The Cicero, Illinois Race Riot of 1951.

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In historical writing and analysis, PRESENTISM introduces present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Presentism is a form of cultural bias that creates a distorted understanding of the subject matter. Reading modern notions of morality into the past is committing the error of presentism. Historical accounts are written by people and can be slanted, so I try my hardest to present fact-based and well-researched articles.

Facts don't require one's approval or acceptance.

I present [PG-13] articles without regard to race, color, political party, or religious beliefs, including Atheism, national origin, citizenship status, gender, LGBTQ+ status, disability, military status, or educational level. What I present are facts — NOT Alternative Facts — about the subject. You won't find articles or readers' comments that spread rumors, lies, hateful statements, and people instigating arguments or fights.

FOR HISTORICAL CLARITY

When I write about the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, I follow this historical terminology:

• The use of old commonly used terms, disrespectful today, i.e., REDMAN or REDMEN, SAVAGES, and HALF-BREED are explained in this article.

Writing about AFRICAN-AMERICAN history, I follow these race terms:

• "NEGRO" was the term used until the mid-1960s.
• "BLACK" started being used in the mid-1960s.
• "AFRICAN-AMERICAN" [Afro-American] began usage in the late 1980s.

— PLEASE PRACTICE HISTORICISM —

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST IN ITS OWN CONTEXT.

 

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The Cicero, Illinois, race riot of 1951 occurred July 11th & 12th of 1951, when a mob of about 4,000 whites attacked an apartment building that rented an apartment to a single black family.

In early June of 1951, Mrs. Camille DeRose, who owned an apartment building at 6139–43 West 19th Street in Cicero, Illinois, got into a controversy with her tenants and was ordered to refund a portion of the rent. Afterward, out of anger and/or profit, she rented an apartment to Harvey E. Clark Jr., a Black World War II veteran and graduate of Fisk University, his wife, Johnetta and their two children, Michele and Harvey III, in the all-white neighborhood.

Mr. and Mrs. Harvey E. Clark Jr.

A high Cicero official learned that a Black family was moving into a Cicero apartment and warned Mrs. DeRose that there would be "trouble" if he moved in.

At 2:30 PM on June 8, a moving van containing $2,000 worth of Clark's furniture was stopped by the police. The rental agent was ushered out with a drawn revolver at his back. A jeering crowd gathered, and Clark was told by the police to get out, or he would be arrested "for protective custody." A detective warned Clark, "I'll bust your damned head if you don't move." At 6:00 PM, Clark was grabbed by 20 police officers. The chief of police told him, "Get out of here fast. There will be no moving into this building." Clark was hit eight times as he was pushed toward a car parked across the street and shoved inside the vehicle. The police told him, "Get out of Cicero and don't come back in town, or you'll get a bullet through you."

A suit was filed by the NAACP against the Cicero Police Department on June 26, and the Clark family moved in.

With the Clarks now living in the apartment, the word was passed along that there would be "fun" at the apartment. Twenty-one family members fled before the rioting. On July 11, 1951, at dusk, a crowd of 4,000 whites attacked the apartment building that housed Clark's family and possessions. Only 60 police officers were assigned to the scene and did little to control the rioting. Women carried stones from a nearby rock pile to bombard Clark's windows. Another tossed firebrands (a piece of burning wood) into windows and onto the rooftop of the building. The mob also destroyed a bathtub, woodwork, plaster, doors, and windows and set fires to the place. Most of the whites who joined in the rioting were teenagers.

Firemen who rushed to the building were met with showers of bricks and stones from the mob. Sheriff's deputies asked the firemen to turn their hoses on the rioters, who refused to do so without their lieutenant, who was unavailable.

The situation appeared out of control, and County Sheriff John E. Babbs asked Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson to send in the Illinois National Guard. As troops arrived at the scene, the rioters fought with them. Armed with bayonets, rifle butts, and tear gas, the troops ended the riot by setting a 300-yard perimeter around the apartment block where the rioting was in progress.

By July 14, most of the violence had ended. When the riot was over, $20,000 in damage had been done to the building.

