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| | SR0337 | | LRB100 11938 KLG 23673 r |
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1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | | WHEREAS, The 1917 East St. Louis Race Riot, also known as |
3 | | the East St. Louis Massacres, was one of the worst race riots |
4 | | in American history; and
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5 | | WHEREAS, Shortly after America's entry into World War I, |
6 | | when black troops were going to fight to make the world safe |
7 | | for democracy, American black men, women, and children were |
8 | | murdered in the most wanton and barbaric manner in the streets |
9 | | of East St. Louis on July 2 and 3, 1917; and
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10 | | WHEREAS, In 1917, East St. Louis was crowded with factories |
11 | | and jobs were abundant; but as World War I halted the flow of |
12 | | immigration from Eastern Europe and white workers, |
13 | | increasingly frustrated by poor wages and working conditions |
14 | | were beginning to unionize, factory recruiters started looking |
15 | | toward the American South for black workers; by the spring of |
16 | | 1917, about 2,000 African Americans were arriving in East St. |
17 | | Louis every week in what became known as the Great Migration; |
18 | | as competition for jobs increased, a labor issue became a |
19 | | racial issue fraught with animus and rising tensions; and
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20 | | WHEREAS, On May 28, 1917, several blacks were attacked |
21 | | after a union rally sparking a night of rioting; the National |
22 | | Guard broke it up the next day and stayed in the city until |
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| | SR0337 | - 2 - | LRB100 11938 KLG 23673 r |
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1 | | mid-June; the tensions boiled over on July 2, 1917 following a |
2 | | confrontation in a black neighborhood that began after white |
3 | | men in a car drove by shooting into buildings, houses, and |
4 | | churches, and ended with two white police officers dead; and |
5 | | WHEREAS, Mobs of white men, some assisted by women and even |
6 | | children, set fires in black neighborhoods, trapping people in |
7 | | their homes and shooting those who tried to escape; black |
8 | | passengers were pulled from trolley cars and beaten in the |
9 | | street; black men were dragged through the streets and hanged |
10 | | by light poles along the streets where they remained for days; |
11 | | accounts speak of black men, women, and children beaten with |
12 | | bludgeons, stoned, shot, drowned, hanged, or burned to death, |
13 | | without any effective interference on the part of the police, |
14 | | sheriff, or military authorities; and |
15 | | WHEREAS, Media accounts state the National Guard was only |
16 | | able to begin to gain control of the crowd on July 3, 1917 when |
17 | | "the rioters had exhausted themselves and sated, in a measure, |
18 | | their lust for blood"; the first full day of calm was July 4, |
19 | | 1917; and |
20 | | WHEREAS, At the end of the mayhem, nine whites and nearly |
21 | | 200 blacks were dead, more than 300 buildings were destroyed, |
22 | | with fires causing over $8,000,000 in 2017 dollars in damage; |
23 | | 6,000 people fled from their homes; and
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| | SR0337 | - 3 - | LRB100 11938 KLG 23673 r |
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1 | | WHEREAS, The East St. Louis 1917 Centennial Commission and |
2 | | Cultural Initiative will be observing the centennial with |
3 | | several activities and events to promote remembrance, healing, |
4 | | and awareness of the 1917 Race Riot and its social, political, |
5 | | and cultural impact on our nation; and to celebrate the great |
6 | | fortitude found in the people of East St. Louis; therefore, be |
7 | | it
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8 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL |
9 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we acknowledge a moral |
10 | | imperative to never forget the atrocities that took place on |
11 | | July 2 and 3, 1917 in East St. Louis; and be it further |
12 | | RESOLVED, That we observe May 28, 2017 as a day of |
13 | | remembrance in the State of Illinois on the centennial of the |
14 | | events that precipitated the 1917 East St. Louis Race Riot; and |
15 | | be it further
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16 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be |
17 | | presented Marla Byrd, Commissioner of the East St. Louis 1917 |
18 | | Centennial Commission and Cultural Initiative.
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