The Spark
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On July 27th, 1919, an extremely hot day, hundreds of people flocked to the beach.

(John T. McCutcheon, 1919, Chicago Tribune​​​​​​​)

Racial tensions were already high that day, as African Americans had tried to go over to the white beach. Segregation wasn't allowed, but the beaches remained segregated. White bathers responded by throwing stones at them. 

"Eugene had just come up and went to dive again when somebody averted his attention. And just as he turned his head, this fellow threw a rock and it struck him on the right side of his forehead. I had just come up, and I could see something was wrong."

(John Turner Harris as quoted from Robert Loerzel, 2019, "Blood in the Streets")

("This Boy's Death Caused Race Riot," 1919, Defender)

"Then began a series of attacks and retreats, counterattacks, and stone throwing. Women and children who could not escape hid behind debris and rocks. The stone throwing continued, first one side gaining the advantage, then the other.'

(Chicago Commission on Race Relations as quoted from Robert Loerzel, 2019, "Blood in the Streets")

17-year-old Eugene Williams and his friends entered the water on a raft at 26th Street beach, the beach reserved for African Americans.

However, they had passed an imaginary line that divided their beach from the 29th Street beach, reserved for whites. George Stauber, a white man, started throwing stones at them. Eugene was hit with a stone and drowned. This murder, carried out by a racist in an unjustly segregated city, became the quick spark to the riot.

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An African American officer asked Officer Daniel Callahan to arrest the murderer. However, he refused, and African Americans gathered in protest near the beach.

"So the colored cop went to arrest him, and the white cop would not let him arrest him. There was a big argument between the two policemen. We ran back to the 25th Street beach and told the colored people."

(John Turner Harris as quoted from Robert Loerzel, 2019, "Blood in the Streets")

Police reinforcements arrived, but acted aggressively toward the African American crowd. James Crawford, an African American man, shot at the police. They shot back, killing him.

(Chicago Commission on Race Relations, 1922, Internet Archive)

"In the meantime, the lifeguard had gotten the boy's body ... Then they came over and demanded that they arrest the man. And this is when the fight started. If the police had been on the ball, nothing would have happened, but they started beating people, clubbing them.'

(John Turner Harris as quoted from Robert Loerzel, 2019, "Blood in the Streets")

Later that day, word spread around the city about the murder. Whites and African Americans were blaming each other for the fighting, and the riots had begun.