The East St. Louis Race Riot begins on July 1. When the two day riot is over, an estimated forty people are killed, several hundred are hurt and thousands are displaced from their homes.

The NAACP organizes a silent march in response to lynchings, race riots and social injustice. Considered the first major civil rights demonstration of the 20th Century, almost 10,000 African-Americans participate in the march.

The pamphlet, Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: 1898-1918 is published by the NAACP. The report is used to appeal to lawmakers to end the social, political and economic terrorism associated with lynching.

From May 1919 to October 1919, a number of race riots erupted in cities throughout the United States. James Weldon Johnson names these race riots as the Red Summer of 1919. In response, Claude McKay publishes the poem, If We Must Die.