99 years and counting: A look at race in Chicago through the lens of the 1919 riot
Claire Hartfield's new book, "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" (Clarion Books) begins with a line from the Carl Sandburg poem "I Am the People, the Mob": "Sometimes I growl, shake myself and spatter a few red drops for history to remember. Then - I forget."
Hartfield, an education consultant, attorney and Hyde Park native, doesn't want the world to forget the story her grandmother told her as a child, so she wrote a book - aimed at seventh graders and up - on the conflict for future generations.
The race riot stemmed from a July 27, 1919, incident between 26th Street and 29th Street beaches on the South Side. According to the book, a game of dodge
