314 racial segregation and race riots, U.S State troopers, some posing with riot guns, stand ready for rioters in 1919 Racial conflict occurred because of a loss of employment, rumors of violent crime, and questionable election results—all causes of mass riots that left hundreds dead across the country competition and conflict between black migrants and old-time and immigrant whites for jobs, housing, and other basics of life Blacks became restricted to urban ghettos with their own schools, facilities, and business districts By the 1920s segregation in the North and South was comparable When the federal government instituted a laissez faire policy regarding states’ treatment of their black populations after Reconstruction, the states implemented disenfranchisement, discrimination, and peonage Blacks without rights were second-class citizens White supremacy generated race hatred and lawlessness, and the result was a massive outbreak of lynching Although lynching occurred throughout the United States and involved whites as well as blacks, it was predominantly a southern act against blacks Between 1882 and 1951, of the 4,730 persons lynched, 3,437 were black The shift began in the decade prior to World War I Rather than attacking an individual, white mobs began attacking entire communities Wanting to preserve white power and vent frustrations against the helpless, white mobs went into black neighborhoods, beat and killed large numbers of blacks, and damaged a great deal of black property Blacks commonly fought back, but the preponderance of casualties were black Because the North was more urbanized than the South, most riots occurred in the North Blacks began migrating to northern cities as the South’s segregation became tighter and urban industrialization offered alternative employment to debt peonage on southern farms Blacks seemed a threat to northern white jobs and neighborhoods World War I exacerbated the situation, and it also raised the specter of black soldiers returning and refusing to accept second-class citizenship The summer of 1919 saw 26 race