Copy
View this email in your browser
Share Share
Tweet Tweet
The country is reeling from the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor, and protests against racial injustice and institutionalized racism are occurring in cities throughout the nation, including Chicago.

As a research library dedicated to the humanities, we believe that historical inquiry can lead to greater understanding of the systems of oppression that have created, exacerbated, and reinforced racial inequities in the United States. Remaining silent about these inequities amid social unrest and pandemic is tantamount to complicity.

Instead, we must come together in community (even if virtually) to confront difficult histories and build a better future. And we must do this while remaining conscious that, for people of color, racism is not just a topic of study––it is a searing presence in their daily lives.

In response to recent events, we’re devoting this week’s Newberry e-news to a chapter in Chicago history that echoes loudly in our current moment: the Red Summer of 1919.
Armed National Guard and Black Chicagoans on a sidewalk, 1919. Photo by
Jun Fujita. Courtesy Chicago History Museum.
In 1922, the Chicago Commission on Race Relations published an 822-page report in the wake of the 1919 Race Riots that shook Chicago. The report cataloged the systemic inequities between African Americans and white Chicagoans, including wide disparities in access to health services, housing, employment, and education.

The report remains a landmark of sociology, and its diagnosis of conditions in Chicago was exhaustive; but its recommended solutions did not lead to meaningful change. In the ensuing decades, increasingly sophisticated forms of institutionalized racism deepened divides between white and Black Chicagoans.
Marker commemorating the murder of Eugene Williams at Margaret Burroughs beach. On July 27, 1919, Williams, a Black teenager, was murdered after crossing an invisible racial barrier in Lake Michigan. When the police declined to arrest Williams's white assailant, racial tensions boiled over. The ensuing week, white gangs terrorized African American communities, which defended themselves against the violence. 
In collaboration with 13 cultural partners, the Newberry coordinated a series of community conversations throughout 2019 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Red Summer. Programs across the city explored the legacy of 1919 as well as the realities of systemic racism that continue to plague Chicago.
Eve L. Ewing and Kenneth Warren discuss how Black poets, writers, and artists responded to racial injustice in the wake of the Red Summer of 1919.
September 24, 2019.
We invite you to watch and listen to these conversations and consider the questions that they provoke:

What are the parallels between the Red Summer of 1919 and Chicago in 2020?

How can we ensure that the 1919 Race Riots never fade from the city’s collective memory?

How can lessons from history help us imagine and work for a more just society?
Support the Newberry
All we do at the Newberry is made possible by those who generously support our work to build a world-class collection and bring it to life––both in person and online. Now through June 30, a group of generous Trustees will match all gifts to the Annual Fund, up to a total of $100,000. Make a gift, and the impact of your support will be doubled.
Make a Gift
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
Website
Copyright © 2020 Newberry Library All rights reserved.

The Newberry Library supports and inspires research, teaching, and learning in the humanities. Our collection—some 1.6 million books, 600,000 maps, and 5 million manuscript pages—is a portal to more than six centuries of human history, from the Middle Ages to the present. We connect the public with this history in person and online.


60 West Walton Street
Chicago, IL 60610
(312) 943-9090


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.