Today is Monday, July 27th, 2020.

On this day in 1919, 17-year-old Black Teen teen Eugene Williams was murdered after accidentally rafting

into the white section of Lake Michigan's segregated waters. His death sparked the Chicago race riot of 1919, and a broader wave of protests known as the Red Summer. Welcome to today in True Crime, a parcast original.

Due to the graphic nature of today's crimes,

listener discretion is advised. Extreme caution is advised for

listeners under 13. Today we're covering the murder of black teenager Eugene Williams and the summer of riots that followed.

Now let's go back to July 27th, 1919.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky that Sunday afternoon.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky that Sunday afternoon. A heat wave had taken over

Chicago and hundreds flocked to the shores of Lake Michigan looking for an escape.

Families sprawled out on beach towels, set up picnics, and swam in the cool lake. But not everyone was laying out in the sun together. In 1919, the waters of Lake Michigan were informally segregated.

29th Street Beach was a popular location among Chicago's white denizens. The city's black population was expected to stay just

to cross an invisible sand border at the neighboring 25th Street Beach. That's exactly what 17-year-old grocery porter Eugene Williams

planned to do.

It was his day off from work,

and he and his friends decided to spend the afternoon relaxing in the sun.

Around 2 p.m. the boys made their way from the sand to the lake.

They were jumping off their rafts to see how long

they could hold their breath underwater. But then the boys drifted

across the invisible color line into the waters of 29th Street Beach.

A young white man George Stauber was sitting on a nearby breaker

and when he noticed the black teens drifting towards him, he erupted into racist indignation.

...