The Chicago Commission on Race Relations was a non-partisan, interracial investigative committee, appointed by Illinois governor Frank Lowden. The commission was set up after the Chicago riots of July and August 1919 in "which thirty-eight lives were lost, twenty-three Negros and fifteen whites, and 537 persons were injured".The purpose of the commission was to investigate the causes of the Riot and make recommendations to prevent a tragedy like this from reoccurring. The research was the first extensive research on interracial Black-white relations conducted in Chicago funded by a government agency. The sociological study was published in 1922 by the University of Chicago Press as ''The Negro in Chicago – A Study of Race Relations and a Race Riot''. The study included a substantial review of the background of the riots, the riots themselves, and their aftermath, together with original work and investigation into the relations between and perceptions of the black and white communities in Chicago. ''The Negro in Chicago'' ran to 672 pages with a number of plates, plans and other additional matter.

The Commission

The Chicago Commission on Race Relations was established at a meeting of eighty-one citizens, representing forty-eight social, civic, commercial, and professional organizations of Chicago. They set up a commission composed entirely of men six

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

s and six

European-American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

s: European Americans * Edgar Bancroft * William Scott Bond * Edward Osgood Brown * Harry Eugene Kelly * Victor Lawson *

Julius Rosenwald Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions i ...

African Americans *

Robert Sengstacke Abbott Robert Sengstacke Abbott (December 24, 1870 – February 29, 1940) was an American lawyer, newspaper publisher and editor. Abbott founded ''The Chicago Defender'' in 1905, which grew to have the highest circulation of any black-owned newspaper in ...

* George Cleveland Hall * George H. Jackson * Edward H. Morris * Adelbert H. Roberts * Lacey Kirk Williams Before conducting the research, the commission felt that a strong emphasis should be placed on understanding the life of the Negro in Chicago, in particular the relations between the two races. The following six subcommittees were created: * Committee on Racial Clashes * Committee on Housing, Committee on Industry * Committee on Industry, * Committee on Crime * Committee on Racial Contracts * Committee on Public Opinion Chicago at this time experienced a substantial increase of Black migration from the South.

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

had brought industrial jobs to cities in the North but many of these jobs were subject to a color bar and only available to whites. The arrival of black people in northern cities led to an increase in rent in underdeveloped neighborhoods and

white flight The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...

. Expansion of the

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

caused friction among white residents such that "bombs were thrown at black owned homes". The research was conducted by a series of "conferences or informal hearings, and through research and fieldwork carried on by staff or trained investigator". Chicago's neighborhoods were classified into four groups: (1) mixed, unadjusted neighborhoods; (2) mixed, adjusted neighborhoods; (3) contested areas; and (4) neighborhoods that are entirely white or negro. The study concluded that there were no immediate solutions to remedy the tensions between the racial groups and suggested that "through mutual understanding and sympathy between the races will be followed by harmony and co-operation".

Records

The records of the commission are stored in the Illinois State Archives.

References

Race in the United States African-American history in Chicago {{Chicago-stub