1919 Red Summer

The Hidden History of American Terror

“A nation’s soul was set ablaze in the summer of 1919 — and most Americans have never heard the screams.”

In 1919 Red Summer: The Hidden History of American Terror, James G. Edwards II uncovers one of the bloodiest, most erased chapters in U.S. history. Over the course of just a few months, white mobs attacked Black communities in more than two dozen cities — leaving hundreds dead, thousands displaced, and entire neighborhoods in ashes.

From the riots in Washington D.C. to the Chicago firestorm and the massacre in Elaine, Arkansas, this gripping account reveals the racial terror that reshaped America’s future — and the chilling silence that followed.

Combining harrowing survivor accounts, buried newspaper reports, and modern analysis, this book restores a critical piece of the nation’s history — one defined by blood, fire, and resistance.

If you listened to The 1619 Project, Stamped from the Beginning, or The Warmth of Other Suns, this is the story you were never told — but always needed to hear.

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