July 31, 2019
It was July 27, 1919 when 17-year-old Eugene Williams was stoned by whites and drowned
after he his raft accidently crossed the unofficial barrier between Chicago’s white and black
beaches at 29th Street now renamed 31st Street Beach. Seven days of rioting followed and
ended on Aug. 3, but not before 38 people died (23 blacks and 15 whites), 537 injured and
more than 1,000 people left homeless due to arson. Photo Courtesy: City of Chicago
Stories this photo appears in:
Chicago remembers 1919 Race Riots
It was a little over a year ago this week when riots erupted on the South Side following the death of a black youth, who was killed by whites for being on the “wrong” side of a Bronzeville beach.