On July 2 and 3, 1917, a mob of white men and women looted and torched the homes and businesses of African Americans in the small industrial city of East St. Louis, Illinois.
Charles Lumpkins teaches history and
African American studies at the Pennsylvania State University.
“Lumpkins reveals the engagement of political and economic insiders
in shaping both the violence and its aftermath, and in so doing he
presents a model for understanding racial violence that both
highlights black political activism and reminds us of the costs
that maintaining white supremacy imposed on the black community and
the nation.”
*The Journal of American History*
“Charles Lumpkins provides an important reinterpretation of the
1917 East St. Louis Race Riot. In American Pogrom, he challenges
Elliott Rudwick’s classic Civil Rights-era account, Race Riot at
East St. Louis, July 2, 1917 (1964).… Reflecting a generational
paradigm shift in historical scholarship, Lumpkins respectfully
repudiates Rudwick’s interpretation.”
*Journal of Illinois History*
“In expanding on the sources of Rudwick and McLaughlin, Lumpkin
instead emphasizes black political activity and community-building
that—given the voting potential of oncoming black
migrants—threatened white powerbrokers, who promoted racial fear
and violence.”
*American Studies Journal*
”Whereas previous scholars placed the responsibility for the riot
on white working-class males concerned about social strife,
Lumpkins argues that city elites, women, and political bosses
played an integral role in this destructive demonstration of white
superiority.”
*Indiana Magazine of History*
“American Pogrom deserves a wide audience among historians,
although some readers may find themselves overwhelmed by the
machinations of East St. Louis politics.… Lumpkins’s insights
should intrigue and inspire other scholars.”
*Ohio History*
“Often comparing the East St. Louis experience with that of other
urban centers, (American Pogrom) establishes the context of a
continual struggle for equality from the nineteenth century to the
present, using solidarity, political savvy and determination.”
*Book News, Inc.*
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