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Fight for Rights: The Chicago 1919 Riots and the Struggle for Black Justice Introduction This is a history of the fight for rights and citizenship undertaken by Black people in Chicago in that city’s first century. Covering the period from the 1830s to 1930s, this book looks at their successes and the forces that arose—in the streets, in city government, in the courts, and on the police force—to limit their extent. And it looks at how, and why, individuals and institutions attempted to justify those limits over time. Miscarriage of Justice Few legal records from the riot cases remain, but the one case we do have, a murder trial involving two Black teens, demonstrates how badly the legal system failed Black Chicagoans in the aftermath of the riots. In that case, those failures were not an accident. Government officials, judges, and jurors willfully ignored (and sometimes created) problems of law and facts in order to win convictions of the two teens.

Coroner's Report on First and Last Riot Deaths

Hidden amid the other news that Saturday, several papers briefly reported that the coroner, Peter Hoffman, had issued the autopsy report on Eugene Williams’ death. That report, prepared by the coroner’s physician, Edward Hatton, and endorsed by two other doctors, J.P. Simmons and Midian Brunsfield, a well-known Black physician, declared that there was no evidence that Williams’ death was the result of being hit by rocks. Commenting on the report, the coroner admitted that the rocks thrown at Williams and his friends might have interfered with his ability to save himself.

As momentous as it was, it was not the last riot-related event of the day. Late that Saturday evening, the last official death blamed on the riot was tallied when Henry Goodman, who had been attacked by a white mob on July 28, died from tetanus.

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