban League, identified more than 38 riots and 48 lynchings in cities across the country. Whites expressed animosity toward blacks for a variety of reasons. Following WWI, whites faced an economic downturn and increased competition with black workers for jobs and housing. White capitalists used blacks and ethnic European strikebreakers with native white workers. Also, the Communist Revolution in Russia provided capitalists with a concrete example of how socialist and communist influences among black and ethnic white workers native would further harm native white workers.
In addition to the economic strain, many native white workers resented the efforts of blacks to change their social status. Many blacks had migrated from the South to cities in the North or border states. Spurred partly by their achievements during WWI, blacks were unwilling to accept their previous societal treatment. When white mobs attacked blacks, blacks fought back with equal violence.
We are a long way from 1919, but there are some striking similarities. Some whites feel economic strains and resentment at the achievements of people of color. There is also a growing threat of more violence, following the individual violence we have seen in the mass shootings and the organized violence we saw on January 6. As grateful as we must be that Joe Biden is President instead of Woodrow Wilson, we must also be uneasy that today’s white nationalists are embedded in more substantial networks than previous white nationalists. “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
In addition to the economic strain, many native white workers resented the efforts of blacks to change their social status. Many blacks had migrated from the South to cities in the North or border states. Spurred partly by their achievements during WWI, blacks were unwilling to accept their previous societal treatment. When white mobs attacked blacks, blacks fought back with equal violence.
We are a long way from 1919, but there are some striking similarities. Some whites feel economic strains and resentment at the achievements of people of color. There is also a growing threat of more violence, following the individual violence we have seen in the mass shootings and the organized violence we saw on January 6. As grateful as we must be that Joe Biden is President instead of Woodrow Wilson, we must also be uneasy that today’s white nationalists are embedded in more substantial networks than previous white nationalists. “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”