The Cook County grand jury failed to indict any of the accused rioters, instead indicting Clark's attorney from the NAACP, the owner of the apartment building, and the owner's rental agent and lawyer on charges of inciting a riot and conspiracy to damage property. The charges were dropped after widespread criticism.

A federal grand jury then indicted four Cicero officials and three police officers on charges of violating Clark's rights in connection with the race riots after the United States Attorney General launched an investigation of the incident. Charges were dropped against the fire chief, whose firefighters refused to direct their water hoses at the rioters when requested by the police and the town's President. The police chief and two police officers were fined $2,500 for violating Clark's civil rights. Two of the 120 mobsters arrested were convicted and fined $10 each. The federal prosecution was hailed as a courageous achievement since it was rare that civil rights in housing had stirred action by federal officials.

The Cicero Race Riot of 1951 lasted several nights, involved 2,000 to 5,000 white rioters, and received worldwide condemnation. It was the first race riot to be broadcast on local television. Most viewed the rioting in Cicero from the comfort of their living rooms on television sets before they read it in the papers. The press in the 1940s Chicago housing attacks was largely ignored. The eruption occurred in Cicero in 1951. It brought worldwide condemnation for the first time and a dramatic climax to an era of large-scale residential change.

6139–43 West 19th Street, Cicero, Illinois.

The black population continued to increase in Chicago despite the incident, and the Chicago Housing Authority reported a decrease in the number of black families requesting police protection. Although the housing assaults did not end, they became less frequent than in the immediate aftermath of World War II. 

sidebar

On August 5, 1966, in Chicago's Marquette Park, Martin Luther King Jr. was physically assaulted by white counter-protestors.

The Camille DeRose Story (PDF) was written by Camille DeRose and published in 1953.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D. 

Lost Towns of Illinois - Africa, a settlement in Williamson County, Illinois.

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In historical writing and analysis, PRESENTISM introduces present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Presentism is a form of cultural bias that creates a distorted understanding of the subject matter. Reading modern notions of morality into the past is committing the error of presentism. Historical accounts are written by people and can be slanted, so I try my hardest to present fact-based and well-researched articles.

Facts don't require one's approval or acceptance.

I present [PG-13] articles without regard to race, color, political party, or religious beliefs, including Atheism, national origin, citizenship status, gender, LGBTQ+ status, disability, military status, or educational level. What I present are facts — NOT Alternative Facts — about the subject. You won't find articles or readers' comments that spread rumors, lies, hateful statements, and people instigating arguments or fights.

FOR HISTORICAL CLARITY

When I write about the INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, I follow this historical terminology:

• The use of old commonly used terms, disrespectful today, i.e., REDMAN or REDMEN, SAVAGES, and HALF-BREED are explained in this article.

Writing about AFRICAN-AMERICAN history, I follow these race terms:

• "NEGRO" was the term used until the mid-1960s.
• "BLACK" started being used in the mid-1960s.
• "AFRICAN-AMERICAN" [Afro-American] began usage in the late 1980s.

— PLEASE PRACTICE HISTORICISM —

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE PAST IN ITS OWN CONTEXT.

 

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Africa was a Negro settlement in the northeast corner of Williamson County. It all began when Alexander McCreery came from Kentucky to Thomas Jordan's Settlement, also called Jordan's Fort, southeast of modern Thompsonville, Illinois, in 1812, when he was 14. The following year John McCreery, Alexander's father, followed his son to Illinois.

There are no regular services at the church now, but once a year, on Memorial Day, it is the sight of the community's homecoming.

John brought several family slaves to the territory and settled in what became known as Fancy Farms in Franklin County. The Negros were valued at $10,000 and were held as indentured servants. Under these terms, they were to be freed when they had worked out their worth which complied with the law of the Northwest Territory.

Robert McCreery bought land from the government at 12½¢ cents an acre in what was then the southeast corner of Franklin County. On this land, Robert McCreery built homes for the Negroes, and started "Africa." In 1839, the county was divided, and Williamson County was established from the southern half of Franklin County. This put "Africa" in Williamson County.

In 1818, when Illinois Territory became the State of Illinois, there was much opposition to slavery: so much that slavery was barred from the new state by the Constitution. John McCreery decided to take his slaves to Missouri, then a slave state. In 1821, he died. His widow inherited the slaves and remained her property until her death in 1844.

