The 1919 Shock that Secure the Black Vote: A Look at the Aftermath of WWI - Essay Sample

Introduction

The First World War brought an era that generated a lot of challenges in the northern interracial cities. The ethnic tension created between the Irish population and the Negros. After the war in 1919, there was a shock in the U.S that made thousands to be displaced and injured. The event also provided more security to the black community, particularly to the Republican leadership. The essay will elaborate more on how the incident and other forces made the black population voters to the democrat's arms

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Chicago politics was a national cliche that evoked images on one side of the party system influenced by a democratic political machine that had crafty politicians before the racial groups (Schnaiberg, 2013). When the republican reforms controlled the common council, they adapted the same character as the outside democrats. Later, the Republicans changed the democratic appointees and put their own after the republicans decried them. The re-organization of the black voters from the democratic to the Republican Party started in the late 1920s. The procedure had a 'push and pull' debate because the republicans refused to follow directions due to many black voters. As a result, they were given a chance to vote.

In 1932 however, the presidential contest between the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Republican President Herbert Hoover changed the whole concept. During Herbert's term, Hoover tried to associate himself with the southern segregationist but failed to facilitate the economic policies that assisted the African Americans that were affected by the great depression (Schnaiberg, 2013). This did not prevent Hoover from getting votes because three-quarters and two-thirds of the votes were from the blacks.

The majority of the blacks were also on the side of the Republicans because they were loyal than the group that supported candidates form the Democratic Party. Most of them were also enthusiastic about their political rights while living in the south. The African Americans also never trusted the FDR because of the party affiliation and the evasiveness on race in campaigns and the choice of the house speaker and running mate of Texas (Schnaiberg, 2013). By mid-1930's John R. Lynch, an African American representative guided Mississippi during and after reconstruction (Schnaiberg, 2013). The condition was summed up with the upper-middle-class professionals and older black voters. This is because the colored voters never had the ability to getting the democratic ticket due to the existing endorsement. Also, every approval made them became victims of every right, and this deprived them of justice.

The first congressional district of Illinois gave a leeway of the black realignment in the northern political cities. Before it became democratic in 1934, Oscar De Priest, a Republican, was elected by the South Chicago District (Schnaiberg, 2013). The South African Americans, on the other hand, who had sworn the entire population in 1932 turned out to be the most significant urban black population in America that developed the Republic machine that extended patronage jobs and courted black voters. As a result, the migrants were offered outlets that would allow them to participate politically, an unimaginable thing that ever happened during the Jim Crow.

Most Americans voted while using machine politicians such as William Hale because they corralled more than 60 per cent of the vote in the third wards (Schnaiberg, 2013). The machine and Thompson also promoted African American politicians like De Priest, which later made him an alderman whose powers were equivalent to the city councilman. The majority of the black voters ended up becoming loyal to the Republican ticket. The Democratic Party also had uncontested take over on the Chicago politics for more than a century. After that, the democratic politicians acquired a debt with an immigrant known as Anton Cermak.

The Race Riots

The race riots had higher levels of resentment, anger, and frustrations built up among the African Americans due to underemployment and unemployment, racism, racial segregation, poverty, and lack of educational and economic opportunities. Due to this, the city also lost industrial jobs industrial by being replaced by low paying jobs. The shift in tax and white flight also led to deindustrialization (Crowfoot, 2000). Discrimination of housing also made the African Americans live their neighborhoods because the houses were of poor standards while the urban ones were on the freeway.

Tension boiled up in Chicago after the African American boy went to public swimming arear that had an imaginary boundary in Lake Michigan. The boy was beaten and stoned by the white swimmers until he drowned. As a result, the residents spread rumors about the story and began rioting in 1919 (Crowfoot, 2000). The white mobs also responded by fighting back. As a result, six people died, and a lot of property was damaged that made President Woodrow to mobilize the federal troops.

The Stockyards

Many incidents also took place on farms and led to unsafe stockyards and run-down. The poorly managed stockyards also increased injuries to both the stock and the handler. Stockyards were investments that spend a lot of money, and it was a must for it to be maintained to improve the work environment of both operators and animals (Wilson & Pate, 2016). In Chicago, the Union Stockyards were the world's significant industries that contained thousands of barns, packing plants, warehouses, and slaughterhouses. However, the stockyard was destroyed in 1910 after the night watchmen realized there was a fire in the basement at the storage department, a space owned by Nelson Morris and Company.

Even though the firefighters responded quickly, the fire had already spread around the city before the whole building was affected. Various obstacles also prevented the firefighters from putting down the fire. The heat caused by the fire also made the refrigerated department to expand, and the pressure caused a massive explosion. Putting off the fire took 24 hours before it was utterly extinguished (Wilson & Pate, 2016). The results showed that 23 firefighters died, and thousands of bodies recovered.

