A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919

by Claire Hartfield

On a hot day in July 1919, three black youths went swimming in Lake Michigan, unintentionally floating close to the "white" beach. An angry white man began throwing stones at the boys, striking and killing one. Racial conflict on the beach erupted into days of urban violence that shook the city of Chicago to its foundations. This mesmerizing narrative draws on contemporary accounts as it traces the roots of the explosion that had been building for decades in race relations, politics, business, and clashes of culture. Archival photos and prints, source notes, bibliography, index.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Race, Audiobook, Historical, African American, Middle Grade

198 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and important, but the narrative didn't really grab me. Heavy on background (Great Migration, Eastern/Central European immigration to the United States in the early 19th century) to the extent that the book feels mistitled. Will re-read.

[Jennifer Mangler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really learned a lot from this book, and the history of race and ethnic relations in Chicago is fascinating, but it's not what I was expecting because the book is seriously mistitled. The very beginning and the very end of the book focus on the race riot, but the biggest central part of the book is devoted to setting the stage for the riot. That's necessary and important, because without this part the riot can't be fully understood, but it means that the book is about so much more than the riot. In fact, I would say the riot isn't even the focal point. Still, this is an important and informative book, and I would recommend it.

[mia :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was super interesting! I'd never really learned about this in school and this book was fascinating!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claire Hartfield's book is, nominally, an examination of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919. But she does so much more than that here. Bookended by the riot's precipitating event and its fallout, the majority of this book is an examination of the world of the riot and the forces that shaped that world. Hartfield examines the rise of the Chicago meat-packing industry, the Great Migration, unionization, World War I, conflicts between competing European ethnic immigrant groups and Jim Crow segregation, both south and north, among other trends. I didn't realize this was marketed as a Young Adult book until after I had read it, which speaks to the quality and clarity of the writing. While brief, it's a great introduction to context of America in the late 1910s, and the ways that a confluence of factors made these riots incredibly likely.

[Prince William Public Libraries · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and educational.

It's less about the actual riot and more about the intricate and complex factors that led to it. The author uses historical documents and photographs to make a very readable account of the racial, ethnic, cultural and situational tensions that violently boiled over.

The author does a good job of showing the many different perspectives of the times, as well as how the aftermath affected Chicago and its inhabitants.

- PWPL Staff

Click here to find the book at Prince William Public Libraries.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few boys drift too far outside the racially-designated beach at Lake Michigan one summer and trouble ensues. A boy dies and rumors fly and it is soon black against white and white against black. Many die as the destruction goes on for days, fed by lies subtly shared by standing city gangs and by those who profit most from conflict.

It's a dark story of people against people as pressures increase in the city after the war for jobs, for housing. It's a cautionary tale for today as well, with lies and innuendo shared on social media and through organizations of hate, of what can happen.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** I received an e galley from Netgalley in return for an honest review.***
I do not read much nonfiction, but I was interested in the topic having read The Hate U Give and All-American Boys. I agree with other readers that most of the book discusses the issues and the history of Chicago leading up to the riots and little on the riots themselves. I thought it was a good read and would make a good pairing with the books previously mentioned.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just...wow!

One of the most dramatic and heartbreaking stories of race and racism...I just...

This Coretta Scott King award winning narrative, reading like narrative fiction, gives the backstory, history, present situation and aftermath of the Chicago Race Riot.
The really sad thing to think about is that this story only occurred 102 years ago and this... still exists today....

I apologise for this not being a great review but I'm still digesting this one...

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Middle grade and teen readers may find this account of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 fascinating because of the way the story is told. Although on the surface of things, it's clear that the riot began as the result of a white man tossing a rock at a black boy at Lake Michigan on July 27, 1919, resulting in the death of Eugene Williams. This action was only the match that kindled the fire of anger and racial violence, a bonfire that had been building for decades. After tantalizing readers with the rock throwing, the author then provides a historical perspective on how the unrest had reached this point. As Southern blacks moved north to Chicago in search of jobs and fairer treatment and immigrants from other countries arrived along the nation's shores, they formed an underclass that lived in their own sections of the city. Many of their employers in the area's meat markets actually tried to use their prejudices and assumptions about other groups to keep them divided and competing against each other. Even elected officials and law enforcement agents looked the other way and seemed willing to play both ends against the middle. Tensions continued to simmer as one group saw the other group as taking their jobs and threatening their financial well-being, and the author makes it clear that this riot was decades in the making. With archival photographs, editorial cartoons, and abundant sources, the author shifts from her historical account of all the factors that led to the riot to the riot itself, finally concluding the book with an assessment of the costs as well as some observations on how all these events have contributed to some of the challenges the city of Chicago faces today. Anyone interested in our nation's history or understanding some of the causes for intolerance and prejudice will find this book valuable as it provides insight into why groups that should naturally have been allies against the power structure ended up being pitted against one another. The book's design has much to recommend it with the use of red borders, captions, and initial sentences printed in red, all set against ample white space for visual appeal for older readers.

