UMSL grad student investigates causes of 1917 events in East St. Louis

In the spring and summer of 1917, white mobs assaulted hundreds of black men, women and children living in East St. Louis, killing many of them and destroying homes and businesses. Thousands of people were displaced by the violence, which has been a focus of Mehnaz Ahmad’s research the past two years. Her article “More Than Meets the Eye: The Layered Causes of the East St. Louis Race Riot” appeared in the Fall 2017 issue of Gateway, the magazine of the Missouri Historical Society. (Image via The Crisis, September 1917)