Mapping the Chicago Riot of 1919

John Clegg, University of Chicago
Maggie Lu, University of Chicago
Bokyoung Kim, University of Chicago

Despite its size and significance in Chicago history, the 1919 riot has generated little empirical scholarship. The most extensive study of the riot was published by a journalist (William M. Tuttle Jr.) in 1970, and the reports on which he relied remain accessible only in a few archives. The goal of this project is to transcribe and geo-code all the data in those reports, as well as from contemporary newspaper articles, in order to generate a comprehensive map for the upcoming centenary of the riots. The project (which is supported by the Neubauer Collegium and the Newberry Library) is currently in its final stages and we plan to launch the interactive online map in April 2019. In this presentation I and my undergraduate RAs would like to present the map and explore what new information it can teach us about the riot.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 228. Public Facing Historical Big Data Projects: Challenges and Opportunities