[Randall Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of nine books on this now 100-year-old subject I’ve reviewed on Goodreads, what does it offer over the others? It’s the best-printed and gives you better photos and bigger pages to better envision yourself in Chicago one hundred years ago during it’s summer of racial violence. Chicago was founded in 1837 – it had two canals connecting it to the Mississippi and even the Hudson, and after 1848, when canals were built, the railroads finally came with their ability to move goods all winter through the ice. Chicago then became the central terminus of the nation’s railroads. Chicago was also the central of the meat packing industry (see Upton Sinclair, The Jungle). During WWII, Chicago industrialists suddenly had a big labor shortage and they hired women but it still wasn’t enough – business realized the need for black southern labor. Southern blacks couldn’t wait to leave the oppressive South. In 1910, 90% of blacks in the U.S. were in the South. Now, there was a better alternative up in Chicago and the Great Migration was on. The largest black newspaper, the Defender, had told blacks to stay put, but that changed by 1917, and blacks responded.

Real Estate was a hot topic as Chicago quickly ran out of housing. That activated envious white scum who in 1918, exploded eleven bombs in Chicago black homes and businesses. Most of us know the Chicago riots start after a black boy drowns after being struck by a stone thrown by a white man on the beach, but this book mentions the distortions told by both sides which then over-inflamed both sides. Whites were told the drowned boy was white and the thrower was black. Blacks were told the arriving white officer could have saved Eugene, and that blacks were pelted with bricks and stones. So, with such bad intel on both sides, you are now ready for and get and a race war, but a race war with a new wrinkle – blacks back from fighting WWI are different – they will fight back. Compounding the problem was that white mobs would turn on any white intervening on a black’s behalf. If you were black, you were not safe. The local racist rag, the Chicago Tribune boldly reported that 2/3 of the dead were white. The actual riot report concluded that two-thirds of the dead were in fact black. The Tribune said a white woman and her child died – not true, it enflamed white tensions. The Defender said a black woman and child died – not true, it enflamed black tensions. 38 people of both races die, 537 were wounded.2/3 of the victims were black yet 1/3 of those indicted were white. Clearly, it was said, justice was sadly not on the side of the black community. But in the end, a riot commission did conclude white gangs had made the riots happen. I preferred “Red Summer” to this book on the subject of 1919 Chicago, yet I still liked this book.

[Renata · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting topic. I appreciated the depth the author went into about the Great Migration of African Americans to Chicago and the Irish famine, but also it's perhaps ultimately MORE about that than it is the titular riots? It's also a bit dry & academic in tone--would be good for teen research purposes, but harder to sell as a historical read than some other YA history books that read more like novels. Also: why do publishers keep making YA history books in these large sizes?? Teens/adults don't want that! The pictures included aren't that big! Just make a book-size book!

[Destiny 4everbooked · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book brought out so much anger in me for those black people and all they’ve faced in Chicago. I have no words except that I enjoyed reading about the history and expanding my knowledge on such a subject of segregation. Highly recommend.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although titled The Chicago Race Riot of 1919, most of this book focuses on building the background of what led to these riots: building tensions between blacks, white Protestants, and Irish immigrants. The division between blacks and whites, rich and poor, American-born and immigrants became deeper by the day in Chicago. Finally, on an unseasonably hot September day, a group of four black teenage boys was attacked by a white teen throwing rocks as they were swimming and rafting on Lake Michigan. One of the boys was killed when a rock hit him in the head and he drowned. Frustrations snapped and several days of riots ensued. 38 people died and 537 were wounded. The teen who threw the rocks was tried and acquitted.

