Chicago

====1900 to 1939====
[[File:Chicago Photographed from Ray Knabenshue's Dirigible Air Ship.webm|thumb|upright=1|Aerial motion film photography of Chicago in 1914 as filmed by [[A. Roy Knabenshue]]]]
During [[World War I]] and the 1920s there was a major expansion in industry. The availability of jobs attracted African Americans from the [[Southern United States]]. Between 1910 and 1930, the African American population of Chicago increased dramatically, from 44,103 to 233,903.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Martin |first=Elizabeth Anne |title=Detroit and the Great Migration, 1916–1929 |url=https://bentley.umich.edu/research/publications/migration/ch1.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080615144911/http://bentley.umich.edu/research/publications/migration/ch1.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 15, 2008 |journal=Bentley Historical Library Bulletin |publisher=University of Michigan |access-date=December 5, 2013 |volume=40 |year=1993}}</ref> This [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] had an immense cultural impact, called the [[Chicago Black Renaissance]], part of the [[New Negro Movement]], in art, literature, and music.<ref>{{cite book |author=Darlene Clark Hine |chapter-url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/240.html |chapter=Chicago Black Renaissance |publisher=Chicago Historical Society |title=Encyclopedia of Chicago |year=2005 |access-date=August 6, 2013 |archive-date=October 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017083203/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/240.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Continuing racial tensions and violence, such as the [[Chicago race riot of 1919]], also occurred.<ref>{{cite book |first=Steven |last=Essig |chapter-url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1032.html |chapter=Race Riots |publisher=Chicago Historical Society |title=Encyclopedia of Chicago |year=2005 |access-date=August 6, 2013 |archive-date=June 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623041337/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1032.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution in 1919 made the production and sale (including exportation) of alcoholic beverages illegal in the United States. This ushered in the beginning of what is known as the gangster era, a time that roughly spans from 1919 until 1933 when [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] was repealed. The 1920s saw [[American gangsters during the 1920s|gangsters]], including [[Al Capone]], [[Dion O'Banion]], [[Bugs Moran]] and [[Tony Accardo]] battle law enforcement and each other on the streets of Chicago during the [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition era]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Gang (crime)&nbsp;– History |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225308/gang |publisher=Britannica Online Encyclopedia |year=2009 |access-date=June 1, 2009 |archive-date=April 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416115239/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225308/gang |url-status=live }}</ref> Chicago was the location of the infamous [[St. Valentine's Day Massacre]] in 1929, when Al Capone sent men to gun down members of a rival gang, North Side, led by Bugs Moran.<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Brien |first=John |title=The St. Valentine's Day Massacre |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-chicagodays-valentinesmassacre-story,0,1233196.story |access-date=April 12, 2013 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |archive-date=May 10, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510021619/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-chicagodays-valentinesmassacre-story,0,1233196.story |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Breaking the Landlords' Lease on Peace.jpg|thumb|Chicago tenants picket against rent increases (March 1920)]]
From 1920 to 1921, the city was affected by a series of tenant [[rent strike]]s in it. Which lead to the formation of the Chicago Tenants Protective association, passage of the Kessenger tenant laws, and of a heat ordinance that legally required flats to be kept above 68&nbsp;°F during winter months by landlords.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robbins |first=Mark W. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.9343785 |title=Middle Class Union: Organizing the 'Consuming Public' in Post-World War I America |date=2017 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-13033-7 |chapter=5. Rent War! Middle-Class Tenant Organizing |doi=10.3998/mpub.9343785 |jstor=10.3998/mpub.9343785 |access-date=April 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240404195206/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.9343785 |archive-date=April 4, 2024 |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 24, 1921 |title=U.S. Lists Rent War Flats; Tax Dodgers Hunted: Some Landlords Admit "Error" in Income |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/355006626/?terms=rent%20war&match=1 |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org |publisher=Chicago Daily Tribune |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 30, 1921 |title=Rent Hog Gets Wallop in Bills Passed in Senate: One Measure Gives Tenants 60 Days In Which to Vacate Property |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/767447025/?terms=rent%20hog&match=1 |access-date=2024-04-05 |website=wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org |publisher=Belleville Daily Advocate |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 28, 1921 |title=Love Flees Cold Flats, Tenants' Leader Argues: Heated Charges Fly in Heat Ordinance Fight |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/354940800/?match=1&terms=heat%20ordinance |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org |publisher=Chicago Tribune |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 7, 1922 |title=Fine Landlord $25 In Test Case on New Heat Law |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/355236786/?match=1&terms=heat%20law |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org |publisher=Chicago Tribune |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-30 |title=Progress by Degrees: A History of the Chicago Heat Ordinance - The RentConfident Blog - RentConfident, Chicago IL |url=https://blog.rentconfident.com/2823/progress-by-degrees-a-history-of-the-chicago-heat-ordinance/ |access-date=2024-04-11 |website=web.archive.org |archive-date=April 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430034732/https://blog.rentconfident.com/2823/progress-by-degrees-a-history-of-the-chicago-heat-ordinance/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

