Airport Homes race riots facts for kids

The Airport Homes race riots were a series of serious events that happened in 1946 in the West Lawn and West Elsdon areas of Chicago, Illinois. This was one of the worst times the city faced violence related to race in about 30 years.

The Airport Homes Riots

The "Airport Homes" was the name of a place in West Lawn. The Chicago Housing Authority built these homes. They were meant to be temporary places for soldiers returning from war and their families. This was because there weren't enough homes after World War II.

When Black war veterans and their families tried to move into these homes alongside white veterans, some people in West Lawn and West Elsdon reacted strongly. They protested and tried to scare the Black families away. This happened mostly during the day when many white men were at work. So, it was often older people and women who were involved in these protests.

Community Opposition to Housing

The West Elsdon Civic Association was a group that spoke out against the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). They did not like the idea of public housing in their area. Elizabeth Wood was the first leader of the CHA. This group remained strongly against public housing for many years.

In the early 1970s, the West Elsdon Civic Association was part of a city-wide group called "No-CHA." This group was against building public housing in mostly white, middle-class neighborhoods.

Limited Information Available

Chicago's main newspapers did not print many details about these events. This was because the city's Commission on Human Relations (CHR) asked them not to. The CHR worried that too much news coverage would make the situation worse. Because of this, there isn't a lot of information about what happened during these riots.

Between 1945 and 1950, the CHR recorded many similar incidents. They noted 357 serious events related to Black families moving into white neighborhoods in Chicago.