May 19, 2021
Syl Woolford
Historian Syl Woolford will present a live, online lecture discussing the 1917 East St. Louis Riot at 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 25, hosted by the Lewes Public Library.
In the early 1900s, East St. Louis, Illinois was a hub of industry and commerce. Meat packers, iron mills and railroads called East St. Louis home. African Americans poured into East St. Louis for the promise of jobs that paid wages unavailable in the South, only to be caught up in the turmoil of volatile race and labor relations of the time.
On July 1, 1917, tensions that had built up over crowded housing, low wages and racism culminated in a riot that killed more than 100 people and devastated the African American community in East St. Louis.