Bike and bus tour to commemorate anniversary of 1919 Chicago Race Riot
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Community leaders and Chicagoans will gather this weekend to commemorate the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, which started on July 27th after the murder of Eugene Williams. Williams, a Black teen, was on a raft in Lake Michigan when he accidentally drifted into an area reserved for Whites.
A group of Whites threw stones at Williams, causing him to drown. No one was arrested, which fueled outrage and violence through Chicago's South Side. Whites and police attacked African Americans as Black soldiers stood guard. A total of 38 people died and more than 500 were hurt.
To commemorate this dark part of Chicago history, leaders with the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project are holding a Bike and Bus tour through Bronzeville and Bridgeport Saturday.
"We'd like to feature key experts and key places that are connected to resilience and resistance, but also the areas that led to the worst racial incident of racial violence in Chicago's history," said Dr. Franklin Cosey-Gay, CRR19 Co-director, "We have approximately six different stops at key locations, different speakers, to really uplift this history, and really uplift why this history matters presently today."
Some of the spots being featured on the tour include the Chicago Defender newspaper office, the Ida B. Wells Light and Truth Monument, along with various sites of the Race Riot in Bridgeport.
"So many people are really unaware of how this history affects us today, and so through our website, through our presentations, through our bicycle, foot, and bus tours which we can do anytime of the year, working with Chicago Public Schools so that 10th grade U.S. history classes can learn about the red summer," said Dr. Peter Cole, CRR19 founder and Co-director, "The goal is the same, to understand this history in order to sort of own it, and then once we own it, then we can get past it in order to actually make the city that we want and the country that we want, which is one of racial harmony and justice."
The 6th annual CRR19 Historic Bike Tour Event starts Saturday at 9:30am at the Northeast Corner of 35th and State Streets.
This year's commemoration will also celebrate the completion of five artistic markers paying tribute to those killed. CRR19 is working with an art studio, Firebird Community Arts, to create and install artistic markers at each of the 38 locations where someone was killed in 1919.