This is a part of history I don't recall learning about. My memories of learning about these types of topics fall into the Civil Rights Movement. Although our country has progressed a lot from these important time periods, I did witness the L.A. riots in 1992 after the acquittals in the Rodney King verdict. This happened again in Ferguson after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown. There is still much to be done in the work towards race relations and equality.

Although this wasn't always the most engaging read, it was extremely informative. I appreciated the many photographs, historical documents, and political cartoons that were featured amongst the text to better visualize and understand the time period. I also liked how the author's epilogue connected events from over 100 years ago into the present. I think this would be a great reference in any U.S. History classroom.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature (2018), Coretta Scott King Award for Author (2019)

This piece of history took place 100 years ago in Chicago in July of 1919. It is not a good story, but still an important one that needs to be shared. For some, this will seem like Class Warfare at its finest - the division of classes reminds me a little of those in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. The riot was between the blacks living in Black Belt and the immigrants living in Packingtown. The history surrounding these groups and building up to the event that triggered the riot is most interesting. The other interesting groups of people were those that defended their "territories" - the Ragens and the Colts, as well as the Chicago police - white officers vs black officers.

The fallout from the riot made me mad - nothing changed - few white people were brought to justice and / or found guilty. By the time the leaves were turning color in the fall of 1919, America had experienced 25 riots, in large cities and small towns, from the East Coast to Arizona, an "orgy of blood that would come to be known as "Red Summer"." I believe this is how this book got it's title - a few red drops from just one of many riots that occurred that year.

Accompanying this story are some good photos, drawings, and other documents that help drive this "story" home.

Hopefully others will learn from what occurred here.

At the end of this well-researched book are Notes, an extensive Bibliography, Picture Credits, an Acknowledgement, and Index.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really disappointed with this book. The layout is attractive and the supplemental materials (posters, photographs, etc) are interesting. The storytelling is the problem. Hartfield does not seem to take the intended audience in mind as she lays out the history of the race riot. Based on the book's format, I would assume this book is intended for middle grade readers. Teens typically would not pick up a book this size. Hartfield starts with the precipitating event of the riot and then goes back to the history of the meatpacking industry, formation of unions, immigration, the great migration, the division of class in the black community, and more. She never clearly explains that in order to understand the riot, you need to see the connection between these topic. It feels like she is jumping all over the place, and it is very difficult to keep up with the people she mentions. The quotes she incorporates into the text are often random and seem to just take up space rather than support a point. Her writing style is neither clear nor concise. She has major pronoun/antecedent issues; I kept finding myself wondering, "who is 'they'?". I think this is an important topic, but I would not recommend this book to my teachers or students. I do not think a student would stick with the messy text.

[La La · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I think that we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

This was a smooth uncomplicated read. The historical background given, building up to the riot, shows how the racism in Northern states at that time was a different kind from Southern racism before WWI. It was a racism constructed by industrialists which pitted European immigrant communities against each other and the Black community.

It was also interesting to read about how inflamatory word-of-mouth misinformation was spread exactly like it is on social media today, by saying women and children were killed (they weren't), and that the White death toll was double that of the Black death toll (it wasn't). Many people didn't check the newspapers to make sure they had the facts before giving accounts of what happened. Which led to more violent conflict.

It also showed a difference between the Northeast, where Black doctors and lawyers were usually accepted into business circles and Black business owners could build sizable companies, and the Midwest where they were restricted to practicing within the Black community.

I liked that the author ended on a hopeful note.

I read this as part of my I Am Listening: Blackout 2020 anti-racism personal challenge.

[Trixi · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the focus of the book is the Chicago race riots of 1919, it does a great job in covering the late 1800s/early 1900s changes in Chicago that lead up to the 1919 riots. The influx of immigrants to the city, the meat packing industry and the big bosses who definitely took advantage of the workers as well as the individual ethnic communities all were components that played a part. As the industry became more automated, the workers were being paid less and finally unions took off, but some people still did not trust the union leaders. As WWI took away a large part of the work force, African Americans moving from the South and women were picking up the slack and the unions saw hope in having the African Americans join, but then the big bosses would fire them and have the women at the ready to take their places. These and other events brought things to a boiling point in the hot summer time when a young African American boy was killed when he drowned after being hit by a rock thrown by a white man.

