Short Synopsis
In 1919, The Year of Racial Violence, David F. Krugler focuses on how African Americans responded to the racially motivated mob violence that swept across the nation in 1919, and thus develops the first account of this three-front fight—in the streets, in the press, and in the courts—during one of the worst years of racial conflict in US history.

Full Synopsis
1919, The Year of Racial Violence recounts African Americans' brave stand against a cascade of mob attacks in the United States after World War I. The emerging New Negro identity, which prized unflinching resistance to second-class citizenship, further inspired veterans and their fellow black citizens. In city after city—Washington, DC; Chicago; Charleston; and elsewhere—black men and women took up arms to repel mobs that used lynching, assaults, and other forms of violence to protect white supremacy; yet, authorities blamed blacks for the violence, leading to mass arrests and misleading news coverage. Refusing to yield, African Americans sought accuracy and fairness in the courts of public opinion and the law. This is the first account of this three-front fight—in the streets, in the press, and in the courts—against mob violence during one of the worst years of racial conflict in US history.