The Chicago Commission on Race Relations was a non-partisan, interracial investigative committee, appointed by Illinois governor Frank Lowden.
The commission was set up after the Chicago riots of July and August 1919 in "which thirty-eight lives were lost, twenty-three Negros and fifteen whites, and 537 persons were injured".
Before conducting the research, the commission felt that a strong emphasis should be placed on understanding the life of the Negro in Chicago, in particular the relations between the two races.
The arrival of black people in northern cities led to an increase in rent in underdeveloped neighborhoods and white flight.
[4] The study concluded that there were no immediate solutions to remedy the tensions between the racial groups and suggested that "through mutual understanding and sympathy between the races will be followed by harmony and co-operation".