[Tippy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This focuses on the factors leading up to the Chicago race riot of 1919. Detailed but engaging, the author does a fantastic job describing the building tensions among the easter Europeans and Irish immigrants and the black migrants from the south, as well as how law enforcement, company owners, unions and politicians played a role in those tensions. It's very well researched, pulling from many different sources to get a complete picture of the time.

The author notes and I will add that there are a lot of similarities to today. This is worth reading and learning from.

I read this book as part of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards 50th anniversary challenge promoted through the LA Public Libraries.

[Kyle Pucciarello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, but a little dry.

The first half of the book is mostly dedicated to immigration and setting up Chicago's variety of ethnicities. This is important to set up the riots of 1919, but perhaps too much time was spent on this aspect.

Once we get to the riots, we get plenty of information. However, I easily could see this done as narrative non-fiction in a more intriguing way that might truly get to a YA reader.

I also would have liked more of a connection to today's issues, or some grander scope.

[Katarin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick, interesting and enjoyable read. A Few Red Drops spends the majority of it's time not on the riot itself, but in setting up the context for why such a deadly riot occurred. By building up the history of Chicago at the time, and how the great migration, WWI and Unionizing efforts in Chicago Meat Packing industry stoked tensions along racial and ethnic lines, A Few Red Drops gives a much fuller picture of the 1919 riot. Solid rec.

[Peter Kilkelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too kind to Chicago authorities and whites, even the idea of a "race riot" is somewhat misleading. This was white's using terroristic violence to enforce the boundaries of where black Chicagoans could go, with the help of the police. Still, it does include a lot of good historical detail and photography, for those unfamiliar with this event.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super informative and interesting but didn't really grab me emotionally. The meat packing detail really made me want to stop reading altogether.

[EricaK · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 by Claire Hartfield, a 2019 winner of the Coretta Scott King Book Award, is a nonfiction book that details the story of three black teenagers who went swimming in Lake Michigan on a sweltering day in July of 1919, but the carefree day ended tragically when the boys unwittingly swam too close to an unofficial segregated beach in Chicago, setting off a violent and deadly week-long riot that left dozens dead and hundreds wounded. This nonfiction account is told in a frame story fashion, and it begins with the death of 17 year-old Eugene Williams. Promptly, the author takes readers on a journey back in time to the Great Migration, and she uncovers the fetid foundation that led to Chicago's 1919 riot channeled through Williams' death: migration, racial tension, housing, greed, and politics, which helps readers understand why Williams’ death sparked a bloody rampage. In a fast-paced, thorough manner, Hartfield peels away the deeply-rooted and virulent layers that had been boiling and teeming below the bustle of 1919’s city life for decades so that readers are fully immersed in the social context surrounding the riot and fully understanding of Chicago's unspoken social structure that exists today.

This book may not be ripe with savory imagery or heightened vocabulary, but instead, it engages a straightforward reporting style that enlightens readers about Chicago’s complicated past and its current struggles with segregation. Abundant with fair and equal reporting, the absence of imagery goes unnoticed, allowing the author’s message to resonate clearly: readers should understand Chicago’s poisonous roots, acknowledge its improvements, and recognize that more work needs to be done to ensure racial equality for all.

Meant for grades 7-9, this book is accessible, informative, and helps teens understand the social dynamics of Chicago that are still haunted by traces of its corrupt past. Even though the bulk of Hartfield’s book educates readers about the city’s bleak, tortured past, she emphasizes hope for the future in her closing statements.

Teens who are struggling to make sense of the current civil unrest sweeping the United States would appreciate this account, for it would help readers understand that the reasons behind racial conflict are complex and embedded in history’s soil. In the classroom, this book could be used to generate Accountable Talk conversations about ways today’s youth can leave a positive impact on the world and generate the kind of change that will change legacies forever.

For those wondering about format of this book, the digital version of this text offers a convenient zoom-in option for deeper probing of the abundance of photographs and editorial cartoons that emphasize the brimful factual account.

This book can be found here: http://www.ala.org/rt/emiert/cskbooka...
I accessed this book by purchasing it through Amazon's Kindle.

