Newspaper story
*The East Saint Louis Race Riot occurred on this date in 1917. This bloody outbreak of violence in East St. Louis, Ill., stemmed specifically from the employment of Black workers in a factory holding government contracts.
It was the worst of many incidents of American racial hostility during World War I that were directed especially toward Blacks newly employed in war industries. In the riot, whites turned on Blacks, indiscriminately stabbing, clubbing, hanging them, and driving 6,000 from their homes; 40 Blacks and eight whites were killed.
On July 28, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) staged a silent parade down Fifth Avenue in New York City, protesting the riot and other violence toward Blacks. German propaganda magnified these incidents to arouse antiwar sentiment in the American Black community. President Woodrow Wilson publicly denounced mob violence and lynchings, of which there had been 54 in 1916 and 38 in 1917.
