White Mobs Terrorize African Americans in East St. Louis Riots
Producer Jim Kirchherr looks back at the ethnic, political and social conflicts taking place in East St. Louis in the early 1900s. These tensions erupted into violence on July 1, 1917, after police officers were shot. Between July 2-5,1917, least 39, and some estimates indicate up to 200, African American men, women, and children were shot, hanged, beaten to death, or burned alive after being driven into burning buildings. The riots caused more than $400,000 in property damage and prompted 6,000 African American residents -- more than half of East St. Louis’s African American population -- to flee the city. 8 min video