Summary
Highlights
East St. Louis was an industrial city with rapid growth. European immigration stopped due to war, leading factories to hire African American migrants from the South. These migrants were often unknowingly used as strike breakers, causing resentment among white workers. This influx and perceived job threat led to a hostile environment for African Americans in East St. Louis.
A labor dispute at the National Stockyards, particularly at the Armour meatpacking plant, led to a small fight between striking workers and African American laborers. As summer approached, attacks became more frequent, and the environment grew increasingly hostile, eventually sparking a three-day racial attack on the African American community.
In a South St. Louis African American neighborhood, dentist Leroy Bundy organized a neighborhood watch to counter indiscriminate shootings by white men. When shots were fired at a car by white teenagers, the church bell, a signal for the neighborhood watch, rang. Police responded and were mistakenly identified by the neighborhood watch, leading to the deaths of two police officers.
The bullet-ridden police car was publicly displayed, fueling anger. Inflammatory speeches at the Labor Temple, particularly by Richard Brockway, called for arming and gathering. Mobs then formed in military formation, leading to the first shots of the massacre. The speaker's great-grandfather, William Kaiser, was killed trying to protect a black woman during an attack on a trolley car.
Families, including the speaker's, migrated to St. Louis to escape lynchings, arriving during the race war. A family member described witnessing smoke from the train. Bodies were hung from lampposts, and entire families were attacked, with no exceptions made for age or gender; the only target was black skin.
The violence was concentrated in several areas, including an established African American neighborhood that was destroyed, and the entrance to the municipal bridge, a key escape route. The speaker's grandmother saved her children by hiding in tall grass after their house was torched by a white mob and then built a raft to cross the river to St. Louis.
African American police officer Otto Nelson's house was burned, and he had to hide in weeds, receiving no aid from his fellow officers. The Broadway Opera House, where people were hiding, was burned down, resulting in numerous deaths. The Clark family's home was burned, and a soldier escorting them to safety failed to protect them from rioters, leading to Mr. Clark's brutal death.
The city of St. Louis housed refugees in a center initially for European immigrants; about 2,000 people crossed the Eads Bridge. Businesses tried to entice laborers back, but East St. Louis never fully recovered. Trials focused on the death of a white man, with few white rioters serving significant time. African Americans were tried for the police killings and received harsh sentences, while prominent figures like Richard Brockway received lesser charges. Dr. LeRoy Bundy, who organized the neighborhood watch, was falsely imprisoned and had his conviction overturned on appeal, but the case was never retried.
The East St. Louis race riots led to the founding of the St. Louis Metropolitan Urban League, which provided housing and aid to survivors and helped establish the community of Kinloch. The massacre serves as a reminder of the power of rhetoric and the need for understanding to prevent similar tragedies. Families, like the speaker's, continued to feel the impact, with some naming children after those who disappeared to preserve their memory. Reparations were eventually paid out in 1921, but these were small and overshadowed by other events like the Tulsa Riot.