Red Summer

Red Summer revives the stories of thirty locations in the American landscape where racial violence (often characterized as “Race Wars” at the time) erupted between 1917 and 1923. These years of conflict distill several specific aspects of racial anxiety that continue to haunt our contemporary experience including; racism, white fears of violent retribution for slavery, lynching, poverty and mass incarceration, and competition for employment. The events of the early 20th century are remote and fading apparitions of an American past, however, we must recognize the influence they have with individuals of power in our public and private institutions. Many ordinary citizens were raised, mentored and in some way influenced by the people that lived during the era of Red Summer.