CHICAGO METRO HISTORY FAIR

2019 SUMMARY STATEMENT

Attach an annotated bibliography (AB) that is divided between primary and secondary sources.
Submit two copies of the SS and AB at the competition. Please type.


Student name(s) Esmeralda Andrade and Sooley
Flores_____________________________________________________________

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Title Chicago Race Riots of 1919

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Check if applicable (and respond to Question 3):

This project uses the 2019 National History Day theme, “Triumph & Tragedy in [Chicago/Illinois]
History”

Project Category:

Exhibit Website Paper Documentar Performance

y
Total Word-
Student Student
Count
Composed Composed Word- Time: Time:
(excluding
Word-Count: Count:
citations):
1,429

1. THESIS STATEMENT
Present the project’s argument or interpretation in two sentences. If you are using the NHD theme,
you might want to make it evident in your thesis statement.

It is true that the murder of Eugene Williams sparked a violent response from the black and
white community alike. The Chicago race riots of 1919 were not caused solely by the death of
Eugene Williams because the real causes of the race riots go far beyond that tragedy event. The
riots were caused by labor disputes, poor housing and a new sense of self worth found by black
soldiers after world war 1.
2. SUMMARY OF PROJECT
Briefly explain your project and its conclusion. Include: How and why did change happen and what
was the impact? Why is it historically significant? What historical meaning or importance can we
learn from your findings?
Our project was created so people could know about this unknown topic. In conclusion
Chicago has always been a segregated city and the reason behind it is we’ll known, but hidden. A
huge change impact occurred from a commission being created to African Americans receiving more
knowledge and gaining self-worth. The suggest impact was the self-worth African Americans gained
and the respect has humans they gained by others. A historical meaning anyone could find in our
findings would be the history of Chicago for example: how African Americans were treated after
World War I, the real reason for the 1919 Race Riots, who Eugene Williams was, how other historical
events, like the great migration, contributed in this riot, and the answer why Chicago is segregated.

3. Required for projects using the National History Day theme only.
Explain how this project integrates the NHD theme “Triumph & Tragedy in [Chicago/Illinois] History”
into its argument.
This projects integrates the NHD theme “Triumph &Tragedy in [Chicago / Illinois] History” into
its argument because the Chicago Race Riots had many violent occurrences this is considered as
the tragedy because many African Americans were discriminated and abused even after World War I.
The Chicago Race Riots although had a horrible tragedies it had many triumphs. Their self-worth
increased which caused them to fight. After all the fighting and struggles African Americans went
through they accomplished: expanding the black belt, the city officials organized the Chicago
Commission on Race Relations, and most importantly they learned their worth as human beings.

4. PROCESS

What historical question did you start off with—and how did it change once you began doing your
research?
The first historical question we started off with was “Were whites to blame for the murder of
Eugene Williams?”. We first thought of this historical question because when we first went to the
Historical museum to search for a History Fair project, we saw a lot of interesting information on
Eugene Willams that caught our eye. This was our first historical question because we wanted to
know if the whites were to blame for the death of Eugene Williams. Our historical question finally
changed when we realized the race riots didn’t just start because of the death of Eugene Williams
but because of events prior that built up and caused much more damaged than we thought. Once we
came of who to actually blame for the race riots of 1919.

What kinds of sources did you use as evidence to develop your argument (for example, letters,
photographs, government documents, interviews, etc.)?
The sources we used as evidence to develop our argument were books for public libraries
such as “A Few Red Drops”, “Pair Noir: African Americans in the City of Light”, and “Meatpackers an
Oral History of Black Packinghouse Workers and Their Struggle for Racial and Economic Equality”.
We also used an interview as a source and our interview was with Tyler Stovall whose grandfather
was a black soldier during the 370th infantry. Finally we used a newspaper from Los Angeles,
California that explained the labor disputes that was occurring in Chicago.
 Select one piece of evidence that you used and explain how it influenced your argument.
Tyler Stovall was one of out strongest sources throughout this project. We didn’t only use his
book but he was nice enough to have an interview with us. In the book it states the differences of
the lifestyle an African American had in France and the United states. This helped our third claim
making it clear that African American felt discriminated and they’re self-worth arose which made
them seek for justice. Meanwhile the interview with Stovall he stated how his grandfather was a
soldier and he explained to him how his experiences were/how he felt. This helped our argument
because it was a primary source and it explained in further detail the relationship of this event and
the self-worth African Americans gained.

List libraries (other than school), museums, and other institutions that you visited to do your
research.
Some of the places we visited were Harold Washington, Chicago Public Library Little Village
Branch, Chicago Public Library Toman Branch, Chicago History Museum.