Clarence Metz

Born: 1902
Occupation: Unemployed
Killed: July 28th, 1919
Cause of death: Stab Wound

Clarence Metz, a white man, was born in 1902 in Chicago. His father, Herman Metz, was born in Georgia, and his mother, Rose, was born in Illinois. Metz had two sisters, Rosetta and Marion, and one brother, Morris. In Chicago, Metz and his family lived at 5201 N. Ingleside Avenue. At the time of the riots, Metz was unemployed and lived with his parents and siblings. During the riots, the Chicago Commission on Race Relations report states, “Metz was one of an assaulting party of whites which roamed the streets from Forty-Third to Forty Seventh Streets and from Grand Boulevard to Cottage Grove Avenue.” The report goes on to say that the group Metz ran with had attacked a group of Blacks leaving a theater on 43rd Street in the “Black Belt” and, during the melee, Metz was stabbed. Similar to the verdict in Kleinmark’s case, the coroner’s jury stated, “we find that the group of colored people, en route to their home, were acting in an orderly and inoffensive manner, and were justified in their acts and conduct during said affray.” Also like in Kleimark, Metz did not live anywhere near the place he was killed, suggesting he had traveled many miles to participate in one of the groups of white rioters.  Metz died on July 28th at the age of seventeen.


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