Chicago was the first American city to have a homosexual-rights organization. The organization, formed in 1924, was called the [[Society for Human Rights]]. It produced the first American publication for homosexuals, ''[[Friendship and Freedom]]''. Police and political pressure caused the organization to disband.<ref>{{cite web |title=Timeline: Milestones in the American Gay Rights Movement |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/stonewall/ |work=PBS |publisher=WGBH Educational Foundation |access-date=April 12, 2013 |archive-date=May 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522061316/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/stonewall/ |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:Unemployed men queued outside a depression soup kitchen opened in Chicago by Al Capone, 02-1931 - NARA - 541927.jpg|thumb|upright=1|Men outside a soup kitchen during the [[Great Depression]] (1931)]]

The Great Depression brought unprecedented suffering to Chicago, in no small part due to the city's heavy reliance on heavy industry. Notably, industrial areas on the south side and neighborhoods lining both branches of the Chicago River were devastated; by 1933 over 50% of industrial jobs in the city had been lost, and unemployment rates amongst blacks and Mexicans in the city were over 40%. The Republican political machine in Chicago was utterly destroyed by the economic crisis, and every mayor since 1931 has been a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]].<ref name="Great Depression"/>

From 1928 to 1933, the city witnessed a tax revolt, and the city was unable to meet payroll or provide relief efforts. The fiscal crisis was resolved by 1933, and at the same time, federal relief funding began to flow into Chicago.<ref name="Great Depression">{{cite web |title=Great Depression |url=http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/542.html |website=Encyclopedia of Chicago |publisher=Chicago History Museum |access-date=April 27, 2018 |archive-date=April 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411165807/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/542.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Chicago was also a hotbed of labor activism, with [[Unemployed Councils]] contributing heavily in the early depression to create solidarity for the poor and demand relief; these organizations were created by socialist and communist groups. By 1935 the [[Workers Alliance of America]] begun organizing the poor, workers, the unemployed. In the spring of 1937 Republic Steel Works witnessed the [[Memorial Day massacre of 1937]] in the neighborhood of East Side.

In 1933, Chicago Mayor [[Anton Cermak]] was fatally wounded in [[Miami, Florida]], during a [[List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots#Franklin D. Roosevelt|failed assassination]] attempt on President-elect [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. In 1933 and 1934, the city celebrated its centennial by hosting the [[Century of Progress]] International Exposition [[World's Fair]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_uic_cop.php?CISOROOT=/uic_cop |title=Century of Progress World's Fair, 1933–1934 (University of Illinois at Chicago) : Home |publisher=Collections.carli.illinois.edu |access-date=July 3, 2011 |archive-date=July 18, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718172313/http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm4/index_uic_cop.php?CISOROOT=/uic_cop |url-status=live }}</ref> The theme of the fair was technological innovation over the century since Chicago's founding.<ref>{{cite book |author=Robert W. Rydell |chapter-url=http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/225.html |chapter=Century of Progress Exposition |title=Encyclopedia of Chicago |publisher=Chicago Historical Society |access-date=July 3, 2011 |archive-date=May 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514034330/http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/225.html |url-status=live }}</ref>