Alexander McCreery, one of her sons, then inherited the slaves. A resident of Illinois, he went to Missouri to take possession. Upon arrival, he learned that all but one had been kidnapped and hidden in the woods. Their captors kept them hidden and watched the road for a chance to run them out of the country and sell them in the South.

With the help of friends, McCreery found his slaves and brought them back from the woods. He discovered that one of the women was married to Richard Inge, a slave who belonged to a neighbor. Not wanting to separate man and wife, Alexander McCreery purchased Inge for three hundred dollars and brought him along with the others to Illinois.

Upon their arrival in Williamson County, McCreery gave them their freedom. They settled in "Africa," where he provided them with land to make their living.

In time, the Negroes who were living in Africa." Decided to build a church of their own. Before this, they had attended church at Liberty, a Methodist Church three miles southeast of Thompsonville. They named their new church, built in 1851 in Locust Grove and affiliated with the Southern Methodist organization. 

Later, these inhabitants of "Africa" built a small schoolhouses and employed white teachers to instruct their children. Walter Kent and Miss Annie Simmons were among the white teachers who taught in the school. In later years, Negro teachers were employed, two of whom were William Harrison and John Patton. A lack of funds caused the discontinuance of the school in 1908. The district was then split up and combined with surrounding districts. Now the children go to school with their white neighbors. Later, funds were raised, and the district indebtedness was paid, but the Negro school was never re-established.

One of the freed slaves, Richard Inge, was a shoemaker. He went to Old Frankfort, nearby, and "hired himself" to Ralph Elstum. His shoes were made by hand, and wooden pegs were used. The customer stood on a piece of leather, and Inge marked around his feet to get the size.

Inge was industrious and a good workman. When he had saved enough money, he repaid McCreery for the sum spent to buy his freedom from his Missouri owner. Later, he saved enough to buy eighty acres of land near the Negro settlement.

A woman from Indiana with a small son came to "Africa." Unable to support the boy, she gave him to Inge and his wife, who raised him. Jimmy Hargraves, this boy, still lives in "Africa." He does not know his exact age but believes he is over ninety.

Hargraves proved to his foster parents that he appreciated everything they did for him. A good worker, he cared for them as long as they lived. He was a good cook, serving as camp cook for the railroad construction crews that built the road from Benton to Thompsonville. For twenty-five years, he was a chef in a large Chicago hotel. Many wedding cakes and special dinners were prepared by him for the white residents of the communities around "Africa."

Just before the Civil War, feeling ran high, and some Southern sympathizers warned the Negroes of "Africa" to leave their homes. Frightened, three wagon loads of them, with most of their family possessions, started up the old Sarahsville road, past Liberty Church, on their way out of the region.

It was Sunday morning, and the church members gathered for Sunday School and found out what was happening. They persuaded the Negroes to return home, promising they would not be molested. The Negroes turned back, and the Southern sympathizers were not heard from again.

These Negroes of "Africa" never have been a detriment to the communities around them. They have been self-supporting and have attended to their own affairs. Some have taken advantage of all the opportunities that have come their way. Several had finished high school, and a few had attended college. Miss Ary Dimple Bean completed her high school work at Marion and graduated, in 1924, from a two-year college at Southern Illinois Normal University.

The settlement was not as large as it once was, but at the present time, it covers 540 acres, with about forty persons living there. In all the years of its existence, it never Incorporated as a town. The inhabitants are almost universally farmers, and their economic status is now and always has been up to the level of white citizens. Jerry Bean was the most progressive farmer in the settlement at this time.

Today three farms are owned by Negro people, but none live in the community. These farms are owned by Allens, Adams, and Dimples Craig. The church is still standing but has been vandalized by inconsiderate people many times. There are no regular services at the church, but once a year, on Memorial Day, it is the sight of a homecoming. This is a day when friends meet, when graves of loved ones are decorated with flowers, and barbequed meat is prepared and sold to raise money for the church and cemetery upkeep.

The churchyard grave markers bear the names of old settlement pioneers — Stewart, Harrison, and Martin. Morris Stewart, buried in 1890, seems to be the first burial. However, there is an older burial ground southeast of the church.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.