Unit 4 PaperOn July 27, 1919, a young black man named Eugene Williams swam across an invisible line of segregation at a popular public beach on Lake Michigan in Chicago. He was stoned by several white bystanders, knocked unconscious, and drowned, and his death sparked one of the bloodiest riots in Chicago history (Shogun 96). The Chicago race riot was not the result of one accident alone. Several factors, including the economic, social, and political differences between blacks and whites, the postwar atmosphere, and the psychology of race relations in 1919, combined to make Chicago a prime target for this event. While the riot was a catalyst for several short-term solutions to racial tensions, it did little to improve long-term race relations. Many years passed before the nation truly addressed the underlying conflicts that sparked the uprising of 1919. This observation is reflected in many essays by author James Baldwin in which he emphasizes that positive change can only occur when both races recognize the Negro as equal to each other. men politically, economically and socially. There is history that explains why the incident on that Chicago beach escalated to the point where 23 blacks and 15 whites were killed, another 500 were injured, and 1,000 blacks were left homeless (96). When local police were called to the scene, they refused to arrest the white man identified as the instigator of the attack. It was generally recognized that the state should “look the other way” as long as private violence remained at a low level (Waskow 265). This police indifference, seen by most blacks as racial prejudice, played a major role in infuriating the black population. In the wake of Chica......middle of paper......up." 1956. James Baldwin: Collected Essays. Ed. Toni Morrison. New York: Library of America, 1998: 606-613. Lee, Alfred McClung. Race Riot/by Alfred McClung Lee and Norman Daymond Humphrey. New York: The Dryden Press, 1943. Lee, Alfred McClung. Race Riots Are Not Necessary/by Alfred McClung Lee in association with the American Council on Race Relations New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1945. Mitchell, J. Paul. Race Riots in Black and White: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1969. Shogan, Robert. Detroit Race Riot; A Study of Violence, by Robert Shogan and Tom Craig. study on the connections between conflict and violence/Arthur I Waskow”. University of Wisconsin, 1963.