[Alyssa Heun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Nominee for Young Adult Literature (2018), Coretta Scott King Award for Author (2019)

The story starts the reader off with the tragic event which would start the race riots of 1919 A group of boy were swimming and one of the boys was hit in the head with a rock where he drowned. As that was described, the book then goes into factual depth of what built up to the race riots of 1919. Many events such as tensions between Irish immigrants, blacks, and protestants. As well as, the unfairness that was between blacks and whites, American-born and immigrants, immigrants and blacks, and the rich and the poor.

I think that the book did a great job of portraying what life was like then: hard, disappointing, and how apparent segregation was between races. Deplorable living conditions, unfairness in the workplace, and physical and verbal abuse were just some events that were told in this book. I appreciated the important people that were discussed, which were influential amongst each community. I never learned much about these people like Ida B. Wells, T. Arnold Hill, or Louis Swift. Nor did I learn about the race riots of 1919 or the history of Chicago. It was enticing to learn about events 100 years prior to the present. I liked that the author had experience with this topic due to her grandmother telling her stories of the 1919 race riot.

Ultimately, these riots were built up due to issues never being addressed which saddened and angered me as I was reading. A strong quote from the book, “A riot is the language of the unheard” (p.169) resonates with me because it makes me think that this was the why behind many events from the past and still can be the why to the present. This needs to challenge us all to think of how we can be fair and equal in all things we do.

The book did have a lot of facts and was heavy with information at times, but it did have engaging historical documents, photographs, and political cartoons. In the back of the book, there is a notes section, a bibliography, picture credits, and an index.

[Alyssa Gudenburr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 10 of my middle grade reads. This one was chosen as my 2nd non-fiction book and won the 2019 Coretta Scott King Author Book Award.

I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the history of Chicago that lead up to the Chicago Race Riot of 1919. This book is VERY academic and would be a GREAT resource for middle and high school reports/research. It reads as a mix between a textbook and a retelling of someone who lived through the events. My favorite part was the photographs, newspaper clippings, and several other types of artifacts sprinkled throughout the book. This really brought the events to life when you are looking into the faces of real people. Overall a great resource that I highly recommend checking out.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it online. I knew nothing about the 1919 race riot in Chicago or very much about the meat packing industry and unions involved in it at that time, so it was an informative book, but it could have been much more gripping. The black and white pictures were appreciated and well used. And I felt it smoothed out the current state of unrest more than it should have, given the subject matter, though I suppose it was trying to end on a hopeful note.

[Suzanne Dix · Rating 3 out of 5]

2019 marks a century since the Chicago Race Riot of 1919. In that summer of 1919, 38 people died and 537 were badly injured over the course of several days of rioting. Two-thirds of the victims were African-Americans. Despite this type of violence as categorized blithely as a “southern problem,” this marked a huge wake-up call that the North wasn’t as open minded as they liked to believe. Historically, Chicago was both opportunity and oppression to recently transplanted African-Americans and new immigrants in the early 20th century. African-Americans were fleeing post-Civil War prejudice, lynchings and poverty of the deep South. Europeans, especially those from famine-ridden Ireland, were desperate to find work and hope in America. The Midwest appealed to so many with its easy access from the train lines and with the chance to work in any of the large industries, which in Chicago was the meat-packing plants. Bosses looking to keep wages low, crime lords looking to keep the nationalities in check and union laborers hoping to make a difference all clash throughout the early 1900s with the poor day wager caught in the middle. African-Americans were treated particularly poorly and often the most unskilled immigrant could get a job ahead of a black worker. Even after heroically serving in World War I, African-Americans were still mistreated and disrespected. Tensions and hostilities in Chicago were at a fever pitch in the Summer of 1919, coinciding with an oppressive heat wave and the tragedy that befell the city brought tremendous shame to politicians, police and industry owners for so badly mismanaging the escalating violence. The riots brought about needed changes in hiring policies and did help overall conditions between whites and blacks, but as current events demonstrate, Americans are still struggling to offer equality, civility and dignity to one and all. Text includes black and white photos, cartoons from newspapers and an extensive bibliography. An excellent addition to any middle and high school library, particularly where civil rights are taught as part of a curriculum. Grade 7 and up.

[Lorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This interesting nonfiction title tells the story of the events leading up to the Chicago race riots of 1919. I must admit I am ignorant on this topic and had no idea of all that transpired in Chicago. It opened my eyes to how racism grew in the north post-civil war.

[Emily Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read that discusses the Chicago Race Riot and a historical event about African Americans