B.F. Hardy

Born: 1859
Occupation: Engineer
Killed: July 29th, 1919
Cause of death: Beaten

B.F. Hardy, an African American man, was born around 1859. He lived at 3136 S. Ellis Avenue in Chicago with his wife, Armenta Johnson, whom he married in 1898. Possible siblings of Hardy include Joseph and Thomas Hardy.


Along with Louis Taylor, Hardy worked at the Chicago Great and Western Railroad Company as an engineer. During the riots, he was riding a northbound 47th St. streetcar heading towards Cottage Grove when a mob of white people spotted him on the streetcar and forced it to a stop. When Hardy attempted to exit, disguised amidst the white passengers, a mob of white people attacked Hardy and beat him until unconscious. He died the next day, July 29, from the wounds he sustained, at the age of sixty.


Return to Commemorating the Killed.