A Pandemic and a Battle for Equality: The 1918 Influenza and its influence on the conditions that gave rise to the ensuing struggle for racial equality during the Red Summer Riots of 1919 in the United States

The present research asks the question, how did the 1918 pandemic influence the conditions that gave rise to the collective racial violence that occurred in 1919 during the Red Summer riots in America? It answers it by identifying – through sociological theory - the component variables that impact the probability of collective action and the factors that influence whether this action takes violent form. It briefly looks at some of the factors, other than the pandemic, that influenced the alignment of these components ahead of the collective violence of the Red Summer. Then it examines in detail the influence the pandemic had on these components before the Red Summer to thereby demonstrate its specific impact on the conditions that gave rise to the collective violence. Using two case studies of riots in Washington D.C. and Chicago, it shows how these components interacted during the Red Summer. The research finds that the pandemic had an ancillary influence on the conditions that gave rise to the collective violence of the Red Summer, supplementing other influential factors.