‘Sunset 1919’ memorializes the lives lost during the 1919 Race Riots


 ‘Sunset 1919’ memorializes the lives lost during the 1919 Race Riots

By Tia Carol Jones
In Chicago, on July 27th, 1919, Eugene Williams, a young African American boy was killed while swimming in Lake Michigan by a group of white people. It led to riots where 1,000 Black families lost their homes when they were torched by people rioting, and 23 Black people were killed.

J. Nicole Brooks created “Sunset 1919” a community ritual to commemorate the murder of Williams and the other lives lost during what would be referred to as the Chicago Race Riots of 1919, which happened from July 27th to August 3rd. It was part of the Red Summer of 1919, where race riots broke out in Washington, D.C., Omaha, Neb., Longview, Texas, Arkansas and Knoxville, Tenn.

“Sunset 1919” will take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27th, at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker. Spoken Word Artist avery r. young, Mover and Choreographer Cristal Sabbagh and Musician and Composer Edward Wilkerson Jr. are the featured artists.

During the Summer of 2020, Brooks was talking to artist friends trying to figure out how they could contribute, mourn and celebrate a time when there were social uprisings and civil unrest as a result of the deaths of unarmed Black people.

Brooks was spending time with a good friend who is an ensemble member of Lookingglass Theatre. They both love music.  They were expressing that Chicago has such a long history of not acknowledging hurtful things.
“We learn about these great tragedies, like we learn about the Great Chicago Fire, we learn about the Columbian Exposition. There are all of these things we learn about, but somehow, at least when I was coming up, we didn’t learn about the Race Riots that happened here in 1919,” Brooks said.

Brooks wanted to make a short film since they couldn’t gather people at 35th Street Beach, which is an approximation of the marker where Eugene Williams was killed.

“We wanted to beat back the evil spirits.  Each year, we’ve been building on it. It’s a ritual that is open to everyone to come, hopefully learn more about the 1919 Race Riots, to lay a flower at the memorial marker that honors Eugene Williams, if they so wish, and just to spend time together,” they said.

The first in-person event took place in 2021. Brooks has been able to get artists to sign-on to the project every year. They have been a fan of avery r. young’s work for some time. The first year, artist Ben LaMar Gay was part of the event. The goal is to uplift Chicago talent.

Brooks said being at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker in person in 2021 was very emotional in the most beautiful way. They added, “It’s haunted, but it’s also like, the spirit of wanting to release and to dance, it’s so good. That’s a part of it. Yes, we are there to remember this horrible event, but we’re also there to celebrate our bodies and space. It’s about the freedom to exist.”

In order to heal, Brooks believes it is essential to know what happened in the past and to not ignore it. Acknowledging it creates a path to moving forward. Also, to realize there weren’t just one or two bad periods in history. There are incidents that took place throughout history where Black people were harmed, tortured and killed.

“The more you know, the better off we’ll all be. This is not just knowledge only Black people need to know. We are fighting back against White Supremacy. So really, white people have to do their diligence. They have to know about it and deal with it,” said Brooks.

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