Airport Homes race riots

The Airport Homes race riots were a series of riots in 1946 in the West Elsdon community of Chicago, Illinois.^[1] It was the worst episode of racial inspired violence that the city faced in some thirty years.^[2]

“Airport Homes” was the name of the site in nearby West Lawn established by the Chicago Housing Authority to provide temporary housing to returning veterans and their families during the postwar housing shortage. Residents of West Lawn and West Elsdon rioted and succeeded in intimidating a few black war veterans and their families from joining white veterans in the homes.^[1]

The upheaval against blacks happened during the working hours while the white men were at work, which meant that the elderly and the women were the ones who started the riot.^[3]

The West Elsdon Civic Association became one of the first vocal political enemies of the CHA and its first executive secretary, Elizabeth Wood. Opposition to public housing remained strong in the area. In the early 1970s the West Elsdon Civic Association was an active participant in the “No-CHA” citywide coalition opposing scattered-site public housing in predominantly middle-class white neighborhoods.^[1]

References

1 2 3 "West Elsdon". Enecyclopedia.chicagohistory.org. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
↑ Making the Second Ghetto. Books.google.com. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
↑ Making the Second Ghetto. Books.google.com. Retrieved 17 October 2014.

Riots and civil unrest in Illinois

Race riots	Pana riot of 1899 Springfield race riot of 1908 East St. Louis riot of 1917 Chicago race riot of 1919 Airport Homes race riots of 1946 Fernwood Park race riot of 1947 Englewood race riots of 1949 Cicero race riot of 1951 Cairo race riot of 1967

Other riots and unrest	Banditti of the Prairie, 1830s–1840s Lager Beer Riot, 1855 Charleston riot, 1864 Haymarket affair, 1886 Pullman Strike, 1894 Battle of Virden, 1898 1905 Chicago Teamsters' strike Aldermen's Wars, 1916–1921 Memorial Day massacre of 1937 Division Street riots, 1966 1968 Chicago riots Democratic National Convention protest activity, 1968 Days of Rage Weatherman riot, 1969

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