Chicago Race Riot of 1919

Date: July 27, 1919 • Location: Greater Grand Crossing, United States

Red Summer: Race riots erupted in Chicago after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries.

The Red Summer was a period in mid-1919 during which white supremacist terrorism and racial riots occurred in more than three dozen cities across the United States, and in one rural county in Arkansas. The term "Red Summer" was coined by civil rights activist and author James Weldon Johnson, who had been employed as a field secretary by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1916. In 1919, he organized peaceful protests against the racial violence.