William Tuttle Race Riot Book Report

This book review is on William Tuttle, Jr.’s Race Riot, which happened in Chicago in the Summer of 1919. William Tuttle is a graduate from Denison University in 1959. He obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin in 1967. He is a college professor and has taught at various institutions. He has had articles printed in various journals. He was a recipient of a fellowship and grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies. Tuttle’s main goal in this book was to write a book that documents the events that took place in Chicago in the year of 1919. In his book, it is apparent that he covered many aspects of events that took place. He not only focuses on the events that took place
The author explains in part the race riot in terms of “individuals as well as groups.” It focuses on relations in the urban north. He reveals the effects of migration, labor, and community police relations of both races. Tuttle covers in great detail the influx of rural Southern blacks and their ghetto nature, labor competition, the cynical policies of Chicago city leaders, and any social and economic factors that led to cross feelings between races. The circumstances that occurred during the summer of 1919 helped me to understand the period of riots. Blacks in Chicago expected more than integration. They had heightened expectations of social and economic progress. They were seeking housing in white communities, where they found themselves unwelcome and often times attacked. Competition for jobs and housing increased racial tensions. The worst race riot of the Red Summer began when Eugene Williams drowned after being struck by white stone throwers. After police, instead, arrested an African American man, mobs and gangs struck violently, resulting in families being left homeless, injured and some dead. Hundreds of mostly black homes and businesses on the South Side were destroyed by mobs, and a militia force of thousands was called to restore