Rising Tensions Of 1919's 'Red Summer'

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GROWING RACIAL TENSIONS
The “Red Summer” of 1919 marks peak of rising tensions surrounding the great migration of African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North that took place during World War I. After the war ended in 1918, servicemen who fought in Europe returned home to find that their jobs in factories, warehouses and mills had been filled by newly arrived Southern blacks or immigrants. Amid financial insecurity, racial and ethnic prejudices ran rampant. Meanwhile, African-American veterans who had risked their lives fighting for the freedom and democracy of the United States were found to have been denied basic rights such as adequate housing and equality under the law. Consequently, they have become progressively more

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