The Relevance of Anton CermakAnton Cermak was the first Chicago immigrant mayor that got elected after a mayoral race took place in 1931 (Erlebacher, 2010). The situation captured the ugliness of the city because of racial tension. Thompson, on the other hand, the last Republican mayor of the city, was defeated before he attacked the ethnicity of Cermak's Czech. By 1890, Anton and his family relocated to South Lawndale, a place where residents liked naming the Czech immigrants the 'Little Village" because of the descendants that first appeared in their town (Erlebacher, 2010). After Cermak spent his time developing businesses in the society, they ended up setting up the building of coalition because the Irish dominance disenfranchised the minorities. This is the reason why the alliance of African Americans, Italians, Poles, and Czechs assisted bring Cermark to his victorious place the Chicago.

In 1931, Cermak built his bid on political structures among the African-Americans and the Eastern Europeans (Erlebacher, 2010). He then dis-rearranged the WASP bloc (people that voted for the republican) as well as the Irish bosses. The reason behind this move was to avoid people controlling the Democratic Party. Cermak's new Democratic Party, "the house for everyone," also began converting the African American voters to Democratic Party rolls. When the blacks realized they were to lose or adapt power, they were joined by the Irish party bosses. The role of the Irish catholic politicians was to serve as the mayors when Cermak was killed (Erlebacher, 2010).

Richard J. Daley was an autocratic mayor that served a term of 21 years before his son Bill Daley replaced him in 2011 (Erlebacher, 2010). Bill, who was his youngest son, also took the role of his father to serve people. The Daley's were not poplar people because of their shortcomings but had the most political clans in the days of the Bushes and Kennedy's. Richard Daley was also the first mayor that rose during the Democratic machine error. Before his success, he first joined the Hamburg Club and played a role in the bloody 1919 race riot. Even though the clubs made him a political candidate in the government, he also got a chance of boosting himself through the machine that Cermak developed to gain power (Erlebacher, 2010). Many scholars have elaborated that the Chicago machine was a conscientious item to men because it caused racial segregation, police violence, disinvestment, and civic corruption, particularly to ant patronage that fueled it.

The Kelly-Nash Machine

The machine was a dominator of the local Democratic Party and the Chicago government from 1933 to 1947. After the assassination of Anton Cermak, the counties cook Chairman Patrick Nash and Cermak ally orchestrated the appointment of Edward J Kelly to allow him to complete the mayor's term. Nash and Ally also refined and Cermak's organization, particularly the shared political power, until the death of Nash (Ramos, 2019). Before his death, Nash always took politics as a business by rewarding the performance of his people. All through, he punished and praised the machine members for tightening the party power over the city.

After the death of Cermak, the Irish took over and controlled the Democratic machine before Patrick Nash ushered in Edward J. Kelly as the mayor of the Chicago people (Ramos, 2019). The Nelly machine then took Cermak's lead even though it was doling out political appointments and patronage jobs while favoring the idea of the ethnic groups. Kelly also did not hold the political machine but strengthened the importance sources (Ramos, 2019). At first, he supported and kept Roosevelt's new deal through the liberal spending of the federal funds during the great depression, too, because of the financial threat from the municipal governments.

Then Kelly ignored the operation of prostitution, gambling, and other forms to ensure that the machine is still operating. He also avoided any forms of vice around the windy city to get the illegal sources of operating the machine. Lastly, he activated the African American voters to pay the significant dividend that was generated during the Chicago black population era. In 1935 and 1939, Kelly recon the elections again before challenges began (Ramos, 2019).

The Chicago Commission on Race Relations

The Chicago commission was an interracial and investigative committee formed by Frank Lowden. This commission was established after the Chicago riots when deaths of the whites and Negros were announced. The commission was set to investigate and give recommendations on the cause of the disturbance to prevent it from happening again. However, this commission focused more on the interracial black-white relations due to the support from the government agency. During this time, Chicago had many people coming from the south. Immediately after the First World War, available jobs in the North were a color bar and not the white-collar jobs. When the blacks arrived, rent on the undeveloped societies increased, and this made the whites to fight back.

Richard J. Delay

Kennelly stayed was elected as the mayor for two terms before Richard J. Delay replaced him in 1955 when the democratic machine did not need him anymore. Richard J. Daley stayed was re-elected as the mayor five times till he died in 1976 over a heart attack. During his time, the democrat's machine was able to reach its highest point in the political ground. During Daley's tenure, there was no other political machine that survived, which made him steer the Cook County Democratic organization t...