Fernwood Park race riot facts for kids

The Fernwood Park Race Riot was a serious event in Chicago where white residents attacked African American families. These families were moving into a new housing project for veterans in the Fernwood Park neighborhood. Many white residents saw this as an attempt to bring racial integration into their white communities.

The riot happened for three days, from August 13 to August 16, 1947. It started when veterans and their families moved into the project. The Chicago Police Department did not do much to stop the violence. This riot was one of the worst race riots in Chicago's history.

Homes for People in Chicago

Housing During World War II

During the 1940s, housing projects were built in Chicago. Their main goal was to provide affordable homes for people working in war industries. Many of these workers were African American. As America got ready for World War II, Chicago became a key place for making steel. Because of this, hundreds of thousands of Black workers and their families moved from the South to Chicago. This was part of the second wave of the Great Migration.

Many homes in Chicago were crowded or in poor condition. To help with this, the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) opened several housing projects. These were in areas where many war-industry workers lived. Some of these projects included the Frances Cabrini Homes and Altgeld Gardens. These homes helped provide better living conditions for families working to support the war effort.

Housing After World War II

After World War II ended, African American soldiers returned home. The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) then focused on providing temporary homes for these returning veterans and their families. This change happened because of a federal law passed in 1945. This law aimed to solve the housing shortage for veterans across the country.

Elizabeth Wood, who led the CHA, wanted to create housing projects where both white and Black veterans could live together. She believed in the idea of fairness and freedom that the U.S. fought for in the war. She also saw the hope of Black veterans who wanted the country to live up to its promises of equality.

However, many city leaders and the governor did not agree with this idea of integration. Chicago's mayor, Edward Kelly, supported the CHA's plan for integrated housing.

The first temporary projects opened peacefully in other parts of Chicago. But the CHA's second project, the Midway Airport Homes, faced a lot of anger and violence. White residents in the Midway area were afraid of Black families moving into their segregated neighborhood. They believed the homes should only be for white veterans. When the first Black family moved in, a white crowd attacked the building. After this, the Black family felt unsafe and moved out. This violence kept the Midway neighborhood mostly white.

This event showed that the CHA's efforts to integrate housing faced strong opposition. Mayor Kelly's support for integration was challenged by white residents who wanted to keep their neighborhoods segregated. Eventually, Mayor Kelly retired in 1947. He was replaced by Martin Kennelly, who was less supportive of the CHA's integration plans.

Fernwood Park Homes

Fernwood Park is a neighborhood on the far south side of Chicago, part of the larger Roseland community. In the early 1940s, many European immigrant families lived there.

The CHA started building the Fernwood Park Homes. These were one-story homes with two bedrooms for veterans and their families. In May 1947, Elizabeth Wood told the Fernwood Park community that both white and Black veterans would be welcome. Fernwood Park was one of the last white neighborhoods in its area. White residents saw the plan for integration as a threat to their community.

The Rioting Begins

Unlike other riots in Chicago, there wasn't one specific event that started the Fernwood Park riot. Historians believe that a large crowd of white people gathered outside the housing project on the evening of August 13, 1947, after the families moved in.

Estimates say that anywhere from 500 to 5,000 white rioters gathered. They wanted to take back control of the neighborhood. The violence lasted for three full days. White gangs damaged property belonging to African Americans. Rioters threw stones at the residents and the buildings, breaking windows. They also set fire to parts of the project. Members of the crowd also pulled Black people out of their cars and beat them with clubs. About 100 cars were attacked, and at least 35 Black people were hurt.

Police set up barriers to try and control the violence. The riot spread across a large area, from 95th Street to 130th Street, and from Michigan Avenue to Vincennes Avenue.

What Happened Next

Arrests and Injuries

Only 113 people were arrested for rioting at the Fernwood Park Homes. Many of those arrested were of Dutch, German, or Irish backgrounds.

At least 35 Black people reported being injured by the white crowds.

African American Response

African American neighborhoods near Fernwood Park threatened to fight back against the white crowds. Residents of Morgan Park, a nearby neighborhood, and people living in the Fernwood Homes threw stones at white people who walked past the project.

The violence only calmed down when the Chicago Commission on Human Relations and Archibald Carey, Jr., an African American alderman, spoke to the Black community in Roseland.

After the riot, the number of African Americans living in the Roseland area grew quickly. In 1940, only 4.2% of Roseland's population was African American. By 1950, this number grew to 18.4%. In the following decades, many white residents moved out of the area. By 1980, African Americans made up 97.5% of Roseland's population. This movement of white residents leaving neighborhoods as Black families moved in is called white flight.