CHICAGO METRO HISTORY FAIR 2012 SUMMARY STATEMENT FORM

Please TYPE on sheet or use word processing ALL PROJECTS: Attach an annotated bibliography. Please divide primary and secondary sources from each other. Two copies of SSF & Annotated Bibliography are required for competitions.

Title: Chicagos Raving Race Riots of 1919 Student name(s): Shreyas Gandlur

Project Category: Group Individual

and

Exhibit

Performance

Documentary

Website

Check if applicable (and respond to the 3rdquestion): This project uses the 2012 National History Day theme, Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in History

1. THESIS STATEMENT
Present the projects argument or interpretation in two sentences. If you are using the NHD theme, you might want to make it evident in your thesis statement. The 1919 Chicago Race Riots were instrumental in leading to greater racial tensions and segregation in Chicago, but African Americans showed Caucasians that they could fight back. The riots also set the framework for current African American residency in Chicago.

2. SUMMARY OF PROJECT
Briefly explain your project and its conclusion. Include: How and why did change happen and what was the impact? Why is it historically significant? What historical meaning or importance can we learn from your findings? A brief description of the riots: The Race Riots occurred during the Red Scare of 1919, a time of phobic activities directed towards left-wing radicals, e.g., Communists, socialists and anarchists, to a federal level. These radicals wanted African Americans to join their revolution, promising racial equality. Due to this, several race-related riots occurred throughout the country, including in Chicago. Many fatalities occurred during this time, mostly African Americans, but they showed that they could fight back against inequality. Caucasians reacted by starting restrictive covenants, in order to stop African Americans from invading their neighborhoods, forcing African Americans to one corner of the South Side. This ended in the 1960s, but African Americans still reside in similar areas. My website highlights the key events that led up to the beginning of the Riots, and what occurred after them, showing the publics reactions to the riots, as illustrated above. My website describes the riots in Chicago, showing atrocities that occurred during this time. In the background, you will see what happened

internationally and domestically that led up to the Race Riots. You will see a picture from the Omaha Riots showing the burning of a black mans body. In the event section, you will learn about the key moment that sparked the flame that started the Race Riots of Chicago. In the long term effects, you will see how African American residency has always been around the same place since after the restrictive covenants ended. You shall see all this and a lot more.

3. Required for projects using the National History Day theme only.
Explain how this project integrates the NHD theme Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in History into its argument. This project integrates the NHD theme of Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in its argument, by arguing that reactions to racial equality led to large amounts of racial rioting, and by arguing that reactions to the race riots led to a common realization that African Americans could fight back, and reactions to this led to restrictive covenants against African Americans, restricting freedom for African Americans and segregating them from Caucasians in Chicago.

4. PROCESS A. What historical question did you start off withand how did it change once you began doing your research?
I started out with reactions to the Red Scare. Soon these reactions were the 1919 Chicago Race Riots, but later on, I decided to make the topic itself the 1919 Chicago Race Riots, because it was easier to shows reactions to the Race Riots, than the Red Scare themselves, and since they were more relevant to Chicago, than the broad topic of the Red Scare.

B. What kinds of sources did you use as evidence to develop your argument (for example, letters, photographs, government documents, interviews, etc.)?
A lot of the sources that I used were newspaper articles, which gave me a lot of information about what happened during the Red Scare and its aftermath. In addition, photographs from that time period gave me a lot of perspective on how violent the riots really were.

C. Select one piece of evidence that you used and explain how it influenced your argument.
Many of the newspapers blatantly showed segregation occurring in Chicago. For example, one of them talked about how stockyards banned African Americans from working there, which is blatantly segregation. This influenced me into arguing that segregation was increased in Chicago, due to the riots.

D. List libraries (other than school), museums, and other institutions that you visited to do your research.
I didn't go to several institutions for research, except to a library, the Schaumburg Township District Library. However, I did loan some books on Inter Library Loan.