Most severe of about 25 race riots throughout the U.S. in the summer after World War I. Racial friction was intensified by the migration of African Americans to the North.
On Chicago's South Side, the African American population had increased in 10 years from 44,000 to 109,000. The riot was triggered by the death of an African American youth swimming in Lake Michigan near a beach reserved for whites; he was stoned and he shortly drowned. When police refused to arrest the white man allegedly responsible, fighting broke out between gangs of African Americans and whites. Violence spread throughout the city, unchecked by the state militia. After 13 days, 38 people were dead (23 African Americans, 15 whites), and 537 injured, and 1,000 African American families were made homeless.