Blacks were accorded the right to vote in 1870. The public schools were formally desegregated in 1874. In 1880s Illinois formally outlawed segregation in public places. Nevertheless, Spear said blacks "continued to face discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations" and were "generally ignored by white Chicagoans" (7).
During the period 1890-1915, the black population grew from 15,000 to 50,000 with most of the increase due to migrants from the Border South (Spear 8). White indifference turned to hostility. Much of the racial tension arose over attempts of blacks to move into formerly white housing in middle class areas, which was opposed by white neighborhood improvement associations, community newspapers and white gangs who resorted to various pressures and sometimes violence to prevent the sale of homes to blacks. Spear noted that "Negroes . . . were confined to the domestic and personal service trades and were unable to gain a foothold in industry and commerce" (29). In 1910 only 1.5 percent of city civil service jobs went to blacks (Spear 35). Unions refused to admit blacks who were used by employers as scabs during strikes. Racial conflict in the public schools occurred in areas where the schools due to population shifts became predominantly black. Enforcement of state civil rights laws in the courts was weak. By 1900, the Southside was a black ghetto in which blacks were forced to live by white prejudice and from which escape was difficult. By 1914, Spear said "an ominous, if muted, current of racial viol
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