Organic Oneness is the proud fiscal sponsor and program partner for the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project (CRR19). This initiative exists to educated the public about the worst incident of racial violence in the city’s history. The Chicago Race Riot of 1919, also known as the Red Summer, is long forgotten, despite its huge impact on the subsequent shape and development of the city.
CRR19 also offers a powerful model for how to use dispersed public art to remember past atrocities and provoke conversations about their legacy to ignite conversations about racism, past and present, in Chicago and the nation. Inspired by Stolpersteine, an ongoing German project to honor Holocaust victims, we intend to create and install artistic markers, created by Firebird Arts, at each of the 38 locations where someone was killed in 1919.
Formally launched on the 100th anniversary of the 1919 riot, we believe that now is the moment for Chicago to confront its bloodiest chapter and heal the wounds that time alone has not. We must remember America’s troubled past of racial violence and white supremacy if we wish to improve the future. To move towards racial equality and justice by creating chances for more discussions and more challenging ones about race and racism, past and present.
CRR19 also offers a powerful model for how to use dispersed public art to remember past atrocities and provoke conversations about their legacy to ignite conversations about racism, past and present, in Chicago and the nation. Inspired by Stolpersteine, an ongoing German project to honor Holocaust victims, we intend to create and install artistic markers, created by Firebird Arts, at each of the 38 locations where someone was killed in 1919.
Formally launched on the 100th anniversary of the 1919 riot, we believe that now is the moment for Chicago to confront its bloodiest chapter and heal the wounds that time alone has not. We must remember America’s troubled past of racial violence and white supremacy if we wish to improve the future. To move towards racial equality and justice by creating chances for more discussions and more challenging ones about race and racism, past and present.
4th Annual Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Bronzeville Bike Tour
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Watch the video to see highlights of 200+ people coming together to learn about the history of Chicago Race Riot of 1919. The event started at Bronzeville Military Academy and toured to key sites related to the Red Summer.
Word in Black interviewed Dr. Franklin Cosey-Gay (Board Chair of Organic Oneness and Co-Director of CRR19) about the reparation efforts of the Eugene Williams Scholarship. “What I’m hopeful for is that our youth, our awardees, learn about Eugene Williams. That they learn about the structural policies and practices connected to race and racism, and that they become engaged in civics as active leaders working toward addressing these policies and practices,” says Dr. Franklin Cosey-Gay, the Violence Recovery Program Director at University of Chicago Medicine, a not-for-profit academic medical health system based on the campus of the University of Chicago. Read more in the article. |
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3rd Annual Bronzeville Bike Tour: Sites related to the 1919 Chicago Race Riot
On Saturday, July 24th, 2021 approximately 300 people toured Bronzeville. The program began at the Chicago Military Academy (3519 S Giles Ave, Chicago, IL 60653) and the bike/trolley tour highlighted key race riot sites as well as other locations showing the resilience of the Black community now known as Bronzeville including the Chicago Defender, Chicago Bee, Ida B. Wells, and Victory Monument. Ain't She Sweet provided lunch while we witnessed the unveiling of artistic markers created by Project Fire youth to commemorate those killed during the race riots of 1919.
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2nd Annual
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Chicago Race Riots 1919
Organic Oneness supported
Dr. Franklin Cosey-Gay's, Chair of OO, summer events on 1919 Chicago Race Riots to commemorate the 100th anniversary. |
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