1919 - The Red Summer

The period known historically as the “Red Summer” of 1919 stands as a pivotal and brutal climax in the history of American racial violence. This era was characterized not by a single, isolated event, but by a coordinated series of white supremacist terrorist attacks, race riots, lynchings, and murders targeting African Americans across the United States. The moniker “Red Summer” was consciously applied by James Weldon Johnson, the influential field secretary for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), specifically to acknowledge and highlight the intense bloodshed that stained the nation.