The East St. Louis Riot
East St. Louis Rio In 1917, East St. Louis was boiling with racial tension. Thousands of black people had migrated to the city to replace white workers on strike. This change angered whites Drawn by employment opportunities in wartime industries, between 10,000 and 12,000 African American people left the south for East St. Louis, Illinois in 1916 and 1917 as part of the Great Migration. Many white citizens of East St. Louis, which had previously been largely white, were disturbed by this movement, and by the increase in employment of black people in the city's industrial plants. On July 1, 1917, a rumor spread claiming that a white man had been killed by a black man, and tensions boiled over. The next day, the city of East St. Louis exploded in the worst racial rioting the country had ever seen. Most of the violence -- drive-by shootings, beatings, and arson -- targeted the African American community. The riots raged for nearly a week, leaving nine whites and hundreds of African...