This is a post related to a fundraising effort I’ve been involved with regarding the final resting place of Eugene Williams, who was the first victim of the 1919 race riots. This is unrelated to my practice of law, and is a charitable endeavor.

I’ve been working with a group of people to put up a proper memorial to Eugene Williams, who grave currently lacks any sort of headstone or marker.

We are currently fundraising to put a half ledger monument at burial site of Eugene Williams in Lincoln Cemetery in Chicago’s southside.

Eugene Williams was a black teenager whose murder in 1919 sparked Chicago’s race riots that would kill 38 Chicagoans from July 27 to August 3, 1919. It was the most violent and deadly riots in Chicago’s history.

Eugene was murdered because he and some friends swam near a beach at 29th street. They floated down on a little raft, and rocks were thrown at them by a white man, during an ongoing dispute about access to the beach by black Chicagoans. A rock struck Eugene, and he drowned in Lake Michigan. When the man who had been throwing rocks was identified, the police refused to arrest him.

The teen’s drowning and the police’s refusal to arrest his murderer led to a week of violence throughout the south side of Chicago. In addition to the 38 deaths, 537 people were injured. The riots were only stopped when the National Guard was finally called, stationed around the city’s black belt.

Eugene Williams was buried in 1919 in Lincoln Cemetery, along with other victims of the riot. But there is currently no permanent memorial or even simple headstone marking the spot where he is buried.

We are looking to right that wrong. We are partnering with the Sigma Omega Foundation to raise the necessary funds to put up a half ledger monument in Lincoln Cemetery. Lincoln Cemetery owns the land where Eugene is buried, and will install a half ledger monument, with an engraved photograph of Eugene, and text to put him and his death into proper historical context.

The cost of the ledger, including installation, has been quoted around $4,600. We are partnering with the Sigma Omega Foundation to help raise the necessary funds. Sigma Omega is a local Chapter of the Omega Psi Psi Fraternity, which is the first predominantly African-American fraternity to be founded at a historically black university, Howard University. The Sigma Omega Chapter was established in Chicago in 1921 for those men attending the University of Chicago and Northwestern University. Sigma Omega Foundation is the outreach initiative utilized to provide services to the community. Their focus is to empower and encourage youth to excel through mentoring and tutoring programs, in an effort to uplift and promote excellence within the community. The Foundation is a tax exempt 501c(3) organization, and donations made are tax deductible.

In order for the funds to be properly allocated, please write "Eugene Williams Memorial" in the memo section.

Donations can be Here: https://sigmaomegafoundation.org/donate/

The good news is this: the Sigma Omega Foundation has already raised about half of the necessary funds to put up the half ledger. We need about another $2,000 to do this, and we are hoping to raise the money quickly so that the ledger can be put in before the ground freezes in 2019.

Thank you for any assistance that you can provide on this.