Which option most accurately summarizes the root of the Red Summer riots?

A) African Americans found life in the North was no better than life in the South, but when they tried to return to their old homes, they were accused of abandoning their new homes and their jobs.

B) African Americans were tired of fighting for equality and jobs and serving in the armed forces with no gratitude, and they deliberately provoked whites until fights broke out over various issues.

C) Race relations in the United States became more complex with the return of African American World War I veterans, and many white veterans resented their efforts to receive equal treatment.

D) Northern white Americans, alarmed by growing black populations, harassed African Americans, who sometimes resorted to violence when they discovered they could not rely on law enforcement.

The response that best summarizes the root of the Red Summer riots is Option D: Northern white Americans, alarmed by growing black populations, harassed African Americans, who sometimes resorted to violence when they discovered they could not rely on law enforcement.

Explanation:

The Red Summer refers to a series of uprisings in 1919 that took place across the United States, by anti-black white supremacists. They terrorized local populations of black people in more than 30 cities and 1 rural county in Arkansas near a town called Elaine, which incidentally had the most casualties with an estimated 100 to 240 African Americans killed, and 5 white people. Other areas where African Americans fought back were Chicago and Washington, DC. The racial riots against blacks resulted from a variety of postwar social tensions, including an economic downturn and pressures for low income housing between Southern European immigrants and African American communities.