Red Summer | Voice of Freedom | American Experience | PBS

Summary

The summer of 1919 witnessed widespread racial riots, not confined to the South, as Jim Crow segregation and its terroristic enforcement spread nationally, fueled by the Great Migration and competition for jobs and housing. This volatile atmosphere, exacerbated by returning soldiers and anti-Black sentiment among European immigrants, culminated in events like the murder of Eugene Williams and the subsequent Chicago race riot. The takeaway is that racial hostility and its violent manifestations were national problems with complex underlying social and economic causes during this period.