Commemorating the Killed

Born: 1872
Occupation: Laborer
Killed: August 4th, 1919
Cause of death: Beaten

William Dozier was born in 1872 in Georgia. During the time of the Chicago Race Riot, he lived at 2433 S. Leland Avenue. Dozier worked as a laborer in the Union Stock Yards on Exchange Avenue in Bridgeport. During the riots, Dozier was at work discussing protections for Negro employees with a superintendent when, most ironically, he was assaulted with a hammer by a white man standing nearby

The Chicago Commission on Race Relations report states that, following this altercation, Dozier “started to run east on Exchange Avenue…as he ran he was struck with a street broom and shovel and other missiles; near the sheep pens a brick felled him.”^[1] Two men, Joseph Zarka and Josef Scezak were identified as those wielding the hammer and broom, and both were recommended to be held before a grand jury on the charge of manslaughter by the coroner’s jury. Zarka and Scezak were indicted for murder but received a “not guilty” verdict on May 6^th, 1920. Dozier died of his wounds on August 4, 1919.