July 3, 1917 marked the escalation of one of the worst racial massacres in U.S. history. On that day, white mobs renewed violent attacks – beatings, arson, kidnappings – against Black residents and homes in East St. Louis, Illinois. Following labor migration from the rural South, competing for industrial jobs, white terror erupted. While July 2 saw initial violence, July 3 brought further destruction, driving mass displacement. Over the following days, at least 39 African-Americans were killed and hundreds wounded. This atrocity inspired W.E.B. Du Bois to call it \”The Massacre of East St. Louis,\” and it prompted NAACP – led investigations and federal scrutiny.
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