Learn why deadly racial violence engulfed Chicago in the “Red Summer” of 1919 and how singer Marian Anderson’s debut concert in the city became a beacon of hope for the Black American community in this clip adapted from Voice of Freedom | AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. Racial violence was not limited to the Deep South but occurred throughout the nation in the decades leading to 1919.

This resource contains verbal descriptions of violence and images of injured Black Americans. (Refer to these time codes in the video: 3:29–3:45 and 4:28–4:40.)