The East St. Louis Riots of 1917

East St. Louis in 1917 had a strong economy boosted by World War I — in response, many African Americans were recruited to work at the Aluminum Ore Company and the American Steel Company . However, resentment on the part of whites planted fear of job security in the population, which eventually manifested itself in rumors of black men and white women fraternizing at a labor meeting on May 28. Immediately, 3000 people had rushed downtown, beating every African American in sight — they destroyed buildings and beat people, but nobody was killed. The National Guard was called in, which prevented further rioting, but rumors continued to circulate about an organized attack from the blacks.

On July 1, a black man shot his white attacker, which was retaliated with a drive-by shooting. When police came to investigate, the African American who had been attacked returned fire, thinking them to be the attackers from before. The next morning, thousands of white spectators who saw the bloodstained automobile marched to the black section of town and started rioting. After cutting the hoses of the fire department, the rioters burned entire sections of the city, shooting the inhabitants as they escaped the flames. Claiming that "Southern niggers deserve[d] a genuine lynching,"¹ they hung several blacks. Guardsmen were called in, but several accounts reported that they joined in the rioting rather than stopping it. Everyone joined in including "ten or fifteen young girls about 18 years old, [who] chased a negro woman at the Relay Depot at about 5 o'clock. The girls were brandishing clubs and calling upon the men to kill the woman."²

References

1. Willlard A. Heaps. "Target of Prejudice: The Negro." In Riots, USA 1765-1970, 108-117. (New York: The Seabury Press, 1970), 114.
2. "RACE RIOTERS FIRE EAST ST. LOUIS AND SHOOT OR HANG MANY NEGROES; DEAD ESTIMATED AT FROM 20 TO 76." New York Times (3 July 1917).